It’s benevolent sexism, and it’s very much related to gender inequality.
I don’t agree that the “and pretty” is a diminisher of her other attributes. It’s an add-on, a bonus.
Doesn’t it imply of every woman he praises publically but doesn’t specify her good looks, “and, fellas, despite all this, she’s a dog and I wouldn’t fuck her with your dick”? Is this the problem?
But if it was a male colleague, he wouldn’t have said “and easy on the eyes” or anything, would he? That’s the issue.
It’s a fine line. Compliments are nice, but they can undermine authority and erode self-worth anyway.
Hasn’t he said stuff like “Dick Berning, best AG in the country and the handsomest fella I know!” before? What’s the difference?
Attractive women often deal with people not taking them seriously. Or people attributing their success to their easiness on the eyes instead of the stuff between their ears. Men generally don’t have to worry about people accusing them of riding into success on their good lucks and fuckability. But women do.
Can we at least agree on this?
If we can, then I don’t see why it’s so hard to see why a powerful man giving a nod to a woman’s looks in a professional context could be seen as kind of tacky. Not necessarily offensive (I’m not offended as a woman), but still really off-key.
I’m literally laughing at the offenderati here on this one. You guys are insane. As already pointed out at least 3 times in this thread already, Obama makes comments about people being good looking regardless of their gender.
If you as a straight man would honestly take offense from a gay male boss praising you for doing a good job in your career and also for making a comment about how handsome you are, I feel sorry for you.
This is absolutely not offensive.
I do seem to recall comments about Obama being handsome, and much ado about pictures of him on the beachin swim trunks (cover of some mag I think). And pictures of a shirtless Santorum sunning himself poolside had him having to make statements about how he needed to get to exercising. Lots of introductions made of Paul Ryan commenting on his looks and fitness program … and then his fibs about his fitness accomplishemnts.
The reality is that males are also being judged on their looks and comments are being made. It is stupid for Obama to comment on how good looking someone is whether that person be male or female and as already cited he does it for both genders. Context is everything. Teasing a friend about being good looking after otherwise singing his/her, in this case her, praises? Not sexist (benevolent or otherwise) but surprisingly clueless that it would be read as such. He is smart enough to know better.
There’s a difference between commenting on a man’s looks and commenting on a woman’s looks, and if you or others don’t understand that, then it becomes quite clear why you all don’t find it offensive (or at least in poor taste).
Politics is still a man’s world. Women are still uniquely judged and acted upon based on their looks. These two things together should clue everyone in to why it’s inappropriate.
For every shirtless Santorum picture there are approximately one million comments on Michelle Obama’s arms, or Hilary Clinton’s wrinkles. I fear this is starting to turn into one of those “well, men are equally objectified, so what’s the big deal!” threads.
I don’t think it’s a huge deal, but it was a mistake, and Obama was right to apologize for it. I think this explains it best.
It’s just not a remark that anyone would ever make about a man in a similar setting. Certainly he could have said things much worse than this, but it’s similar to the way a female public figure will be described physically in news accounts (“the blonde, petite senator”) where men generally aren’t. Sexist, in a mild and chuckly sort of way, but still sexist.
OK, so it’s a stupid thing to do regardless of gender.
Now, how big a deal this? Not big at all. But there just isn’t any need for the president to do this so publicly. He’s supposed to be a savvy politician, not some twenty-something or old school politician from the 50s.
This Salon piece provides some context regarding Harris’ political history vis-a-vis her looks:
Janet Reno.
LOL yeh she is a ugly fug ROFLFMAO
:rolleyes:
So close and yet so very, very far.
I thought that article was rather more sexist, and quite a bit more offensive, than Obama’s remark.
I would call it a very minor miscalcualtion. I was a but surprised by his comment and was certain that a backlash was comming. But really no big deal.
If President Barney Frank (god how I wish) said the same thing about a male subordinate, I don’t think anybody would question the weirdness or creepiness of the situation.
It was churlish and inappropriate. Definitely not this bad, but still not cool.
Is this affair a tempest in a teapot? Yes. Is Obama still better on women’s issues than virtually everyone in the Republican part? Definitely. But if I can figure out that handing out compliments to my female subordinates on their physical appearance is inappropriate, the President sure as hell can.
Feminists just like to complain
The answer to your question, and to most questions of that nature is “bitches be crazy”.