She’s a woman, therefore she must be a feminist

James Joyner responds to Spencer and Matt’s critique of this cover of The National Interest — depicting Hillary Clinton, Janet Napolitano, and Susan Rice in the manner of those “sexy crimefighters,” Charlie’s Angels — and, in the process, shows how easy it is to dismiss feminism out of hand.

Interestingly, TNI is edited by Justine Rosenthal, who is both decidedly female and taken quite seriously.   For example, she garners A Sit-Down with Brent Scowcroft, chairman of the Atlantic Council’s International Advisory Board, for the current issue.

See, look, it’s edited by a woman!  So feminist critiques are out-of-bounds.  And not just any woman — a serious woman.  She was even able to nag an interview with a real (male) political figure.  Good for her!

And just in case missing the point that TNI is, with a single (silhouetted) image, reducing the tremendous career accomplishments of these women down to the attractiveness of the “Angels” was not enough, Joyner digs an even deeper hole:

In an OTB exclusive, I would add my conjecture that few women are offended at being compared to Farrah Fawcett, Jacklyn Smith, Cheryl Ladd, Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu, or Cameron Diaz.

And I don’t think he’s referring to Barrymore’s role as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN World Food Program.  Who’d be flattered by that, anyway?

(image from flickr user scherre under a Creative Commons license)