Cleavage Friday!
27 July 2007 5:01 pm by Taylor Marsh
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Good grief.
Robin Givhan’s ridiculous Clinton cleavage artcile has suddenly made her lamely
defensive. She wasn’t talking about Clinton’s cleavage. It was all about her
“neckline.” Uh-huh. Yeah, and the media wasn’t really talking about
John Edwards hair either. He’s been the poster boy for How the media can
run away from issues in order to cover the inane. I laid out the real objective
in going after Edwards, which had nothing to do with his hair. When Fox “News” makes fun of Obama’s middle name we all know exactly what they’re doing. Talking about
Clinton’s cleavage wasn’t about her breasts either, but the old stand by of
objectifying women; some insinuating that we have to hide ourselves in order to be taken seriously. It’s Taliban mentality. In the 21st century, can’t women be smart, tough and wear
what we want without being called out for having — gasp! — breasts?
However, after one hell of a week, camp Clinton has joined in, hitting back
like Edwards does in the YouTube above (h/t to reader “hillary murdoch”). Today camp Clinton sent out an email, which is now being portrayed at CNN, well, you’ll see:
“Frankly, focusing on women’s bodies instead of their ideas is
insulting,” Ann Lewis, a senior adviser to Clinton, wrote in the e-mail.
“It’s insulting to every woman who has ever tried to be taken
seriously in a business meeting. It’s insulting to our daughters —
and our sons — who are constantly pressured by the media to grow up
too fast.”“Take a stand against this kind of coarseness and pettiness in American
culture,” Lewis adds, with a link to make a contribution to the campaign.
“And take a stand for Hillary, the most experienced, most qualified
candidate running for president.” … ..
So it’s official. I’m now declaring today the beginning of “cleavage Fridays.” It will be spectacularly silly. I hope Avedon
won’t mind. Her “bra of the week” is hotly awaited every week. My
idea is quite different and was inspired by the corporate hack pack and their
penchant for covering the ridiculous. But it will also be in honor of the first
woman running for president who actually has a chance of winning, and the fact
that the corporate hack pack is monitoring her breasts. So in honor of women,
buxom to flat chested, who are smart, have figures and aren’t willing to wear bags while revealing our gender and our smarts, welcome to cleavage
Friday.
We’ve come a long way baby, only to end up where we began, except for one minor
detail. Clinton’s (hopefully) making money off this silliness and she’s doing
it while running for president. Now that’s progress.
