Jennifer, your analysis is pretty sound except that ‘the’ trophy
wife issue actually is being pumped full of
air by the media, despite the fact that Jeri Thompson doesn’t, as a
matter of fact, fit the profile. (Novak’s
point.) Surely this has something to do with the general reluctance
of the MSM to attack a woman with the looks and the lifestyle to
make her peers jealous for challenging the patriarchy by dint of
her assertive professionalism. The fact is, calling Jeri too girly
is hot and calling her too manly is not. As you suggest, stepping
outside that pattern would itself, for many journalists, be an act
of assertive professionalism.