Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Sexist reactions to Susan Boyle




What Clark Collis, the author of the piece below failed to point out is that the way people have been reacting to Susan's Boyle's looks are not just unkind reactions because she does not meet the modern standard of beauty in the West but because we still live in a very sexist society. Very unconventional looking men like Lyle Lovett and Sean Penn actually use their unconventional looks to propel them to stardom but women are still expected to look like Barbie.

3 comments:

FjordWoman said...

You are SO right, Gimmer!
Hubby and I love Susan Boyle and wish her the best of luck.
What struck me was the sneary reactions of all the teen and early 20's women in the audience during the taping of Susan's audition.
We females are so conditioned and programmed by the patriarchy that we self-police with our rigid adherence to the "feminine standard " of acceptability, ie, thinness, looking as young as possible, and being as sexualized as possible.
All rubbish in my book.
Susan's got an awesome voice and I hope she lets nothing get in her way!

FjordWoman said...

Oh, and I really do appreciate your blog and your posts,too!

Gimmer said...

Thanks so much for that. It is right on the money. I am so glad you enjoy my blog. I still hope to own a Fjord horse some day!



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