newjerseynewsroom.com

BY SUSIE WILSON

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

SEX MATTERS

It really started with Sarah Palin and the last presidential election. It amazed and concerned me when a lot of men I knew talked about how “sexy” she was and nothing much else. I thought that if a woman had been nominated as the vice president on a national ticket with a man in his seventies, the conversations should be more focused on her ability to hold the highest office in the land.

But that was the 2008 election. Instead of diminishing, I heard the same sort of comments about Michele Bachmann last week when she announced her bid for president standing in front of her childhood home in Iowa.

When men start talking about Bachmann this way, I wait to see if they’ll turn the conversation in another direction. I hope that at least one might move on to her other attributes as a woman who confidently thinks she’s qualified to be the first female president of the United States.

But I am always disappointed. Men continue to dwell on Bachmann’s looks, mentioning her “sexiness” and “hotness.” They do not mention her intelligence, her experience in Congress, her ability as a lawyer, her beliefs about church and state, abortion, and same-sex marriage, and her reasons for organizing the Tea Party movement.

I have a deep concern that style – particularly style that breathes sex – is making great inroads into substance in our society. If I’m right, we will lose in the long run and raise a generation focused not only on objectifying women but on life’s superficialities.

I’ve long wondered about the image of female television personalities. Almost every female anchor is a stereotypical “beauty” with perfect white teeth, thin bodies, and well-coiffed hair. I wonder if their good looks – often enhanced by clothing that makes them look as if they’re attending a party at 8 a.m. – don’t overshadow the information they’re conveying. I wonder if their looks leave many thinking more about their style rather than the content of their reporting.

The only “ordinary” women I see on TV are the foreign correspondents who make cameo appearances from war zones to report on some fast-breaking news story. I find myself more focused on what they are saying than what they are wearing.

I recently watched ESPN’s coverage of the women’s tennis players who made it to the second week at Wimbledon. As I looked at the footage of Sharapova, Lisicki, Bartoli, Kvitova, and Azarenka, I thought to myself, “The producers are trying to make sex objects of these very good women tennis players.”

The show featured close-ups of the players’ faces, bodies, and hair. The background was rather dark, and the lighting of their faces and figures sensual, if not erotic. The show never talked about their skills, training, the dedication of their parents, or the countless hours each had spent since childhood arriving at a point where they could compete for the Ladies’ Championship. It was as if ESPN’s producers only wanted to make these young women – the oldest of whom is only 24 – into sex objects.

Speaking of making women into sex objects, the Badminton World Federation decided to overhaul its women players’ uniforms so they were “more sexy and alluring” to increase public interest in the sport prior to the 2012 Olympic Games. The federation is run largely by men (of the 25-member board, only two are women), and it decreed in May that women had to wear skirts or dresses to play at the highest level, including the Olympics.

But the players struck back and opposed the new dress code. Most women who play at the elite level now wear shorts or tracksuit pants, which give a decidedly “baggy look.” They felt that the new code discriminated again the many Muslim women players; their religion does not permit them to wear dresses or skirts that reveal bare legs. To comply with the new code, they would have to wear both pants and a dress, and two layers of clothing would be a hindrance.

I liked the comment of player Mesinee Mangkalakiri, who competed for the U.S. in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She said she preferred wearing shorts, because “skirts made [me] feel self-conscious. … It doesn’t matter what [NBA star] Kobe Bryant wears. People like his skills on the court. You’d hope they come to watch you because you are their favorite player and you have ability and style, not because you’re wearing someone’s favorite skirt.”

Mangkalakiri’s comment can be applied to the media’s effort to make all women sexier, whether they are TV anchors, tennis players, or presidential candidates.

My concern about the sexualization of every woman extends to my little 10-year-old granddaughter. My concern for her began to grow when I read about Abercrombie & Fitch’s decision to sell padded bikini tops for girls as young as seven. Parents were outraged, but the company simply raised the target age for the bikini top to 12, which in my book is still too young.