Following up on an earlier post about media attention to the sex
appeal of Bachmann and Palin, I wanted to add that I don’t remember ever
hearing similar comments about Newt Gingrich or John McCain when they were
running for the GOP nomination.
Oh, wait, they are both male, and neither gentleman is
considered physically attractive per our cultural standards. Of course, we tend to not care what people
like Gingrich and McCain look like. How
silly to judge them on looking dumpy.
They are serious political thinkers.
Looks don’t matter. We’re looking
for a president, not a pin-up.
That double standard concerns me greatly.
I think by any objective measure, both Governor Palin and Representative
Bachmann are endowed with great physical beauty. I wonder what would have happened if they
were not.
Actually, I should be more explicit. I don’t just wonder, I have a very strong
hunch. I feel quite sure that it is not
a coincidence that these two women—the first nationally viable Republican
candidates we have ever had—are both quite pretty. In all honesty, I don’t believe Palin or
Bachmann would have gotten as far as they did if they were homely by our
culture’s standards. There have been
other women who have run for high office, but they didn’t get as far. If asked, I doubt most people would think
that those other female candidates were as attractive in terms of physical
beauty. I’m not naming names, but it
seems an obvious pattern to me.
To be clear, I’m not saying Palin and Bachmann have gotten where
they are solely on their looks. Not at
all. Though I vehemently disagree with
them on many (or maybe most) issues, I acknowledge that they are gifted orators
and shrewd politicians.
What I am saying is that very sadly I think there is a litmus
test for female candidates. To be
successful in politics, they have to have all the same positive characteristics
and credentials as male candidates, but they also have to be physically
beautiful. The less attractive women do
not make it as far.
Nancy Pelosi is another example of this. Again, she is a very handsome woman. She has a lot of skills that helped her
become the first female Speaker of the House.
But if she had buckteeth, a big nose, frizzy hair and a protruding gut,
my guess is she would never have made it to be third in line for the White
House.
However, if you reflect back over the gentlemen who have served
in leadership in Congress, by societal standards many of them were considered
unattractive. For a man that doesn’t
seem to matter. For a woman though, it
is a huge roadblock.
This point is not something I see mentioned in the media, but it
is something that should get more attention.
I am not sure most of us in the electorate realize that we seem to be
imposing a double standard for female candidates. They have to be smart and have to possess
strong oratory gifts. But they also have
to be pretty.
Male candidates never seem to be looked down upon for a lack of
physical beauty. Actually it can be a
detriment to them if they are perceived as too handsome. Governor Rick Perry of Texas was dismissively
derided by the late Molly Ivins as “Governor Good Hair.” Dismissing his political aptitude and accomplishments,
Ms. Ivins joked that his lovely coif was something that brought pride to all
Texans.
Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts has also experienced flack
for his good looks. To help pay for his
education at a prestigious private law school, Brown posed nude for Cosmopolitan and then did a fair amount
of modeling with his clothes on. Posing
nude does not help a candidate to be taken more seriously, regardless of gender. But could you imagine Pelosi, Palin or
Bachmann being as popular as they have been to their respective constituencies
if it were publicly known that earlier in their lives they had posed topless for
Playboy or Maxim? Brown overcame his
nude modeling to accomplish an astounding feat—capturing the Senate seat of the
late Democrat Ted Kennedy for the GOP. I
somehow doubt a female candidate who had posed nude would have had similar
success regardless of her intellect or the political positions she endorsed.
2 Corinthians 5:12
We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to
boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward
appearance and not about what is
in the heart.
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