Ode to Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, too

Thank you for your article, “Women of the Cloth” (Nov. 28). I would like to add another event that happened in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America this year. Elizabeth Eaton, who was previously bishop of the Northeastern Ohio Synod of the ELCA, is now the presiding bishop of the ELCA. She was first elected as bishop to the synod in Ohio in 2006, and in 2013 she was elected presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran church in America church-wide assembly.

This is a big progressive step for the denomination with European origins in Germany and Scandinavia.

Faceless boob shot a low blow for women

As a weekly ritual, I look forward to picking up a fresh copy of Cityview every Tuesday afternoon. Yet this week, I opted not to do so. The reasoning? Your cover for the “Women of the Cloth” issue (Nov. 28). Instead of picturing actual Iowa women who devote themselves to religious causes in the area, you needlessly sexualized the article with a pair of breasts, a rhinestone cross necklace and a Bible. That’s not advertising an article on local nuns. That’s the sort of trashy ad usually reserved for the phone sex ads at the back of Cityview.

By framing this story as “sexy,” you lost a lot of respect and female readers, regardless of the nature of the article itself. I understand that meeting circulation quotas is important for a free weekly. But “selling” your article with a faceless boob shot is pretty low by legitimate journalism standards. Want to know why female clergy members aren’t accepted as well as men? Look in the mirror. Objectifying sexism may be closer than it appears.

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