Cross posted
Remember that when it comes down to it, all that matters is what you look like.
50 most beautiful women politicians
What an invidious position this places female politicians in. They're being judged on their appearance, not on what they have achieved, not on their policy goals, not on how effective they are in their jobs. All that matters is what they look like. Feh!
The newspaper says that the list is "light hearted." So there you are. If any woman objects to being judged by her appearance, the reply is already there. "Can't you take a joke?"
14 comments:
One of the big benefits of living in NZ over the UK is that I don't accidentally catch sight of the complete drivel that is the Daily Mail and its ghastly "FeMail" section very often. My goodness, how I hate that sorry excuse for a newspaper.
It's going to be in the Prime Newscast tonight, apparently. They're first at 5.30 in unleashing the crap.
In fact, they've already built in the faux ironic escape hatch. Slimey-man-whose-name-eludes just now in the promo announced "and finally who's New Zealand's sexiest politician. Yes, really!"
Grow up. They do lists for everything all over the world. Sexiest sportspeople, actors/actresses etc. Why shouldn't they include politicans?
We already know that male politicans are hardly hot - so why celebrate them?
Actually, Mary-Lou, we are the grown-ups. We are the ones who think it's important to judge what people do, not judge what people look like. These people are politicians, the people we elect to undertake the deadly serious work of running the societies in which we live. Don't you think we should assess them on how well we do that job?
Or maybe you're just telling us to lighten up, and that we are dour, humourless feminists who can't take a joke. In which case, BINGO!
mary-lou, how about having a read of this to understand why this kind of thing is destructive:
http://thehandmirror.blogspot.com/2008/06/pretty-pollies.html
I don't see why the list is necessarily a bad thing.
It's a little quicker to appreciate how gorgeous a woman is than to admire her voting history and bills she has proposed.
It doesn't mean that her beauty is more important than her political record.
I wouldn't use this list as a guide to who is the best female politician, but that's not what it's trying to do.
I'd be happy if there was a male politicians list for women to look at.
Or would you see that as two wrongs not making a right?
Stargazer, your link was interesting.
I certainly hope New Idea's not going to do a list of "politicians without their makeup", whether male or female!
In your world everything is grey -Beauty is to be sneered at and people have to be average looking for them to get respect from people like you.
How utterly miserable. That's not grown up - it's just dragging eveybody down to be as sad as you are. So what if they are pretty? It isn't anything worth getting all angsty about.
I didnt even know who Melissa Lee was until I saw this post.
I remember a similar conversation when I was in student politics and ironically the one the guys thought was hottest was the one who had no interest in them at all... but it was a degrading conversation to be part of, and now I wonder why I participated....
So what if they are pretty? It isn't anything worth getting all angsty about.
Yes, so what if they are pretty or beautiful. It matters not a whit. What matters is people sitting in judgement on their appearance when that is completely irrelevant to their jobs. They are not entertainers (film, stage, music, sports, whatever) - they are the chosen leaders of our societies. I object to them being trivialised.
You're doing well on that bingo card, Mary-Lou.
Re: the men not being hot enough to leer at - surely that is, in itself, interesting? There are so many things to unpack about that statement.
And Mary-Lou, why don't you stop stooping to personal attacks based on some out-dated feminist straw-bogeyman and engage in some actual debate? I think your position is worth exploring, but I don't think anyone is likely to listen to while you are couching your opinion in thinly veiled insults.
One tning I would like to add is that this, in and of itself, is not so awful. When you look at it in a societal context and see that this has not been done to men, and that the pattern repeats itself with athletes and many other professions that have nothing to do with attractiveness (i.e. there is a ten hottest female athlete/etc list but rarely a 10 hottest male athlete/etc list), it is rather awful. The ability to perceive context is a beautiful thing.
I wonder what Mary-lou's response would be then to Paul henrys inappropriate comments on womens facial hair, is that ok too?
"The newspaper says that the list is "light hearted." So there you are. If any woman objects to being judged by her appearance, the reply is already there. "Can't you take a joke?""
Well....can't you?
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