I know what you mean, but I’m not sure I’ve heard it used when the man doing the harassing was on television at the time or speaking to a large audience. The only time I have ever heard that seriously is by serious nutjobs who think a celebrity is sending them secret message through their clothes, gestures and occasionally lyrics.
Hentor, the two options you seem to offer up are that women are either ‘so strong, independent and self-sufficient that it is offensive for a man to even hold the door open for a woman.’ (Lord almighty, why does it always come down to open doors?) And, what, getting the vapors?
I’m not sure what your links prove. If Palin took the advice to ‘do this,’ she’d have dyed her hair blond. Which would have… helped her avoid further scrutiny? And Palin almost became VP of the USA. I don’t agree with her politics or her methods, but it is hard to turn that into some sort of personal failure on her part. Again, if anything, it was disappointing to see people supporting her views and voting for her. It was pathetic. She was a sad excuse for a candidate (though hardly the only one). If she was chosen and people supported her based solely on her physical appearance, that is even more pathetic – but I’m not sure why the blame lies with her. If her sex appeal is that powerful, then perhaps she should be VP or even President – imagine what else she could do with it.
One’s 66 and the other’s handicapped. Right. Those are two groups of women who aren’t hard to desexualize – in fact, they often don’t get a choice in the matter.
That’s as dense as asking why was it wrong when the right used this pic of Obama and his relative’s when they were casting aspersions about his candidancy.
There’s nothing wrong with the picture at all, in an absolute sense, right? But it’s use in context conveyed a negative statement about Obama’s African roots…just as Palin’s pic conveys a negative statement about her looks. I’m sure Hentor and Diogenes were the first in line to cry foul during the Kenyan family flap. But now all of the sudden they’re acting like they don’t even know what the word context means? And you too? Very disappointing.
Those aren’t my options. Those are two extremes advanced in this thread, one by Shot from Guns and one by you. Although I find Shot from Guns’s position to be a bit militant for me, I vastly prefer it to your position. Women are not so weak and stupid that they are at a loss as to how to deal with expectations. To the contrary, most figure it out quite well.
I guess if you think women are painfully stupid, you’d also come up with this. No, the links prove nothing, they merely suggest that some women have no problem dressing and comporting themselves professionally, and others do not.
Not at all disappointing - Freudian Slit is a voice of reason that you are painfully ignoring - contorting yourself, in order to ignore, in fact.
You see equivalence in the Kenyan family nonsense and this picture? Wow. Nobody’s making you defend Palin. Palin’s successfully tagged you in your Achille’s Heel, and you’re obligingly going into a contortionist’s routine.
Hey, have you gotten around to thinking of any other ways Palin has tried to seduce you? I mean, other than that which I’ve already debunked as pure foolishness.
Right. This conversation isn’t going to go anywhere, because people here are apparently oblivious to what flirting is, and want to reduce it down to a single action that is created equal in all circumstances. The whole “A wink is not flirting, because someone else did winked, and that was not flirting” bit is ridiculous. I’ve been winked at by small children and have never thought, “Holy shit, that six year old is flirting with me!” Rather, flirting is a collection of behaviors that some people are clearly missing. The stilettos (seriously, I can think of 4 pairs of stilettos that I own off the top of my head right now, and I have never worn a pair to work even once), the winking, the posing in hot pants and shiny nylons for a photo spread. The little shorts and glossed up legs do not say “Look, I’m a runner,” it says “Look at my legs.” There were other photos in the spread which were normal looking runner photos, and then there was the tart picture.
Yeah. This is not some war on Sarah Palin because she’s attractive. Hell, I don’t think she’s attractive at all, but apparently she is because people keep telling me she is over and over again. In any case, we’ve seen (attractive) women before and there’s nothing to discuss about those women because they don’t behave as Palin does. This is the part when folks claim there’s nothing out of the ordinary about her behavior, and I say never mind.
When did I say she was trying to seduce me? I said she winked at the camera during the debates. You keep saying that Bush winked all the time and linking to pictures of him winking at people, and saying “Aha!” as if you’ve laid down some kind of logic on everyone. Nice work!
You’re the one who simultaneously wants this picture to be provocative, so that Newsweek appears sexist, and non-provocative, so that only a sex-freak would pay any attention to it. You also want it to be like Obama’s Kenyan photograph.
Perhaps if you had not skipped over most of my post explaining the picture when you were having your little temper tantrum, you might not be ducking and weaving so frantically at this point.
And we’ve never quite gotten a good explanation for the different clothes in that particular picture, huh?
Some people apparently missed out on the Sesame Street segment where they always sang, “Three of these things belong together. One of these things just doesn’t belong.”
I guess the problem I have with all this is: So what if someone is sexy? Our problem with Palin is: That seems to be all she has at this point. Her performance continues to reinforce that opinion.
The overriding impression I have was they picked her for the ‘Woman vote that was pissed the Dems picked Obama over Hilary’…and that they didn’t give it any more thought than that. It sounded like the Republican was trying to win an election and the Democrats was trying to be President.
Taft could not get elected today because he was obese. Since TV entered our homes, looks have been a factor in politics. Nixon’s 5 o’clock shadow against Kennedy’s good looks, matters. Dukakis looking a fool while in a tank, hurt him. Kerry’d surf boarding harmed his campaign. Stevenson putting his shoes up and revealing a hole in his shoe, got big play.
Palin’s looks are an asset. When they put that picture on their cover they were helping her out.
What I’m confused about is you 1) saying the pic isn’t sexually provocative or inappropriate but then 2) using it as a reason to dismiss Palin as a serious politician. Your reasoning (“She has a blackberry in hand but she’s dressed in running shorts!!” and “A flag is drapped across her chair!”) is a hilariously weak defense for this point of view.
So if anyone is trying to have it both ways in this discussion, it’s you. To accuse me of that is to brush aside everything I’ve said about context, which only reveals you to be deliberately obtuse when partisanship stands between you and a principled position.
I perfectly understand that this is what you and other people’s position is. The problem is that its a position that can’t be effectively supported and yet its used as a catchall defense for a lot of anti-Palin rhetoric.
Yes, the woman tries to look attractive. She likes her heels and she gets her hair done and she wears makeup. But believe it or not, these things don’t add up to bimbo harlot. If she had the brains and acumen to play in the big leagues, I wouldn’t automatically expect her to stop wearing heels and doing her hair and wearing makeup. These things have no bearing on her credibility.
The statement is she is pretty. It reveals nothing else unless you believe people who are overweight are lazy and don’t care. Then the fact she is in good shape and not fat would be an asset. I don’t see what it has to do with the job of president. I can not believe anyone would want her in the oval office. She quit as governor for crying out loud. She shows ,she is an opportunistic bitch who is trying to get rich. She is peddling her co-written book for all she can get. She ran from her Alaskan responsibilities when she found out how much money a book would make her. It was unforgivable.
