Regardless Of What You Think Of Her, No One Deserves This

Former Sony exec Amy Pascal has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons these past few months. Dethroned after emails surfaced wherein — among other things — she joked that Obama’s favorite movies might include The Butler and Django Unchained, she has deservedly lost a lot (including a reputation that had been pretty spotless up through last fall). There is, however, a big difference between lambasting Pascal for professional mistakes and picking her apart just because her personal information is available to do just that. The latter isn’t journalism: It’s an invasion of privacy. Last week, WikiLeaks released the Sony hacks canon: 200,0000 documents and emails for the perusal of anyone with the interest and an internet connection. Jezebel took full advantage. On Monday, the site broke down Pascal’s beauty buys in a piece entitled "This Is Amy Pascal’s Cheap, Crotch-Intensive Beauty Regimen." With signature snark, the post revealed the contents of Pascal’s Amazon shopping cart, which included shampoo, bath bombs, and yes, even down-there hair dye. To some, it might have been a funny read. Dig a little deeper, though, and it’s the same sexism and ageism that women are barraged with every single day, made even more disappointing by the fact that it comes from a publication that’s supposed to speak to the female perspective. It boils down to this: Just because you can share Amy Pascal’s shopping history doesn’t mean you should. This deep dive felt more like schadenfreude than a worthwhile investigation, which, for what it’s worth, is the actual reason WikiLeaks posted the Sony docs — so that journalists could investigate carefully. There’s only one reason that women feel the need to put chemicals on their pubic hair. It’s not because it’s enjoyable. Pascal was shopping for the private things that women buy to maintain desirability in this world, and whatever egregious things she did do not legitimize an attack on her femininity or her age. Nor do they make her fair game for an invasion of privacy: Women have fought hard to lead an online existence that’s protected from trolling and harassment, and it’s disappointing to see this kind of invective directed at any woman. Amy Pascal is paying for her mistakes, but she didn’t deserve this particular punishment, which goes too far. If she’d been buying pubic hair dye on the company dime, that might have been worth revealing. Calling her out for what women in Hollywood, media, and everywhere else should be railing against — ageism and sexism — isn't just a crotch shot: It's a cheap one.