Of course headlines are meant to grab your attention so you’ll read the article. But some of them have little or nothing to do with the actual article.
Case in point, Slate’s article “He’s Obsessed With Menstruation: Former Aprentice On Their Old Boss, Donald Trump”. After Trump saying that Megyn Kelly must have been bleeding from her “wherever” when he didn’t like the question he was asked, I admit I was curious. So I clicked the link.
Slate found three former employees of the popular television show who were willing to talk. There were five complaints between them. Only one of them said that one time Trump made an off-color remark about a woman and her period. And when she heard what he said about Megyn Kelly, she proclaimed he was “obsessed.” The headline taken from one quote from one person was used to inspire clicks, and even if you don’t click it, it was designed to provoke an emotional response.
Is Trump a misogynist? Sure, we can probably all agree that Trump has a history of denigrating women. But he’s an equal opportunity pig. He belittles anyone he views as a threat. But “obsessed with menstruation?” I’m not convinced.
What is laughable about this headline beyond this though is that if you enter the word “menstruation” into the Slate site search, you’ll get 127 results–15 articles so far this year, and 25 articles in 2015.
I generally only think about a period 13 times a year, and only because it’s necessary. Slate seems to think about it at twice that rate.
So…who’s obsessed?
