The Weekly Whims Of HatManJim: Is Newsweek Sexist And Is Being Sexist Ever OK (If It Involves A Really Horrible Woman)?
November 21, 2009 2 Comments
A weather-beaten eye cast over the media: HatManJim looks at a story in the headlines and as a feminist with a penis (Menimist? Femi-meni-mist? I just believe i n women’s rights, I’m not having gender-reassignment. OK?), attempts to map the sexism inherent in the press, without inadvertently saying anything lecherous about breasts.
If anyone read last week’s column you’ll know that I can’t think of many female politicians (or ones of great significance anyway) I find particularly inspiring or impressive. I was explaining the piece to a male friend in the pub and he wholeheartedly agreed, much to my pleasure (people rarely agree with me). I then repeatedly banged my head on the table as he proceeded to list various women politicos pointing out that they were “dogs” and “mingers”, raised my arms to the heavens and howled “THAT’S NOT WHAT I WAS SAYING YOU HORRIBLE MISOGYNIST”.
Which did make the others drinkers in the pub pause from supping their beers for a moment.
Sarah Palin, depending on your taste, is arguably not a “minger”. She is in fact the 1984 winner of the Miss Wasilla beauty pageant (and won the Miss Congeniality award in Miss Alaska in the same year, I’ll have you know).
But that was 25 years ago. Since then she has become a serious politician. She was a deputy presidential candidate and everything. Unfortunately, which rather returns to the point of last week’s column, she is anti-women’s choice on abortion, opposes same-sex marriage and thinks that giving universal healthcare to millions of poor Americans is “evil”. 
This week she accused Newsweek of being sexist after it used this picture of her on its cover.
I actually found myself torn about this. Palin’s ex-beauty queen, homely, mom-next-door glamour seems to be part of her appeal judging from all the toothy grins and pouting of her public speaking. This, crudely Photo-shopped image of her head on the body of a model in skimpy jogging kit (complete with patriotic stars and stripes and possibly a risqué reference to the Middle-East with her camel toe) was surely a nice bit of satire?
Then again, would Newsweek have done something similar if she had been a man? One suspects not.
I got even more confused when I read Newsweek’s statement on the matter. This is not a mocked up photo – it is a picture that Palin herself posed for in a photo-shoot for Runner’s World magazine. My first thought on hearing this was… Well, actually my first thought was she’s looking good for a woman in her mid-forties. My second thought was, how could she accuse Newsweek of being sexist if she posed for the photo?
Then again, you could reasonably expect that a magazine called Runner’s World would put you in running gear, especially if that is what you had been told the picture was for (Newsweek obtained it through a photo syndication agency). Taking that into account, it seems reasonable to feel that its use in a journal of serious political news exposes her opinions (vile as they may be) to ridicule and portrays her as a bimbo.
As much as I hate Palin I do not think she should not be taken seriously because she is a woman. There are so many other reasons not to take her seriously.
HatManJim’s column will appear every Saturday.
For Your Reading Pleasure:
The Weekly Whims Of HatManJim: HMJ Remix 2009
The Weekly Whims Of HatManJim: Why Are Female Politicians So Rubbish?
The Weekly Whims Of HatManJim: Stroking My Crystal Ball
The Weekly Whims Of HatManJim: Transvestite Beauty Queens
The Weekly Whims Of HatManJim: I’ve Just Realised That I Seem To Have Stopped Reading Men
I think Newsweek wanted to portray her as a light-weight but at the same time not tap into the sexism surrounding her campaign.
While she is a beautiful woman, this picture is not a particularly sexy one. It doesn’t exaggerate her femininity or point to her womanly characteristics (no, not those ones, I meant being a mother, baking cupcakes etc).
It reminds me of the pics of John Kerry kiteboarding that flooded the media during his ill fated run for President.
Athletic gear does not mesh well with presidential gravitas, whether it is a man in skin tight water gear or a woman in a jogging kit. (Mick)
I dunno about that. I think you have to appreciate how men and women view sexuality differently. I think women consider a range of things before deciding what they find they attractive and I think the Kerry stab at that was very misguided.
If older men are attractive I sense they have to have something of the mysterious and exotic about them (Cf. Mikhail Baryshnikov’s extremely odd appearance as love interest in Sex and the City).
Kerry was essentially grasping at straws for votes and though I much preferred him to Bush it was never going to work out – if you compare him to Palin there’s an twenty year age gap…
So Kerry was tring to appeal to male voters and women at the same time… But this was folly. You can be an “everyman” and you can be attractive but not both.
Men are much less philosophical about what they find attractive. Case in point – the Internet – possibly humankind’s most significant achievement in terms of communication. I would imagine a significant amount of traffic (with no figures to back this I would still confidently go for 25%) is devoted to porn. We don’t care as long as they’re naked.
Here’s the problem – Kerry as a much older guy was going for an “everyman” thing (I think there were some intensely embarrassing photos of him riding a Harley) and sexy at the same time. Palin was what she was: idiotic, the hockey mum you could imagine screwing (you’d regret it in the morning) and connected with “everyday Americans” (whatever they are – presumably ones who don’t think or feel… And the ones that through American friends in London I don’t really believe exist – that is why the most powerful country in the world now has a better class of administration than the one we saw in the last ten sorry years..).