Heh, looks like Flake is getting desperate

[memphis]

Why is it "sexist" to point out that a particular woman is unattractive? It's not a blanket statement about women as a whole. It's a comment about one woman.

[BM]

I already explained. This isn't a private conversation between friends and if you don't understand what's wrong then there's no hope for you.

I'm guessing you just feel the need to defend the Democrat. Relax. This isn't a big enough issue to sink his campaign, but your defense of sexism in the spirit of partisanship still reeks.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Why is it "sexist" to point out that a particular woman is unattractive? It's not a blanket statement about women as a whole. It's a comment about one woman.

Do you seriously think Carmona would have made the same comment referring to a man?

[Brittain33]

Why is it "sexist" to point out that a particular woman is unattractive? It's not a blanket statement about women as a whole. It's a comment about one woman.

It's sexist because appearance has nothing to do with her job, because comments like that have held women back from equal opportunity, and because virtually no one makes comments like that about male anchors or takes them seriously. Look at the way Fox News casts its anchorwomen, would Candy Crowley be given a lead job there? But Bill O'Reilly has a show. 

[memphis]

Why is it "sexist" to point out that a particular woman is unattractive? It's not a blanket statement about women as a whole. It's a comment about one woman.

It's sexist because appearance has nothing to do with her job, because comments like that have held women back from equal opportunity, and because virtually no one makes comments like that about male anchors or takes them seriously. Look at the way Fox News casts its anchorwomen, would Candy Crowley be given a lead job there? But Bill O'Reilly has a show. 

If you're on television, your appearance is absolutely part of your job. For newspeople, it's pretty much all of their job. Any idiot can read a teleprompter. And that's true for men as well as woman. Unless it's for comic relief, nobody is going to put a bald fat slob on tv either.

[BigSkyBob]

It's getting more attention than I expected and Carmona has issued an apology.

So what? It is a question of whether, or not, he is fit to hold office.

[Brittain33]

If you're on television, your appearance is absolutely part of your job. For newspeople, it's pretty much all of their job. Any idiot can read a teleprompter. And that's true for men as well as woman. Unless it's for comic relief, nobody is going to put a bald fat slob on tv either.

Tim Russert? Not bald, but not skinny...

[BM]

Um, Candy Crowley does more than just read a teleprompter, and most of the men on all 3 cable networks are hideous slobs if you want to go there. It's much harder for women to not be judged on their appearance.

I can't believe fellow Democrats feel the need to defend this, especially since it isn't even damaging his campaign or anything. The internet is full of sexist creeps and immature adolescents I suppose.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Why is it "sexist" to point out that a particular woman is unattractive? It's not a blanket statement about women as a whole. It's a comment about one woman.

Do you seriously think Carmona would have made the same comment referring to a man?

I'm curious.

[memphis]

Why is it "sexist" to point out that a particular woman is unattractive? It's not a blanket statement about women as a whole. It's a comment about one woman.

Do you seriously think Carmona would have made the same comment referring to a man?

I'm curious.

If the man in the comment were Danny DeVito, absolutely. Candy is notably unattractive. And it's ridiculous that all these people pretend not to notice. And if the issue is being ugly to ugly people, sure. That's a crappy way to be. But to claim sexism, the issue has to be specifically about gender. If he had said she should get back in the kitchen and bake some cookies, that would be sexism.

[Badger]

That doesn't make any sense. Men historically have had the upper hand over women, have treated women as sex objects, have judged professional women solely on their looks, made disparaging comments about said looks, etc. So yes, it IS more offensive for a man to diminish a professional woman based on her looks alone.

What you said like saying something racist about black people and then saying something racist about white people and saying they're equivalent and cancel each other out.

You tell 'em, cupcake.


(Kiddingkiddingkiddingkiddingkiddingkiddingkidding)

[Badger]

It's getting more attention than I expected and Carmona has issued an apology.

The problem for Carmona is that his statement plays into the ad Flake had been running about his supposed issues with women.  And it is never good for a candidate when he or she plays into the perception that their opponent is trying to push.  Right now I don't think this is a big issue but it would not be good if anything else came along to further this storyline.

Very correct answer.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Why is it "sexist" to point out that a particular woman is unattractive? It's not a blanket statement about women as a whole. It's a comment about one woman.

Do you seriously think Carmona would have made the same comment referring to a man?

I'm curious.

If the man in the comment were Danny DeVito, absolutely. Candy is notably unattractive. And it's ridiculous that all these people pretend not to notice. And if the issue is being ugly to ugly people, sure. That's a crappy way to be. But to claim sexism, the issue has to be specifically about gender. If he had said she should get back in the kitchen and bake some cookies, that would be sexism.

You fail to realize that sexism is much more subtle than its most obvious clichés. It's exactly like racism, in some way: you can very well say something not nominally racist, but which plays on subconscious race-based feelings.

And talks about "attractiveness" fall exactly in this category. The attractiveness of a male is never an issue unless it's directly related to his job (actor, model, etc... and even then, never as much as women). Instead, when it comes to women, were it be politics, journalism or anything else, there are always people bragging about them being ugly. This is nothing else than veiled gender stereotypes.