Body Image Activist, Eating Disorders mamaVISION

While listening to The Sean Hannity radio show while driving home last night, I heard an interesting discussion on Sarah Palin’s resignation.

A male caller from Brooklyn weighed in with his wisdom;

“She’s too good looking for politics, she will never be taken seriously.”

Hannity responded;

“Do you really believe that?”

Brooklyn boy;

“Yeah, to make it as Senator, or to the Presidential level, you have to look like Hillary Clinton or Madeline Albright.”

Here Jezebel puts in their two cents on the good, bad, ugly on Palin.

I’d like to hear your take on this…your honest take. Here’s mine;

I’m with Brooklyn boy. Hate to say it, but this is the way the world works. An attractive woman needs to work twice as hard to prove she is intelligent. Once she proves it, she is always proving it, she is never off the hook.

I’ve worked in a male dominated business my entire career. I hid my modeling past for this very reason- who the hell is going to take me seriously in high tech with that background?

The Rules:
1) Always downplay your looks. Wear pantsuits, stand tall and intimidate them with self confidence.

2) No girlie stuff – nix the heavy makeup, long nails and pumps. Pull your hair back, and hold the perfume.

3) Flirting is a bad move, there’s no place for it. None.

4) Be tough, direct and non apologetic.

5) And most importantly – cry and you’re dead.

I cried once in my entire career. I tried like hell to hold it in, but the issue being discussed impacted my children (I missed part of their Halloween due to business travel) only to come back to my a-hole boss ranking on me about why I didn’t stay on site.

Good news is those four tears were followed by the first and only time I dropped an f-bomb in business. The tears dried up, I freaked on the guy, and had him literally begging me to settle down and asking me what I needed (he was scared as hell I was going to quit because I was his top sales person).

In the end I got him….but I still regret crying.

Bottomline: good looks can play to your advantage in business situations, but when you get to the Executive Level, you find yourself standing in a hole that you never stop digging out of.

I have a feeling I may get hammered on this one, so pound away,
mV

I am sure you have been following the latest “your fat, no I’m not saga” involving Megan McCain and Laura Ingraham…but if not here’s the gist;

In a purely political discussion, of which both women are respected thought leaders, Ingraham chose to make a wise crack about McCain being “plus sized.”

WTF big time.

McCain shot back with intelligent, well thought out remarks on the View yesterday;

“What do young women think when I speak my mind about politics and I
want to have a political discussion about the ideological future of the
Republican Party and the answer is, ‘She’s fat, she shouldn’t have an
opinion’?”

Discussion continued on her blog today;

All I can do is try to be a positive role model for women of my
generation and, I hope, help show that no matter what industry you are
in, what size you are has nothing to do with your worth.

Ok, good, good. McCain had me going until this excuse for herself sputtered out of her mouth;

“I have been teased about my weight and body figure since I was in
middle school, and I decided a very long time ago to embrace what God
gave me and live my life positively, attempting to set an example for
other girls who may suffer from body image issues. I have nothing to
hide: I am a size 8 and fluctuated up to a size 10 during the campaign.
It’s ridiculous even to have this conversation because I am not
overweight in the least and have a natural body weight.”

Sorry babe, but you are talking out of both sides of your mouth. Are you embracing what God gave you or trying to convince the world that you are comfortable with it?

Why did she feel the need to reveal her actual dress size for cripes sake? Doesn’t this in itself show her insecurity and her need to prove she is good enough?

I’m not trying to hammer McCain too much, she’s under one hell of a lot of pressure here and I am not sure I would articulate my points any better, but the whole thing is just totally and completely infuriating.

So here we sit.

Women sparring women.

I’ve always said it, we are our worst enemy girls.

Until we find peace within ourselves,

we are basically screwed.

-mV