Here’s a news lede you’ll never see:
“Hard-charging political pro nabs former governor with runner’s calves and possibly the lowest Body Mass Index in politics.”
It’s never the man who is the bimbo in the world of news. Instead, a professional woman with a personal life is more likely to be sensationalized as a “luscious gal pal shacking up with a sugar daddy,” rather than a consenting adult entitled to her privacy and dignity.
Regardless of her taste in men, Lis Smith has the right to make her own decisions. Her relationship with Eliot Spitzer is entirely irrelevant to her qualifications as Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio’s spokeswoman.
Yet in news reports, Smith has been transformed from an accomplished adult into a “leggy” sexpot and her professional future called into question because her choice of romantic partner raises eyebrows.
In reality, Smith is just another casualty of the persistent cultural sexism that slut-shames women for having a sex life and being smart, too.
Eliot Spitzer may be a poor choice of paramour — but Smith is perfectly entitled, just like lots of other New Yorkers, to pick her own partners and then get up and go to work in the morning.
Alexis Grenell is a Democratic political strategist in New York City. She can be found on Twitter at @agrenell