As part of Denver’s apparent #antimetoo movement, they re-elected Mayor Hancock. You know the one that sexually harassed a female deputy on his security detail forcing her to transfer to a less prestigious assignment. Well today Hancock appointed the first female Denver Sheriff, so progress right? When Denver Public Safety Department Executive Director Troy Riggs was introducing her, the man doing so felt it necessary to point out she’s “friendly [and has] a great smile”. Has any male sheriff EVER been introduced the same way? Oh and Riggs also neglected to mention her vast experience as an LEO (I’ve seen introductions of new Sheriffs and it’s practically reading their resume to the press). But she is tenacious. Really minimizes what she has accomplished in the old-boys network that is law enforcement.
The sheriff is appointed? Not elected?
Still… :eek:
Cite:
Weird.
Denver is a combined city/county government. It makes for a few oddities here and there.
What’s wrong with being sexy?
Saying a person has a great smile is sexist?
To the extent that women are expected and told to smile more than men, yes. I’m a guy who’s been told I should smile more than once in my life, so it does happen to men sometimes as well.
It’s totally true, we are committed to being as sexist as possible. Pretty much the entire population of Denver and the surrounding metro area. Why, we have all agreed to elect (and in some cases make sure we elect people who will appoint) the most sexist candidates, no matter what their other qualifications or what their political opponents bring, or don’t bring, to the table. As long as we can make wimmins uncomfortable, that’s good enough for us. That Hickenlooper fellow, for instance was a total lecher, which is why we promoted him from Denver Mayor to Colorado Governor until he termed out. Now it looks like we’ll have to settle for him being a senator. And as for the constabulary, disregard them anyway.
Did you vote for Hancock in the latest election?
This deals with the issue of women as leaders vs men as leaders. We had a huge thread on this and yes it is sexist because a male sheriff would be described with traditional leadership qualities: strong leader, decisive, takes control. They would have also pointed out all of his past leadership roles. Since it is a woman they describe her using feminine terms minimizing her leadership characteristics.
Let me put it this way. The President of your company has completely fucked it up and he resigns so they bring in someone to fix everything that’s broken and kick ass as necessary. They introduce him: “Here’s Whitey Oldman. He’s going to be a great leader because he’s tenacious and has got a great smile.” with no mention of any of his leadership abilities.
What would you think?
Obviously it depends on the context.
A man telling his wife or girlfriend she has a great smile? Not sexist.
A male mayor publicly announcing that the woman he’s appointed as Sheriff has a great smile? Sexist and unprofessional as hell. Stick to her accomplishments. If he wants to make general statements he can say things like “She is strongly committed to public safety.” You know, like he would if he’d appointed a man to the position.
But I think you knew all this already.
Thank goodness, I thought this was going to be a rant about Bob Denver and “Gilligan’s Island”.
If he stated her long list of accomplishments and qualifications and then added at the end “and she has a great smile”, I would say it wasn’t sexist. Ill advised in today’s climate, but not strictly sexist.
If he omitted all of her accomplishments and qualifications and said she has a great smile (which is sounds like he did), then yea, that’s sexist.
Well said. In addition it would be weird for men to get the compliment even if their other accomplishments are also listed, but I could see it for a man who is well-known for having a big smile.
I’d think it was stupid.
But I’m assuming you think it’s sexist?
A quick internet news search shows me that many times “He has a great smile” has been used to describe a man.
You’re missing the point, this is the extent of he qualifications according to her introduction.
“She’ll make the tough decisions. She’s tenacious. She’s friendly — she’s got a nice smile — but believe me, she’s tough as nails as well,”
The other points would be appropriate but WTF point out that she’s friendly and has a nice smile? What does that have to do with her professional qualifications? And that’s another point you’re missing. Sure guys might be described as having a nice smile BUT how many of those were in reference to their professional qualifications when being introduced publicly when taking on a new high-profiled job?
I’m not a woman but as pointed out in the other thread that men use words and actions to oppress women leaders: telling them to smile more or critiquing their makeup or putting a hand on their arm. As a man I may not see the inherent sexism in talking about a woman’s nice smile in a professional setting but if you were to imagine a male sheriff being introduced the exact same way then you may see it. You’d be like “Who cares about his smile? He’s a sheriff.” but it passes right by when said about a woman.
Please share your search parameters. I did a quick internet search on the phrase “he has a great smile” and got mostly links to people describing their children, often post-orthodontia.
As a comparison, here is what Hancock said when introducing Patrick Firman, Fran Gomez’s predecessor. Incidently, her CV is vastly superior to his when he was hired.
Also
Compare that to Gomez’s introduction.
I searched “He has a great smile” and clicked on “news” on the Google search results.
Maybe he didn’t have a great smile?