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While O'Donnell herself has has unwittingly fueled the tabloids' fire through some of her post-coming-out behavior--including cutting her hair significantly shorter, openly criticizing other celebrities in her stand-up routines, and instigating a very public battle with her magazine editors--O'Donnell's behavior alone doesn't completely explain the abrupt change in the tabloid coverage.

The news coverage of O'Donnell's haircut has been one of the most troubling issues, since it demonstrates the homophobia and sexism still lurking beneath the surface of many supposedly objective publications - especially since coverage of the "problem" hasn't just been limited to the tabloids. Although they did not try to claim the haircut was a story in and of itself (since even in the most liberal news organizations that doesn't qualify as newsworthy), many mainstream news organizations, like E! Online and Entertainment Tonight, found ways to comment on her new haircut in passing in stories about other issues.

But none of the mainstream publications have made the same kind of homophobic and sexist statements the tabloids have, as the National Enquirer uses in this photo caption from the August 23 National Enquirer article "Rosie Loses Her Family:"

ROSIE'S NEW LOOK -- including this radical short haircut and masculine clothes is too much of a drastic change for Kelli.

Words like "radical," "masculine," and "drastic" are all designed to invoke disgust, fear, and dismay over O'Donnell's defiance of traditional feminine norms. Never mind that her current look actually resembles most forty-something suburban American housewives.

The use of the phrase "gay lifestyle" in the Jun 04, 2002 article "Rosie's son has his '2 moms' all figured out" is also deliberately provacative, since it plays on the fears many straight people have about gay parents.

Some of this is just the equal-opportunity, feeding-frenzy tactics employed by tabloids towards all celebrities, regardless of sexual orientation. But some of it is also clearly fueled by homophobia. Before she came out, the Enquirer portrayed O'Donnell as an amiable talk-show host with a strong interest in child welfare issues; since she came out, O'Donnell has suddenly become a drug-addicted, obese, and angry lesbian whose life is careening out of control.

In the July 9, 2002 article "Rosie's Revenge," the National Enquirer unwittingly summarizes its own agenda to paint O'Donnell with this stereotype:

Those close to Rosie say that coming out as a lesbian has transformed the former talk show host and triggered her war against Hollywood...."We're seeing the real Rosie — and she's angry."

O'Donnell's recent public altercations with her magazine editors have not helped her cause with the tabloids, and have unfortunately only reinforced the idea that she is "out of control." Even mainstream publications like Newsweek, People Magazine, and the Washington Post have commented on these events and the schizophrenic-like behavior she seems to have been displaying lately.

All of which has caused O'Donnell to go on the defensive with full-length feature interviews with magazines like People, and threats of a lawsuit to the National Enquirer over some of their most recent allegations. Explanation of her haircut generally follows the one she gave columnist Liz Smith recently:

You know, I knew I was about to go back into the hospital to have my hand operated on again. That is very inconvenient. It renders me incapable of doing a lot of things. I am also the mother of four kids. I am terribly busy. I am involved in this thing with my magazine. I don't have a hairdresser and makeup every day as I did when I had my TV show. So I just said, 'Cut it off for now. I'll never be able to take care of it for the next few months!

While her explanations and interviews will help offset the problem, O'Donnell's public feud with her magazine and public criticism of other celebrities has unfortunately given the press a legitimate excuse to write about her life, and she would be better off by keeping these kinds of comments private in the future.

But none of this justifies the kind of homophobic attacks perpetrated by the tabloids. In their eagerness to make money, the National Enquirer and other tabloids have jumped on the tired "radical man-hating lesbian" stereotype bandwagon under the guise of "reporting" the latest gossip.

Which only proves that the more things change, the more things stay the same.

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