During
a recent trip to Bangladesh, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton created quite
the media buzz – not over her successful negotiations with China and India, but
for wearing glasses, little make up, and naturally loose hair during one of her
public appearances. The images of her went viral and hundreds of news outlets
commented on her appearance. The Drudge Report labeled the image as “Hillary Au
Naturale” and Fox News questioned whether Clinton simply “forgot” to put her
make up on and claimed she “appears tired and withdrawn - far from the well-coiffed
image she has maintained over the past two decades in politics.”
It is infuriating that even a
woman as powerful as Hillary Clinton – fourth in line to the presidency – makes
headlines for her appearance, but not for her diplomatic successes. As one journalist noted, “The continued focus on women’s appearance is just depressing
for parents trying to teach their little ones that smarts and kindness and
achievement matter more than an outfit or hairdo.” For women leaders, their
appearance is somehow always linked to their job performance. It didn’t matter
that Clinton had successful negotiations in China and India the day before,
because by not wearing make-up everyone assumed that she must be “tired” or “burnt
out.” Never mind the fact that in three years the woman has traveled 777,721
miles to over 96 countries – that, somehow, is less newsworthy.
Although she never should have
had to in the first place, Clinton defended herself to CNN, saying,
"I feel so relieved to be at the stage I'm at in my life right now.
Because you know if I want to wear my glasses I'm wearing my glasses. If I want
to wear my hair back I'm pulling my hair back. You know at some point it's just
not something that deserves a lot of time and attention. And if others want to
worry about it, I let them do the worrying for a change." And this is yet another reason why I love her.
I read this article too, and nearly laughed for the ridiculousness of it all. How insane is that criticism of our Secretary of State comes not from how she conducts herself in matters of state business, but rather based on whether she pulls her hair back or has enough makeup on.
ReplyDeleteI too understand your love for Hillary Clinton. She has proved yet again
ReplyDeletehow to be a classy and dignified lady even when not wearing makeup and fielding
negative comments about her. I feel that our class discussions have been leading us
to hopefully find a place where all women can become more like her: able to have
a place of power and not be self-conscious about yourself. I find this story funny in
the sense that with the picture included in your post it is obvious that even without
much makeup on Hillary still looks professional. The fact that this has become a
topic for discussion boarders on the insane aside from the fact that some people
apparently have nothing better to do with their time than critique a woman in
power because of her lack of makeup.
I love that she said what she said! It was a completely calm, rational statement that basically made the people who were speculating on her looks sound ridiculous. Another stereotype women face, besides the fact that we should always be fixed up in public apparently, is that when being criticized we can get...emotional, defensive, bent out of shape. This comment is the perfect example of a woman in the public eye brushing unnecessary comments off her shoulder and proving that not only do women not have to be so concerned with how others may see them looks-wise, but also that were not all these emotionally charged people who will throw a fit when criticized.
ReplyDeleteIt blows my mind that comments like these are still being made about strong women in politics and positions of power. I think my favorite part about this post is that I also believe that Hillary Clinton handled the scrutiny perfectly; by ignoring the fact that this issue is completely irrelevant and shaking off the criticism, she has given the media nothing substantial to talk about, which is why they made the comments in the first place. When people begin to realize that women can obtain positions of power without necessarily playing the beauty card, women can continue the necessary strides towards equality. (Besides, I think she still looks beautiful in this photo, so I'm still confused about the comments either way!)
ReplyDelete