As a long time reader of Marie Claire magazine, I was most depressed to read Gretchen Voss attacking Pastor Melissa Scott in a recent issue. I had always thought Marie Claire celebrated the individuality of women, and our freedom to both care for ourselves and do what we want with our careers. This article was so out of sync with what Marie Claire purports to be, I found it hard to believe that one of my favorite reads could have allowed something like this. This article starts off with Gretchen Voss playing the role of a self-righteous preacher who basically condemns Pastor Melissa Scott to hell because Scott "allegedly" posed nude when she was younger. Of course Scott never confirms nor denies the accusation, but Voss acts as if it’s an open and shut case and quickly jumps to the conclusion that Scott is of the same ilk as Swaggert and Bakker. I had to shake my head in wonder, because in another article, Voss celebrates her own freedom of choice to terminate her pregnancy. Voss's position on that subject is hardly one that right-wingers would warm up to. But then she flip-flops when dealing with Scott, and in a complete role-reversal, crawls into bed with the Christian Fundamentalists and starts railing on Pastor Melissa Scott (for alleged â€past sinsâ€) worse than any right-wing zealot. I've read Christian Fundamentalists who blog about exactly the same things that Gretchen was saying. In fact, it almost sounds like Gretchen Voss took the story straight off the Fundamentalist Blog sites. They say Pastor Scott shouldn't be allowed to preach because she's a woman; because she's not righteous, because of her alleged past, etc. These blogs made me sick, and Gretchen’s copycat article makes me even sicker. The gist of Voss's article is that Pastor Scott is unfit for ministry because she "reportedly" posed nude some twenty years ago. I am dumbfounded how Marie Claire (with everything I thought it stood for) could publish such a punitive, accusatory, self-righteous, (not to mention, judgmental and intolerant) article as this. Voss definitely has it in for Scott in this attack piece. Maybe Gretchen is just a jealous, catty female, who still holds onto the outdated notion that women can’t be both beautiful and smart, because I’m at a loss as to determining any other motive for writing this article. Melissa Scott is a highly intelligent woman. Just listen to her for one hour on PastorMelissaScott.com and find out for yourself. But we hear nothing about her brain-power in any part of Voss's article. All she talks about is Scott's hair, her doe-eyed looks, how she cooes... I’ve watched Pastor Scott live and on TV and I’ve never seen any of these â€sex-kitten†antics that Voss accuses her of. Any woman who has ever tried to slug it out in the workplace with a bunch of men has had to endure demeaning, dismissive comments like this. Bad enough when it comes from Neanderthal males, but even worse when it comes from a woman like Voss who should know better. Marie Claire tells us that we can be beautiful, we can be smart, and we can have the career of our choice. Gretchen Voss's article expresses none of that. It is NOT empowering for women. It is catty, shallow, and preaches the exact opposite values the magazine purports to put forth. I'm still at a loss as to why it ever went to print? And frankly, I don’t understand why Marie Claire Magazine allows Gretchen Voss to write for them.
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