Cowen and a picture of hypocrisy

I THINK there’s something sad about newsreader Eileen Dunne having to apologise on behalf of RTÉ for the light hearted item aired on Monday’s news about the semi-naked, non-sexual, mildly satiric paintings of Brian Cowen.

Two Fianna Fáil TDs, Mary O’Rourke and Michael Kennedy, both spoke about the paintings in public, Mary saying they bordered on the obscene and Michael worried at the effect on Cowen’s family. This is definitely no country for women. I can walk into any seemingly innocuous little newsagents the length and breadth of this country and be faced with truly obscene images of women on the front covers of several daily newspapers and further pornographic images on the covers of countless magazines.

I can take children in, my mother, mother-in-law and granny, and they will all be confronted with the same things, but I have never heard any Fianna Fáil TD saying they are worried about the effects of these images on the female population or Mary O’Rourke calling them obscene, which is what they are.

Watching a female newsreader having to apologise for a tongue-in-cheek item about the humorous paintings and for the offence it may have caused to Cowen and his family made me cry.

It’s a man’s world. When will women get an apology for being treated as sex objects in the media and for being under-represented in government for the whole life of this State?

Jacqueline Cotter

Gortnaclohy Heights

Skibbereen

Co Cork