Classism and Ocasio-Cortez

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been honest about not being able to easily afford an apartment in Washington DC and financial struggles that many people face in the United States. In response to this Eddie Scarry, a reporter for the Washington Examiner, photographed Ocasio-Cortez carrying her coat and stated “Hill staffer sent me this pic of Ocasio-Cortez they took just now. I’ll tell you something: that jacket and coat don’t look like a girl who struggles.” The reporter was mocking her openness about her financial struggles and Twitter quickly took him to task for his sexist and classist comments and turned his tweet into a meme.

While the tweet about Ocasio-Cortez has been widely condemned it is reflective of the elitist statements that have been made about her candid comments about financial hardship. Ocasio-Cortez has been mocked by members of the media for complaining about the high cost of rent in Washington DC. These types of comments show how there is still a media bias towards people that are not rich and that people that are not wealthy and struggling financially are stereotyped as undeserving of simple necessities as a place to live and work clothes.