Jill Biden, a doctor in the White House

Jill and Joe Biden, in a school during the election campaign.AP

Misogynistic, sexist, typical of another era, condescending ... these are some of the derogatory adjectives - there are more crude and meridian - with which an opinion article by columnist Joseph Epstein of

The Wall Street Journal

published last weekend on the academic title held by what will shortly be the first lady of the United States, Dr. Jill Biden.

The piece already incited controversy from the title: "Is there a doctor in the White House?", The author wondered.

"Not if what is needed is a doctor of medicine (MD, acronym in English)", answered Epstein.

Like so many other academics who have a doctorate, and according to the definition given by the Merriam-Webster dictionary of the term, "doctor" comes from Latin and is the word used for "professor."

Jill Biden added that title to her name after achieving - well into her fifties - a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Delaware in 2007. Since then, that title has preceded her name and, except for a loss of employment and pay due to In her husband's election campaign, Dr. Biden has been a teacher ever since, and plans to continue to do so when Joe Biden takes office on January 20.

Jill Biden, 69, will be the first wife of a US president to pursue her professional career after becoming first lady, something she also did when her husband was vice president.

Mrs. Biden will join a small club of women who have lived in the White House and who have held that title, including Eleanor Roosevelt and Nancy Reagan.

The words that Epstein, writer and former editor of

The American Scholar

magazine

, dedicates to the wife of the president-elect have been criticized as derogatory and humiliating, and judging by the dozens of articles and thousands of reactions it has provoked, they have a terrible smell of misogyny and machismo, both in form and in tone and background.

"Mrs. First Lady - Mrs. Biden - Jill, babe," the opinion piece begins strong.

"Any chance that he will abandon the" doctor "that precedes his name?

Dr. Jill Biden sounds and seems fraudulent, not to say that it has a comic touch, "Epstein writes relentlessly.

In his opinion, what the future first lady possesses is a Ph.D. in Education that she earned with an "unpromising" thesis on the benefits of what is known in the US as a community college - two-year studies that do not lead to a degree. technical, but which can then be validated at a university.

The words of Epstein, emeritus professor of English at Northwestern University (Illinois), immediately caused a media storm full of disapproval towards its author, so much so that Northwestern itself distanced itself from the opinion of its former professor.

Biden supporters, academics and activists fired angry darts at the opinion section of the New York newspaper.

One of his reporters called the article "disgusting."

However, Paul Gigot, head of Opinion and vice president of

The Wall Street Journal

, added salt to the wound by defending him and describing the attacks as an example of the bad faith that has caused what is known in the United States as “canceled culture” , a modern form of ostracism that isolates those who do not agree with the dominant thought, those who are not politically correct.

Biden's communication team called the article "a disgusting and sexist attack" in a tweet directed directly to those responsible for

The Wall Street Journal

.

"If you had a modicum of respect for women, you would remove that disgusting display of machismo from your newspaper and apologize to her [Jill Biden]," demanded Michael LaRosa.

. @ jamestaranto, you and the @WSJ should be embarrassed to print the disgusting and sexist attack on @DrBiden running on the @WSJopinion page.

If you had any respect for women at all you would remove this repugnant display of chauvinism from your paper and apologize to her.

- Michael LaRosa (@MichaelLaRosaDC) December 12, 2020

Epstein recalled in his piece that as he said "once a wise man, no one should call himself a doctor unless he has brought a creature into the world."

If we're strict, Jill Biden has given birth once.

"Think about it, Dr. Jill, and immediately get rid of the 'doc.'

The professor emeritus, who has been away from teaching for some time, also recommended to Dr. Biden in the last lines of his article that he abandon delusions of grandeur and “let himself be carried away by the excitement of living the next four years in the best public housing existing in the world as First Lady Jill Biden ”.

Twitter was filled with women adding the title "Dr" to their names in solidarity with Jill Biden.

There were even those who recalled several names of men who have held the title of "doctor" without having a medical degree, including Henry Kissinger and Martin Luther King.

Sarah Parcak, an archeology doctor who is very active on Twitter, responded to Epstein with the harshness that he usually handles in his opinions: “Dear Joseph Epstein, author of this garbage of sexist article, kiss my ass and fuck you.

Signed: Each and every woman in the United States with a Ph.D. ”.

Dear Joseph Epstein, author of this garbage sexist article:

Kiss my ass and go f * ck yourself.

Signed,

Every woman with a PhD in these United Stateshttps: //t.co/lBQo7AJC50

- Dr. Sarah Parcak (@indyfromspace) December 12, 2020

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