Hello, Jon Henley

[bouteillebleu]

Hello, Jon Henley!

You wrote an article in the G2 today about the leader of a nation currently dealing with the (as far as I can tell) worldwide debt crisis, with some interesting stuff about that leader's political history. But there was something that nearly stopped me reading it at the start.

Why the hell did you see it necessary to describe the leader in question as "pale" and "irredeemably frumpy"? Did that have anything to do with discussion of their policies or political history, at all?

Do you comment on, for example, the US president's appearance when you write something about him? Other than if it's relevant to the article, no, of course you don't.

Or did you just do it to Merkel because she's a woman, and women's appearances are public property?

Comments

[illithidbix.livejournal.com]

"For her part, Merkel, who never had children, claims still to do her bit domestically – the odd spot of shopping, sewing and cake-baking."

- AMG! SHE IS EXIBITING DEVIANT BEHAVIOUR!

[bouteillebleu.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD A WOMAN IN POLITICS HOW DID THAT HAPPEN

QUICK, REMIND PEOPLE SHE'S STILL A WOMAN WHO DOES WOMANLY THINGS AND THUS MUST BE TREATED AS WOMAN AND NOT POLITICIAN (edit: AND ALSO DOES NOT HAVE CHILDREN SO IS BAD WOMAN AND CAN THUS BE TREATED AS POLITICIAN MAYBE)

OTHERWISE THOSE WACKY GERMAN VOTERS MIGHT TAKE HER SERIOUSLY DESPITE THE FACT SHE'S NOT PRETTY

okay I'm done.

(Also, shopping, sewing and cake baking are all damn useful things for any adult to do, not least because the latter two mean you can (a) fix your clothes when they break and (b) produce cake! Whenever you want!)

[aquarionical.livejournal.com]

They did the same thing to Gordon Brown, though. The crumpledness of both his suit and face became a running theme when people were trying to portray him as unworthy.

This doesn't make the article less of a crock of shit, though.

[bouteillebleu.livejournal.com]

Mm, I was thinking about expanding on the "if it's relevant to the article" point, with the possibility that an article might mention what someone's wearing or how they look in an attempt to illustrate their state of mind or habits. The Gordon Brown example could be implying that he didn't take enough care of how he looked in the public eye.

But "frumpy" is just a word that means "woman I find unattractive" and is implying that no woman in power can be anything unless she's also fuckable.

The rest of the article wasn't bad, that was what annoyed me about it. It was interesting but there was this poisonous drop of HILARIOUS MISOGYNY that wouldn't go away.