A Prominent Sportswriter Said Fox News Hosts Dress Like ‘Hookers,’ And Twitter Let Him Have It

Jeff Pearlman is the author of a few great sports books, and generally well-liked in sports media. But on Tuesday, he proved that no matter who you are, it’s never a good idea as a man to tell women how to dress. And it’s an even worse idea to shame them by equating them with “hookers.”

The above screen-captured tweet was deleted, but Pearlman’s follow-ups were not, and even though his heart might be in the right place, he still acts like a shining white knight for an issue that his comments are only helping to reinforce: that the rules about women’s bodies and how they display them are ultimately up to men.

Even though he raises a good point or two, the damage of his horrific description of Fox News reporters was done. Twitter let him have it.

And, naturally, his Wikipedia page was updated to reflect the incident:

Even worse for Pearlman, Twitter started digging, and they found that it’s not the first time Pearlman has taken misogynistic views on women’s bodies and style:

That last one, taken from 2013, is particularly damning. Styles change with the time, and for a man to blame a woman for how he views them is the essence of sexism. What’s worse is how he asks if it’s “weird to notice.” It’s not an explicitly sexualized comment, but when a fully grown adult is referencing high school students, accusing them of dressing like sex workers, and then making strangely worded statements about “noticing,” alarm bells should justifiably go off.

Of course, now we know that Pearlman equates “hooker clothes” with “female reporter attire,” those sound like some smartly dressed high-schoolers. Either way, it’s probably best if Pearlman doesn’t make any more criticisms about how women dress. It always does more harm than good.

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