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Jan

20

No better demonstration of double-standard in what women candidates face


From ElectWomen:

In 1982 Scott Brown posed completely nude and was featured in the Cosmopolitan centerfold spread….

…When asked about his nude spread in Cosmo, Brown remarked “I’m not ashamed of my body.”

Newsweek’s Katie Connolley had this to say about Brown’s escapades, “Although a nude centerfold might not kill a female politician’s career, it would most certainly prompt questions about her character. Was she unacceptably promiscuous? Did she have a wild, compromising youth? While we scoff at the exploits of young men─they’re allowed to be “footloose and carefree”─women are rarely afforded that luxury. For Brown, who just turned 50, it’s a case of “boys will be boys.”

There’s a poll on ElectWomen’s front page right-hand sidebar that asks, “Would a woman candidate have a chance of winning if she posed completely nude in a national magazine?” And the answer is…

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:17 pm January 20th, 2010 in Gender, Media, Politics, Sexism, Social Issues, Women 

Comments

5 Responses to “No better demonstration of double-standard in what women candidates face”

  1. 1 Stephanie on January 20th, 2010 9:36 pm

    I am SO glad someone wrote about this. I have brought the topic up with several people today and I my point is proven when they say, “I didn’t even know about that.” The media’s passing references to it may be appropriate, but if a woman did the same thing, it would be the only thing anyone was talking about.

  2. 2 Pat Z on January 21st, 2010 8:30 am

    You cannot become Miss America if you pose nude, but you can become a Senator elect. It’s still a boy’s world.

  3. 3 Have Coffee Will Write » Blog Archive » WHAT THEY SAY… on January 21st, 2010 9:53 am

    [...] she who Writes Like She Talks: There’s a poll on ElectWomen’s front page right-hand sidebar that asks, “Would a woman [...]

  4. 4 Jill Miller Zimon on January 21st, 2010 12:08 pm

    Stephanie – thanks. I’m glad you found this. Here is another good take on this:

    http://www.mediaite.com/columnists/my-blood-runs-cold-where-was-the-outrage-over-scott-brown-in-cosmo/

  5. 5 Jill Miller Zimon on January 21st, 2010 12:13 pm

    Pat – yup. And I continue to find this quote from Ruth Mandel to voice a very critical and consequential reality:

    “The party machinery is in the hands of men who have always held it and turned it over to people like themselves,” Mandel said. “Women have to fight their way in.” [emphasis added]

    Thanks for reading and commenting.

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