No Ifs, Ands, or Butts ...

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I was reminded once again while hosting our show today how similar experiences between men and women can be viewed very differently -- especially black men and black women. It happened during my conversation with former ABC TV news anchor Carole Simpson. She was part of our "Great Expectations" series about people who have triumphed after overcoming great obstacles in their lives.

This one was about butts -- white male butts, to be exact.

Simpson broke color and gender barriers during her pioneering career as a broadcast journalist, which began in Chicago in the 1960s. She told News & Notes she'd faced discrimination and numerous obstacles along the way.

But one incident stood out.

Early in her career, she said, while Simpson was on the air doing her radio newscast, her white male colleagues once gathered in front of her, turned their backs and dropped their pants. Enmasse. The 'moonshot' may have unnerved her, but she said she was determined not to show it. Simpson shouldered on, finishing her newscast as if nothing had happened. She said looking back on it, acts of sabotage against her -- there were others, like burning her scripts -- only made her stronger and more determined to succeed -- which she did, admirably.

I told Carole that the very same thing had happened to me once when I was a television anchor for FOX in the 1980s. It was her response that surprised me. "But I was a woman!" she insisted. And while my personal reference was meant only as a testament to her unfortunate experience, I blurted in reply "A butt's a butt. Even a white butt."

Just like a man.

It was later, off air, that the show producers and I talked about that exchange, and that's when it hit me. The saboteuring acts we both experienced were the same, but there was a good reason our responses were entirely different. In my newsroom, the fact that I'd not broken stride on air in spite of the hairy asses staring at me, had made me "one of the boys." A big laugh was had by all.

But there could be nothing funny about that experience for Simpson because of her gender, even more so than her race. Simpson's point, and it's one I frankly hadn't considered, is that no matter how good a journalist she became, she could never be "one of the boys" -- white OR black. Being male was one of the few perceived advantages I had in an industry that is far and away controlled by men, regardless of race.

So I get it. And while the issue of gender versus race, and which is more insidious as a career stumbling block can't be solved here, I think we need to become more aware of how we each perceive things, even when it's different. That's what my conversation with Carole Simpson revealed to me. I've had a long career, but there's still a lot more to be learned about each other.

And about butts.

Tony Cox

Tags: NPR | gender | race

2:21 PM ET | 01-11-2008 | permalink

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