Full frontal sexism: A woman who posed nude like Scott Brown did couldn't have won a Senate seat

[Love Bug]

From the NY Daily News comes this:

To all the post-mortems about the significance of Scott Brown's shocking Senate victory, I'd like to add one more: Brown's victory means that sexism is alive and well in American politics.

No, Martha Coakley didn't lose because she is a woman. But had Scott Brown been one, he wouldn't have won.

In the Massachusetts Senate race, we know sexism was there the same way Sherlock Holmes once found a killer; because the dog - in this case, the dog of the media - didn't bark.

Consider: If Coakley had posed nude for Playboy, as Scott Brown did for Cosmopolitan back in 1982, she would have been famous around the country, and not in a good way.

Every sentient American would have seen a blurred version of her nude picture. She would have been ridiculed as the "full disclosure candidate." Leno, Letterman and Conan would have briefly stopped talking about each other to make a bevy of breast jokes.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/01/20/2010-01-20_full_frontal_sexism.html#ixzz0dFnwZCyq

[katandmoon]

1. So true.

[raccoon]

2. I second that emotion. Recd. nt

[Captain Hilts]

3. Yep. nt

[CBR]

4. Exactly. I have been discussing this the past few days. It is really

disturbing.

[Obamanaut]

5. There were photos of Obama on the beach, and playing basketball

during the campaign - showing skin - and the comments here were along the line of 'hunk' etc.

I guess sexism is alive.

[mopinko]

7. not the same thing.

a guy going about his business without a shirt has nothing to do with a guy spread out on a bear skin.

[Obamanaut]

14. And a woman walking past a group of construction workers should

not be offended if they take pictures, post them on a forum, and posters make comments.

She was, after all, only going about her business.

No it isn't the same, exactly, but it is certainly similar.

We like Obama so it's ok, we don't like Brown so it isn't.

[blondeatlast]

32. Exactly. nt

[lunatica]

10. He wasn't posing and he was standing in the ocean

Do you think men in bathing trunks on the beach is the same as men posing naked in suggestive poses for a magazine is the same thing?

Then you're the one being sexist.

If Coakley had done either she would have been excoriated by the press.

[Obamanaut]

17. That isn't what I'm suggesting. I'm pointing out that we post pictures

of people who are favorable to us and 'hunk' type comments are acceptable. Photos of people who are not favorable to us are not well received unless they are tasteful, but even then receive unfavorable remarks: pickles, smirk, etc.

[lunatica]

22. Wasn't your premise that the reactions were sexist?

Your argument has nothing to do with sexism and everything to do with whether we like the individual or not. Where did anyone post a photo of Laura Bush or George Bush naked?

[Obamanaut]

29. There were no such photos published as far as I know. You win, I

lose. I give up.

[thesquanderer]

44. favorable vs unfavorable comments

re: "I'm pointing out that we post pictures of people who are favorable to us and 'hunk' type comments are acceptable. Photos of people who are not favorable to us are not well received"

But I don't think that anyone here is saying there's anything wrong with Brown having posed for those pics, so I don't see evidence of what you're suggesting here, that we're critical if it's on the other side. The thing that some people are complaining about is that pics like that might have sunk a woman, but not a man, which is an entirely different issue.

[Vinca]

6. Did the Democratic candidate produce advertising informing the voters

that Brown was a nude model who owned lots of cars and houses and was doing nothing more than role playing? I would bet the vast majority of Massachusetts voters were clueless about the real Scotty.

[Bill McBlueState]

8. true

But remember, the vast majority of Massachusetts voters didn't vote for him. Only a slim majority did.

[TheCowsCameHome]

9. No, but what the heck........

he's not a threat anyway.

:sarcasm:

[lukasahero]

12. My husband thought I was lying

until I showed it to him online. No one here heard about it.

[HipChick]

13. Does anyone know anything about racier pictures that were found and supposedly scrubbed from Myspace

acct...waiting for them to surface

[Vinca]

15. I hadn't heard that. This could be a major backfire if the

National Enquirer gets their hands on them.

[KittyWampus]

35. apparently, Coakley didn't have an opposition research team working on him

[HughMoran]

11. True n/t

[PVnRT]

16. That's a good point

[G_j]

18. true

:mad:

[TxRider]

19. Says who? It would not affect my vote for her.

Or him.

So what if someone posed nude in younger days?

[jberryhill]

20. It's an entirely hypothetical proposition

It's kind of odd to suggest that Brown's election is demonstrative of "sexism", when we don't actually know whether the electorate would care if a female Senate candidate would be "disqualified" for this reason.

So, instead, we say "she would be" and tut-tut about sexism.

It's a bizarre exercise in prudery either way, if you ask me. But the bottom line is that we simply do not know what would have happened in the hypothetical of Brown having been a woman.

[Fumesucker]

45. The electorate might not care..

But you can bet your very last bippy that the media would have gone full metal psycho over a Dem woman posing nude for a skin mag.

[City Lights]

21. I think posing nude would have been a problem for any Democrat.

The fake family values crowd would have made it an issue, and the corporate media would have bent over backwards to help the hypocrites get their point across.

[blondeatlast]

34. Very true. nt

[seabeyond]

23. exactly. that has pissed me off. told hubby, you know. he didnt know. a woman would be plastered

24/7 showing naked body for sake of "the story". tits all the time

a naked male? not a chance in hell. the men cant handle the naked male. ego too fragile. keep it off, keep it off..... nooooo

women have to suck it up and accept it continuously as men never have to experience it, telling us how we are suppose to feel about it, all the while knowing the bullshit they feed us.

cenk, the biggest pig (i love his political part of the show) had an actor and his penis scalded with hot water. cenk couldnt handle. no no

he had an underwear dude all laid out and showing picture could only handle it for seconds before saying, take it off, take it off

but get him a naked woman and he is all over it

[howard112211]

24. Ah heck. I'd vote for a woman who posed nude .....

....3...2...1... someone calls me sexist for saying that.


If a woman who had posed nude had won a senate seat we would have this exact same thread here with the title "Sexism is alive. A woman wins because she posed nude".

[seabeyond]

27. you miss the point. surprise. nt

[femrap]

55. What rock are you living

under....women posing nude don't become Senators. If, if, if.

You need to read some books on patriarchy....see how the World works. Darfur, burqas, Saudi....google those.

Please don't be willfully ignorant. Too much is already in the world.

[blondeatlast]

25. Absolutely. Sickening, isn't it? nt

[BeyondGeography]

26. Yes, but Jerry Nadler's pre-lipo buff shots would sink him, too

[pipi_k]

28. You know, I don't tend to see sexism around every corner, but...

I have to agree with you here.


A woman candidate who had posed like Scott Brown did would have been vilified and called every name under the sun.


It wasn't bad enough that "person in the street" interviews had some calling Martha Coakley too aggressive, some calling her not aggressive enough...it seemed that she just couldn't do anything right.

If she had posed like Scott Brown did? Holy mother of macaroni!!! She'd have been dead in the water and probably would have lost even worse than she did.

Double standards suck.

[Freddie Stubbs]

30. That depends on whether or not the photos showed her naughty bits

Brown's photos did not show his. If they had, it might have been a different race.

[Igel]

41. That's sort of the problem.

"Nude photos" are different, in this case, from "reveal-all photos".

I mean, I could be photographed standing there naked with a rather large, wide, dense plant hiding me from the neck down. I'd be nude. Hence, I guess, the photos would be nude. But a picture of me in short pants and a t-shirt would reveal far more.

I guess if Coakley had been photographed with a scarf and hands placed to keep all her privates covered it would have been rather a bigger scandal. Then again, some would say that it was just her being proud of her body and making use of her assets in an uninhibited way.

I'd also note that at one point when I needed to get a bathing suit to go swimming and the only one I could find was a speedo, my girlfriend refused to let me wear it. The difference between that and naked wasn't sufficient. I looked in a mirror and she was right.

[Fire1]

31. "This is a man's world!" James Brown

[seabeyond]

33. ah, well... golly gee. guess i am done here then. why in the world should i challenge. nt

[HipChick]

37. as much as I hate to agree..

yes

[malaise]

36. A woman?

A male Democrat couldn't do it either.
Why is Palin fighting for custody against Levi again?

[swilton]

38. I think this discussion is a distraction from the real issue which

is the loss of the progressive base

[seabeyond]

39. because sexism is not a valid or worthwhile issue? nt

[myrna minx]

42. Sexism is a valid and important issue to be discussed.

It is not a *distraction*.

[Lorien]

53. Amen. Sexism is rampant on DU

and it's time that we stopped tolerating it and faced it head on.

[Vidar]

40. K&R.

[KingFlorez]

43. Yes, exactly right

The double standard is ridiculous.

[LeftHander]

46. Scatt Brownnose nt

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

47. Certainly wouldn't stop me from voting for a woman in that situation.

Provided of course she shared my values and was the best candidate for the job. Getting to see her naked wouldn't affect my decision one way or the other.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

48. Let's face it, MA. is the bastion of liberalism we thought it was.

This election has revealed more about MA. than we knew previously. That MA. has a misogynist bent is one of them.

[formercia]

49. I don't see why brown is so proud of that picture.

Hey Brownie, move that arm so we can see that little needle-dick of yours.

[femrap]

50. I fucking hate patriarchy....

as well as Corporations.

And I bet the Cosmo picture didn't even show his dick.

Alas.

[Lorien]

52. It looked like there wasn't much to show. nt

[femrap]

56. figures....

:evilgrin:

[Luciferous]

51. True

[treestar]

54. Very true

It is funny how a man's chest is OK to be seen in public, but a woman's is not.

[Kaleva]

57. Has any woman who posed nude ever tried to run for the Senate?

Until that happens, the opinion in the OP is speculation.

[undeterred]

58. A Republican woman could win if she had posed naked.

It would have happened before she came to Jesus.

No redemption for a Democratic woman, though.

[amborin]

59. good point

[Matariki]

60. Not true. A DEMOCRATIC woman wouldn't but a republican woman

look at who that party thinks is 'hot'. Palin, Coulter and Bachmann. Sheesh, any of them could pose for Playboy and they'd win the Republican vote on that alone. The Party of Shallow.

[PerpetuallyDazed]

61. I disagree!

We almost had a former beauty queen as VP, and Carrie Prejean could easily insert herself into the Republican fold if she had the inclination... I think it's more a hypocritical conservative thing and not necessarily a sexist thing.