[Miscellany]

Why is it that women in parliament are always attacked for the way they look and the men aren't? John Howard, in terms of looks, is a LAUGH RIOT. I don't know why Parliament Question Time isn't our top comedy show. Those eyebrows! The stupid grin. The way he carries himself. But are there whole articles dedicated to it? Does it make the front page? No. Julia Gillard however, 10 seconds into the job is being attacked left, right and centre for not being stylish enough. Welcome to the 21st century girls.

The opinion piece click for opinion piece written in the Herald Sun makes a point of saying that in this day and age women cannot afford to leave themselves wide open to personal attack by being anything less than perfectly styled. Here's an interesting quote:

Of course, you will never appeal to everyone but the reality is your misfortune is to be 40-something in an era when 40-something women are forbidden to be complacent about their looks.

Meanwhile Gillard herself argues that in her reply

"I think the Australian people are pretty smart and pretty wise and they know that whether or not someone's got the capacity to make a contribution to the future of this nation is about what they say, how they think and what they believe in and I'll seek to be judged on those."

I had this conversation with E many times whose personal belief on girls at work is that if you've got it you need to flaunt it and if you don't then you need to learn how to get it. Why? Because
1) men at the top think with their dicks (actually they think that way in any capacity eh eh eh?)
2) the world is cruel to women who aren't hot.
The truth of the matter is that you could have the biggest neanderthal ever be the president of a company with his manner and poise never bought into question but you can bet that the only females he is surrounded by are token and impeccably groomed.

So what say you? Are women naive to think that they can be judged on their own merits? Is it a losing fight for a woman to want to be "herself" in politics and the work environment? Is "working it" simply a necessary part of being a career woman?

Labels: dirty femmo, questions, rant

posted by M at 7:20 am 19 comments