Gunn: I'm deeply respectful of gender and of gender differences, and I like someone who acknowledges what his or her gender happens to be. I mean, are we ready for a male cross-dresser in the White House? No. But frankly speaking, there are times when I wonder about Hillary.
To which the interviewer could have responded, what a nasty thing to say, are you really this small, and by the way, let's save us both a little dignity and not print what you just said. Instead, she learnedly responds:
Ha! Is there any female who pulls it off well?
A bit later:
[Interviewer]I hate to keep focusing on Hillary [heh], but is there anything she's doing right?
Tim Gunn: [Pauses] You can say I responded with utter silence. [Laughs] But let me put it this way: her clothes fit her, she does have a polish, and she's well groomed. Those things are all good. But it's like she's wearing a whole body of Kevlar and she wants to make certain as much of her is protected as possible. I just want to say to her, "Hillary, don't be afraid to wear a dress!"
Ranging from the most to the least "reputable" sources, the level of sheer discursive scummery that this Primary has unearthed retains the capacity for surprise, even among the least "Hopeful" of us.
3 comments:
Disgusting. To return to Megs' post about the prevalence of sexism vs. racism, I think this provides an excellent example of how sexism is tolerated in a way that racism is not. Who's calling for Tim Gunn to make a public apology to Hillary Clinton and women in general? Do you think he'd get away with saying a similarly offensive thing about Obama--i.e., "Black men don't wear power suits! I think Obama is confused about his race." Shame on you, Tim Gunn. And shame on the media and the public for allowing this kind of blantant sexism to slide by again and again.
The point is, unfortunately, that very few people recognize this statement as sexist. The question we need to address is how do we make sexism part of the national debate again? I would also like to add that while I agree racist comments are tolerated much less than sexist comments that shouldn't imply that we discuss issues of race at a national level. We don't discuss racism in any more depth than we discuss sexism.
On a slightly different note, Supadiscomama, I think you should join The Rhetorical Situation.
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