It doesn't matter how brilliant or intelligent a woman is, the patriarchy will always find a way to put her down or diminish her credibility and accomplishments. One of the easiest ways to do this? Objectifying and sexualizing her.
Here are some of the many, many times this has happened to powerful women:
Every time Amal Clooney was "sexy" while she was supporting her husband:
Amal Clooney is a human rights lawyer who has been put in charge of some of the media's most high-profile cases, and yet publications prefer to characterize her as George Clooney's arm candy. Headlines about Amal range from "Amal Clooney Wows in Sexy Cutout Dress as she Supports Hubby George" to "Yikes, George Clooney's Wife Amal Alamuddin Shows Photographers More Than She Meant To, And They Are In 'Flash-Shot' Heaven."
Tina Fey said it best when she was hosting the Golden Globes:
“George Clooney married Amal Alamuddin this year. Amal is a human rights lawyer who worked on the Enron case, was an adviser to Kofi Annan regarding Syria, and was selected for a three-person UN commission investigating rules of war violations in the Gaza Strip. So tonight… her husband is getting a lifetime achievement award.”
This applies to pretty much every headline about her, which focuses on her marriage or her clothing. Nevertheless, many women's publications have taken note and started calling George her trophy husband — that's more like it!
When the world couldn't handle Michelle Obama in a breathtaking Versace gown:
Michelle Obama is a goddess, this is a fact. So when she wore this stunning, ethereal Versace number, we were all swooning. But of course, the trolls disgustingly objectified the first lady. Blog posts and articles ranged from demeaning descriptions such as "Does Michelle have a big bum?'"and "Wow! Checkout Michelle Obama's Sexy Butt in Versace Dress."
The fact that people had the audacity to sexualize the first lady and pick apart her body is repulsive. She's one of the most powerful women in the United States. It's thanks to her that our education system has improved so drastically, and it's thanks to her kids have healthier options at school, among a list of other accomplishments. But none of this should even matter. Wearing something sexy, no matter who you are, is not an invitation for anyone to analyze your body.
Or Michelle Obama's prom dress, for that matter:
With coverage like this of every outfit she wore as first lady, it's understandable that our favorite former FLOTUS was hesitant when Ellen DeGeneres said she would reveal her prom photos on her talk show. Seemingly anticipating criticism for her leg slit, the first lady told Ellen,
"That split was a little high. I don't know if I'd let my kids go out with a split that high. So let's not show this to Sasha and Malia."
Maybe she meant it. However, there is nothing wrong with her high leg slit! It doesn't make her any less of a boss and it does not negate either of her two Ivy League degrees. You are allowed to be fiercely intelligent, accomplished, powerful, AND sexy. And no one should have to apologize for that.
The many times Hillary's pantsuits were not "feminine" (aka sexy) enough:
Every president the United States of America has worn a pantsuit — because lets be real, a pantsuit is just a suit. Suits inherently include pants, but apparently that's just too masculine of a phrase to apply to a woman's style. Throughout her career as a first lady, as a senator, and as a presidential candidate winning the popular vote, people couldn't stop gossiping about Hillary Clinton's pantsuits.
Jimmy Fallon famously said of her expectant grandchild, "If it's a girl, it will get some of Chelsea's old hand-me-downs, and if it's a boy, it will get some of Hillary's." Tim Gunn said she does not dress according to her gender, a statement that's entirely problematic.
But what does that even mean? Why does Hillary get shamed for wearing the same thing as the men with the seats at the table? The answer's pretty clear.
All of the headlines prying into Hillary's sex life after the Lewinsky scandal:
The media's attack on Hillary's femininity didn't end with her pantsuits. Some of the most revolting attacks on Hillary came when her husband, who was president at the time, famously cheated on her with an intern. It didn't matter that Monica Lewinsky was put in a problematic power dynamic and it didn't matter that Hillary Clinton had literally nothing to do with it — they were both attacked.
Media outlets and tabloids blamed Hillary for being an ice queen, suggesting she was not an adequate wife. And when she stood by her husband, they blamed her for putting her own political agenda first. It didn't matter how she handled it, the media decided to tear down the woman.
It's one of the most private matters a family can go through, and the media decided to scapegoat the two biggest victims of the situation. It was repulsive.
That time Marcia Clark's nude photos were leaked:
Thanks to "The People vs. O.J." miniseries, Marcia Clark finally got some justice for how horribly she was treated during the O.J. Simpson trial. The media ripped into her appearance and her personal life, and at one point, her ex mother-in-law even sold nude photos of her to the media.
While there are now laws in place to prevent something like this from happening again, at the time, there were very few critics of how Clark was treated by the media. She helped lead the prosecution team on what was easily the most covered trial of the century — but the media couldn't see past the fact that she was a woman. These leaked nude photos were cheerfully used by her biggest critics to diminish her credibility.
That time Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, was blasted for being too sexy in her Vogue spread:
Marissa Mayer is the CEO of Yahoo and one of the most powerful women in business. So when Vogue wanted to shoot her for an editorial, the last thing they wanted was a conventional photo of her sitting in an office.
The picture of Mayer shows her lounging upside down in a knee-length sleeveless dress. Very little of her skin is showing, but it still caused an uproar. Mayer got bashed by many colleagues and reporters, and she was even chastised for the photo shoot at a press conference by talk show host Charlie Rose. He mockingly asked her, "Will we see Larry Page on the cover of Vogue?"
According to a Mashable reporter, she got embarrassed and defended herself, stating that it was not the cover and the photographer implied to her the photo should be taken "out of necessity." But why should a photo make anyone take her less seriously? She shouldn't be mocked for taking an attractive photo of herself.
