The feminist blog Jezebel loves to shame men for telling women to “smile more,” a request they see as sexist, degrading and one of the most overt signs of Patriarchal oppression in evidence today. But their rules, apparently, don’t apply to themselves.
Jezebel‘s writers are supporters of “Stop Telling Women to Smile,” a national education campaign designed to educate men that women’s bodies are not their property. They applauded Broad City when it had the “perfect” response to strangers who tell you to smile. They excoriated an Internet troll who posted a Craigslist open letter telling Chicago women to “smile.”
They even posted a manifesto on why women don’t have to smile.
But during the Emmy awards, when Julia Louis-Dreyfus didn’t look appropriately happy enough that newly minted feminist icon Kate McKinnon had won an Emmy for her performances on SNL, Jezebel was quick to shame Dreyfus for not smiling more.
They accused Dreyfus of ruining McKinnon’s feminist moment: “McKinnon’s speech, half-bleeped and appreciative, was fine, but overshadowed ever-so-slightly by Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ reaction to McKinnon’s win.”
And then gave a play-by-play of Julia’s dour demeanor.” Dreyfus looked less than impressed by the win. The slight eye-roll coupled with the stiff clap was not what you typically see,” they whined.
It turns out, Julia Louis-Dreyfus lost her father just 48 hours before appearing at the Emmys. And the camera panned to Dreyfus just as McKinnon was thanking her own late father for supporting her in her efforts and making her watch SNL as a child—likely an emotional moment for both women, but for very different reasons.
Of course, to Jezebel, apparently, women should smile at all women’s achievements regardless of their circumstances. It’s required by the sisterhood! It’s a show of feminist solidarity! It’s a declaration of shared womanhood.
Or something.
They later updated their post to explain that Dreyfus also won an Emmy, in which she acknowledged recently losing her dad, but there was no apology or correction. Fortunately, social media wasn’t interested in letting Jezebel off the hook for the same overt sexism they claim to see in all corners of the Internet.
Oddly, Jezebel also didn’t change the title and are still asking why Julia Louis-Dreyfus doesn’t smile more. But we definitely look forward to the manifesto declaring a Jezebel war on sexism—inside its own ranks.