Katie Couric: Go to Hell

This morning I heard Katie Couric describe oral sex as "demeaning to girls" for the second time this year. For some reason this drives me absolutely mad. I'm at once perplexed that she can say this on-air, and that nobody has made a story out of it. Below are my letters to The Today Show and to Mickey Kaus at Slate.

During the “teen sex” segment on this morning’s show I heard Katie Couric mention that oral sex is “first of all, demeaning to girls...” This is the second time I’ve heard the anchor say this on-air. The first was about 6 months ago, during a segment about talking to your kids about sex. How is it that she can say this on-air as if it is fact? Hopefully you’re getting hundreds of letters and emails from young, confident women who are offended at the suggestion that they are somehow being demeaned and/or taken advantage of by participating in a perfectly normal and healthy sex act. I’m saddened to think that there are young women watching the show who are just starting to make informed, safe sexual decisions for themselves, only to be falsely told by someone they look up to that they are being “demeaned” and possibly taken advantage of. What’s truly demeaning to women are Ms. Couric’s strange and inappropriate assertions on the Today Show. She ought to keep her nonsensical opinions about oral sex to herself.

Justin Beere
Santa Monica, California

Mr. Kaus,

For the second time this year, I was lazily watching the Today show in bed when Katie Couric blurted out her opinion that oral sex is demeaning to women. The first time this happened was in a segment about how to talk to your kids about sex, while today it occurred during an interview with the editor of Teen People magazine. Why aren’t people writing about this? The 25 year old woman I live with was mortified at the statement; offended at the suggestion she was somehow too stupid to know she was being taken advantage of, and saddened that younger women trying to sort through their sexual development were being advised by a role model that a perfectly natural and healthy sex act was harmful to them. What the hell is the matter with her?

Please help,

Justin Beere
Santa Monica, California