DJJbloggers: News Flash 2: Patriarchy and David Letterman

Patriarchy is the system in which most of us are unknowingly forced to live our lives. It is a set of ideas that a cultic, ever persistent ideology has programmed us to believe. This ideology is a set of values about how the world should be. People take it to be the natural order because patriarchy is constant and has dominated for ages. Everyone perpetuates patriarchy, most of us without even realizing it. Allan Johnson claims that, “Patriarchy’s defining elements are its male-dominated, male-identified, male-centered, and control-obsessed character.”[i] Nowhere is such a system more evident than in the modern workplace. Professional women are all too often forced, although subtly, to choose between submitting sexually to the will of their male superiors or losing their opportunity for a successful career. This choice, if it can even truly labeled as one, represents sexual favoritism, which is arguably the most oppressive force of patriarchy. David Letterman has been revealed to be one of the most notorious oppressors of women in recent history. Letterman’s weapon of choice is the overpowering might of sexual favoritism. The definition of oppression that must be understood in the context of the “Late Show” is that of “the double bind — situations in which options are reduced to a very few and all of them expose one to penalty, censure or deprivation.”[ii] As Frye illiterates here, women are continuously compelled to march to the tune of the all-male authority or they will be promptly ejected from the impossibly exclusive band. Such has been divulged to be the frightening truth on the staff of Letterman’s inexplicably successful late-night show. Patriarchy, as it has evolved into what we see today, may never be able to be totally and completely eradicated. But, a great stride toward this goal could certainly be made by the elimination of sexual favoritism as a seemingly acceptable practice.

About six months ago, Robert Joel Halderman, a former senior producer at CBS, came forward with evidence that Letterman sexually harassed numerous women on the staff of the late-night show. Since Halderman’s accusations, women have come out of the proverbial woodwork with testimony from over the last decade that Letterman, and other high-ranking staff members, basically forced them into sexual activity. These women have all maintained that they were made to feel that their careers would be severely impeded, or they would even lose their jobs, if they did not consent to sex with their superiors, and often Letterman himself. Nell Scovell, who worked on Letterman’s

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staff for a number of months had the following to say about the toxic environment she experienced…

Did Dave hit on me? No. Did he pay me enough extra attention that it was noted by another writer? Yes. Was I aware of rumors that Dave was having sexual relationships with female staffers? Yes. Was I aware that other high-level male employees were having sexual relationships with female staffers?...Did that create a hostile work environment? Yes. Did I believe these female staffers were benefiting professionally from their personal relationships? Yes. Did that make me feel demeaned? Completely…I’d seen enough to know that I was not going to thrive professionally in that workplace. And although there were various reasons for that, sexual politics did play a major part.[iv]

Scovell’s testimonial is a prototypical example of Frye’s birdcage. Scovell was impelled by her ambitions and economic necessities to remain employed by Letterman, but unlike most women in a similar position, she decided to throw off the yoke of sexual favoritism, potentially dooming her career. These other women, however, cannot be blamed for their failure to rebel. As Frye explains, “It is only when you step back…and take a macroscopic view of the whole cage, that you can understand why the bird does not go anywhere…It is perfectly obvious that the bird is surrounded by a network of systematically related barriers…confining as the walls of a dungeon.”[v] Even though Scovell took the path of most resistance, there have been countless others who have been vigorously coerced into playing the patriarchal master’s game to get ahead.

Letterman’s conduct serves as a symbol of the complete and utter debasement of the American workplace. Sexual favoritism is a cancerous plight that viciously affects the professional woman in our society. As Mai Shiozaki, spokeswoman for the National Organization for Women, explains, “The real issue in these situations is not about sex. It is about power and inequality. It is about “a toxic environment.”[vi]

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Through their numerous sexual conquests, Letterman and his colleagues created such an environment…“[Letterman] wields the ultimate authority as to who gets hired, who gets fired, who gets raises, who advances and who does entry-level tasks…As the boss, he is responsible for setting the tone for his entire workplace, and he did that with sex.”[viii] Even after decades of documented sexual harassment, Letterman has yet to be reprimanded by CBS. Worse is the fact that even though the American public has been bombarded with substantiated evidence of Letterman’s sexual favoritism, there has been minimal outcry for his immediate expulsion from the airwaves. This result sends a very disheartening message to young women in America…“it was ‘O.K. to objectify women as long as the man in power is famous,’ Ms. O’Neill said. ‘He can crack a few jokes, and publicly apologize for his mistakes. It is this kind of hypocrisy that perpetuates the image of men in power preying on women while many look the other way.’”[ix] Celebrity status cannot be permitted by society to serve as some sort cloak of invincibility that protects celebrities from the ramifications of their actions. Letterman and others who implement sexual favoritism in the workplace will never change their behavior on their own. They must be forced to by every single person in society who recognizes the inherent evil in their actions. Much as Letterman coerced female members of his staff, so must he be forced to submit to the righteous will of those who strive for equality.

Contemporary American society is an oppressive construct of patriarchy. Johnson tells us that, “patriarchal culture is about the core value of control and domination in almost every area of human existence…Because of this, the concept of power takes on a narrow definition in terms of ‘power over’.”[x] This power often manifests itself as sexual favoritism in the workplace. As with those who worked for Letterman, many women are left feeling helpless and unavoidably constrained…“It is the experience of being caged in: all avenues, in every direction, are blocked or booby trapped.”[xi] Unfortunately, there are many women who feel that by submitting to their male superiors, they are attaining some form of power. However, this is a false power; women think they are achieving success, when they are in fact getting ahead by reinforcing the very stereotypes that forced them to submit in the first place. As Frye explains, there is “a network of forces and barriers which are systematically related and which conspire to the immobilization, reduction and molding of women and the lives we live.”[xii] The aforementioned network is an integral part of the ruling patriarchy. The issue is not that such forces exist, but rather they have been instituted systematically as a part of the accepted reality. As with the origin, it is only fitting that the solution come from within the system itself. However, getting the hegemonic, male-dominated hierarchy to voluntarily relinquish its absolute power is no easy task. For now we must focus on the issues as they appear before us. Sexual harassment, specifically sexual favoritism, in the workplace is a seemingly impenetrable wire of Frye’s birdcage. It must be wholly annihilated for an atmosphere of true equality to begin take hold. Women will never been seen as equivalent to their male coworkers until people like Letterman are made an example of. As long as such behavior goes unpunished, the status quo will remain intact, and the vicious cycle of sexual favoritism will continue to be perpetuated.