An Apology to All Women
by KevinOctober 3rd, 2008
On behalf of men everywhere, I would like to apologize to all women everywhere for this:
A very wise TV executive once told me that the key to TV is projecting through the screen. It’s one of the keys to the success of, say, a Bill O’Reilly, who comes through the screen and grabs you by the throat. Palin too projects through the screen like crazy. I’m sure I’m not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, “Hey, I think she just winked at me.” And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. This is a quality that can’t be learned; it’s either something you have or you don’t, and man, she’s got it.
I promise that the vast majority of men are capable of seeing women in positions of power as something other than outlets for thier long repressed and apparently stalker-creepy sexual fantasies. Honestly. I swear.
Categories: General |
It was Rich Lowry at “The Corner” on NRO. I feel no responsibility to apologize for him.
Maybe we should apologize for letting other men be such unreconstructed dweebs for so long, but his particular brand of dweebism is his own problem.
But that’s exactly the reaction Palin and her, er, handlers wanted. Using her looks and charisma and flirtatiousness is what’s gotten her this far, and she intends to keep using all of those.
So, yes, that was creepy, but it’s not in the same category as an unwanted advance. It’s solicited creepiness.
Gimme a break. Obama and his handlers are doing the same thing. McCain’s and Biden’s handlers would do the same thing as well but they have much less attractiveness to work with. Looks matter. Camera presence matters. And women are just as susceptible to it as men are.
Listening to the way women used to talk about Clinton (and the type of comments made when he came to Winnipeg to talk) and now Obama, I can guarantee you that if guys are expected to apologize for how they view women in positions of power then a whole pile of women need to do the same thing for how they view men in positions of power.
Damn, son. Just get yo’self a hooker. You can be Client 10 if you got enough bank.
Big U - It’s not really the same thing. Given all the stereotypes regarding women in power, playing up your sex appeal as a woman is a lot different than being a powerful man (or one who is vying to be) who is also attractive by happenstance. We don’t even need to get to the level of the Presidency to talk about this. Is it common where you work to get winked at by female senior management?
Politics is a male-dominated profession, especially at the national executive level. It is somewhat important how the inroads that women may make are made. My girlfriend works in a male-dominated profession. She is literally the only female in her department. And, let’s just say that most of the guys in that department don’t need to use their Outlook calendars to keep track of their pussy-getting schedule. She is very conscious of her sexuality, as she should be. She’s senior to most of the people I’m talking about too. It’s very important to her that she’s seen as being placed in her role, as respected as such, on the merits of her performance.
Long story short, Bill Clinton was representing Bill Clinton, Sarah Palin is, to a certain extent, representing women as a whole.
With all due respect, Big U, this is really survey-level shit we’re talking about here.
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1. I’d like to know what the stereotypes are that you speak of.
2. Do you actually think handlers only advise women on how to act in order to attract the other sex? It’s been happening for decades regardless of the sex. Fine, so a guy may not wink. But there are a number of ways to get past the policy to get a person’s attention. Here in Canada, we have a Prime Minister who is incredibly sharp and pushes for solid policies and 75% of what is talked about in the media and around the water cooler at work is how he dresses, what his personality is like, how he presents himself, and even how he does not appeal to women because of his lack of charisma. So it is not just something that women face.
3. I feel I’m on an island here but geez, I would never look at Palin as an example of all women in politics. Just as I would never use Hillary Clinton as an example. I tend to judge each person on their own merits regardless of whether they are male or female. Most my friends do the same so maybe it’s just the circle I travel in.
How about this, then?:
McCain’s campaign apparently registered the URL “votefortheMILF.com” the day after announcing Sarah Palin as his running mate.
The URL originally redirected to the Palin video on the McCain campaign Web site, but it has been changed several times and now redirects to Google. The McCain campaign says it was a prank and denies having anything to do with it. But the domain server is exactly the same as for McCain’s site.
Stay classy, John.
[H/T: Logan Murphy at Crooks and Liars]
Big U:
When you’re the first of anything, how you conduct yourself is that much more important. Fair? No. But that’s human nature. Jackie Robinson knew that it wasn’t enough for him to play as well as everyone else. He had to excel — as the first of his kind, everyone was watching. And any little (or big) mistake, on or off the field, people were going to pounce on.
No, Palin doesn’t “represent” all women. By acting more like a beauty pageant contestant than a serious candidate for office, and putting style way ahead of substance, she does a great disservice to any woman who aspires to national prominence in politics.
What’s interesting about this, is if the CNN sense-o-meter thingy is to be believed, her wink-and-smile-and-tee-hee-hee shtick did NOT wear well with female debate-watchers, irrespective of party. These women know that every time someone like Palin goes up there and plays the flirtatious “Caribou Skipper” role to get ahead, she’s making it all that much more difficult for other women to be taken seriously.
1. Take your pick:
A woman in a powerful position got there by sleeping around and/or some sort of affirmative action.
A woman lacks the conviction and commitment to rationale to be in a position of power because she is subject to her emotions and whims.
Women aren’t as smart as men.
Shall I continue?…
2. No, I’m sure all politicians’ handlers do their best to play up their physical attractiveness and desirability. It’s much more of a problem when (blatantly) doing so, intersects, conforms to, and reinforces the stereotypes above.
3. Despite your self-characterization of your (non-)grouping tendencies and that of your friends, prevailing psychological research, specifically studies of implicit association tendencies, signal otherwise.
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/selectatest.html
Lemme know how you do!