just a quick post about our fixation with appearances. this survey from the herald "found 87 per cent believe people who look good get more respect than those who do not". in the same paper - and i refuse to link to it, you can go find it for yourself - we find that women find mr key the sexiest politician.
i'm not naive enough to think that looks don't count. it's the reality of the world we live in, and particularly in politics, the better looking candidate is much more likely to get in.
but i'm a great belivere in never accepting the status quo. so, i would like to start being more vocal about this. ok, i know i already have. but we really need to demand a focus on hard-work and ability. and on policy. yes, we want our candidates to look tidy and professional. beyond that, we need to know about what they stand for, what experience they bring to the job, and their abilities. and we need detail about their plans for the future. there is nothing sexy about someone who isn't prepared to tell us all of that.
3 comments:
I'm not surprised at the percentage of people who believe good looks give one an advantage in life. I'm extremely surprised that any of our politicians are regarded as sexy (except perhaps by their spouses).
Certainly as a candidate, it's one of the things that concerned me in deciding whether to stand or not. I know how bitterly judgemental people can be, and how quickly people are to pick on the physical characteristics of a candidate when they don't like their policies.
We've already seen a lynching on a prominent rightwing blog of a Labour Party candidate, and it was primarily focussed on her body.
As someone who has had a baby in the not too distant past, I am pretty conscious of how my body has changed and I know that as a candidate my physical appearance will be analysed.
Luckily I don't let it bother me (much). But I do wonder how many wonderful women have decided not to put themselves forward for public office because they couldn't bear the scrutiny.
Articles like the one mentioned above only reinforced the idea that physical appearance is a criteria for public office. I understand a certain amount of fitness is required as it is a very demanding job. But the scrutiny is much more focussed on the appearance of female candidates than male candidates.
I remember when I was first involved in student politics, and considering standing for election. My primary reason for not doing so, at that time, was feeling self-conscious about my appearance and not wanting to be put under that microscope (of course I didn't tell anyone that!) Once I did get the guts up to stand (the next year), it amazed me how often my appearance was brought up. It wasn't uncommon for a woman to be speaking in the Quad and have someone yell out "show us yer tits." Sigh.
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