Is She The Right Person To Be Labour's Spokesperson For Women?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2462032/Labours-Gloria-Piero-understands-girls-topless.html

/// The glamorous 40-year-old former GMTV political editor was 15 when she posed for the pictures to earn money to buy herself some new clothes. ///

There are plenty of girls who are short of money but who would never dream of posing topless for money at any age never mind at just 15 years of age, but even if they did it would be condemned as "out of date now" by Ms de Piero.

/// Ms de Piero said that when the truth about her photos emerged, Harriet Harman – who was the women and equalities minister at the time – provided her with ‘amazing’ support. ///

/// She told her: ‘Don’t worry, it’s absolutely fine Gloria, we wouldn’t judge you for that,’ and urged her not to ‘change’ or get ‘buttoned up’. ///

How very understanding of you Harriet, can you imagine what she would have said if this had been a female Tory minister?

[LazyGun]

@AoG "es much more so, they have been expected to lay down their very lives in defence of their country, their women and their children, have women ever been expected to do the same."

What an odd parallel to attempt to draw. Your entire argument that men are discriminated against is that men are on the front line, and women aren't?
Can you tell me why that practice exists? What is the primary reason why our cultures think women should not serve on the front line?

Have no women died in defence of their country?

How does that apply in business? in entertainment? in politics? in the service sector? in public service? Does the fact that men die on the frontline excuse the disparity in salaries between men and women doing the same job in the real world?

[LazyGun]

Now theres a first! A point that me and Dave50 agree upon :)

[emmie]

that white feather nonsense was a few and incredibly misguided, suggest you read the following writer, Vera Brittain, if you want to know how women served in WW1. as nurses, VAD's voluntary aides on the front lines, many were killed, they may not have taken up arms, the war ministry wouldn't have allowed it, but i wish sometimes people knew a little of the history of women in war time, it wasn't all sitting in the parlour drinking cups of tea.

[emmie]

would it not be preferable that the woman MP does a good job and be judged on that score, not quite so much in the look department. After all the men are not exactly Mr Universe types are they, do you judge them on their looks, or whether they can do the job...

[LazyGun]

@emmie "would it not be preferable that the woman MP does a good job and be judged on that score, not quite so much in the look department. After all the men are not exactly Mr Universe types are they, do you judge them on their looks, or whether they can do the job..."

Who is that directed at?

[emmie]

dave 50 and you LG, didn't you say you wholeheartedly agree, who cares what they look like, it's the job they do that is important.

quote
Makes a change to see a glamorous Labour MP. They are usually plain miserable looking women who seem to go out of their way to make themselves drab and unattractive.

[emmie]

so not only does she have to look glamorous but be good at the job, shame the same can't be said about most of the blokes in politics.

[LazyGun]

@ Emmie And you disregard the rest of my posts and just focus on that? You think the only reason I think she might make a good candidate is because i consider her to be good-looking? Sigh...

For the record then; For what its worth, based upon what I know of the woman ,I consider her a good candidate for the role she is being given, based around her life experiences . her political experience,the fact she is a woman, her career to date and the fact that she is eligible by virtue of being an MP.

I also think the fact that she is good looking works in her favour too, as it does for all people who are good-looking, be they women or men.

So yes, it is important the job they do. But in this day and age, sadly the way someone looks is important too -and do not try to deny it.

[emmie]

never applies to blokes though, not in politics... why would it be necessary, they are not film, tv stars, they are supposed to be running the country or waiting in opposition to do so...

[LazyGun]

@Emmie "never applies to blokes though, not in politics... why would it be necessary, they are not film, tv stars, they are supposed to be running the country or waiting in opposition to do so.."

Of course it does. Just look at the comments about Milibands looks, how his policies or his speeches are dismissed with reference to looking like Gromit or whatever, or because of his nasal delivery. Look at how Eric Pickles is derided and often dismissed over his weight, just to name a couple. If you think looks or appearance play no part in the judgement of a mans ability in politics, I think you are mistaken.

It has been an established fact for years in the US that the tallest, slimmest presidential candidate is likely to win.

So looks and bearing, charm and charisma are all part and parcel of being a politician nowadays, or at least how those qualities can be projected through the magic of television.

I will agree that women face that judgement more than men, but it still exists for men.

[emmie]

sorry but it doesn;t matter what the blokes look like, if they are good at their jobs surely that is all that matters, so what if Milliband looks like Gromit, so what if eric pickles is more like something off the magic roundabout, i don;t care, what i care about is the economy, immigration, trade, and much more

[emmie]

do you really think that women sit there and roll around laughing at Ed Milliband or David Cameron, no more than the men of this country, just because some papers choose to pick up on these oddities in our politicians it shouldn't matter. The thing i know about AB according to some is that all the tories are toffs, guffaw, and all the Labour bods wear cloth caps, also guffaw, patent stupid nonsense

[LazyGun]

@emmie "sorry but it doesn;t matter what the blokes look like, if they are good at their job"

Quite simply,that is factually incorrect. Sorry, but there it is. People do care. You might be a rare exception, and good for you, but if you can be truly blind to the way someone looks and sounds, the confidence and charm and charisma and bearing is totally irrelevant to whether you agree with them or not, you would an extremely rare individual indeed.

[jim360]

The fact that people comment on how Eric Pickles looks, or Ed Miliband's resemblance to Wallace -- even my own annoyance at the way George Osborne has done his hair, or David Cameron's tendency to wear his shirt with the top button undone -- shows that the appearance of men has some bearing on how we perceive them. I am sure that the problem is that much more acute for women, of course -- note dave50's description of women as "trying to look unattractive" as if this is some sort of cardinal sin. But even if women sufer judgement for there looks many times more than men do, men are also judged on their looks to some extent. This is sad, but it is inevitable.

[emmie]

President Nixon essentially lost to Kennedy because whilst Kennedy was young, quite handsome, Nixon was neither, and if you look at the footage of the two in a live debate, Nixon was sweating profusely, lights from the cameras most likely cause, however Kennedy came out on top. that is an example of judging a book by it's cover. That is not the way seriously one should be picking your candidate, perhaps it does help, but Kennedy had one more thing that Nixon lacked and that was oodles of charm and charisma, so he could have looked like the back end of a bus but won out anyway

[emmie]

i don't like Milliband because i think he is a weak leader, and Cameron seems rather out of touch, but in a fight i would stick my money on Cameron

[LazyGun]

@ Emmie You are arguing what should be, not what is. Women especially, but men too are judged on their looks,especially in those industries that are linked to the media- Entertainment Industry, Journalism, Politics,the charm and charisma they project, This is uncontroversial and a matter of fact.

[emmie]

in tv, film perhaps, but i didn't like a particular politician for their looks, but the fact they seemed a good person for the job, same as in work, i couldn't have cared less what the boss looked like, as long as he wasn't a lazy slob but worked as hard as everyone else.

[LazyGun]

@Emmie "in tv, film perhaps, but i didn't like a particular politician for their looks, but the fact they seemed a good person for the job, same as in work, i couldn't have cared less what the boss looked like, as long as he wasn't a lazy slob but worked as hard as everyone else"

And that is increasingly what politics is all about. Media appearances; soundbite politics.

So you cannot say that people are not influenced by the looks/character/charisma/bearing of men in politics, because it would be simply untrue, and has been scientifically demonstrated.

[Bazile]

emmie - I think you do have a hatred of all things labour - your pen appears to be always dipped in vitriol , when it comes to labour politicians ,particularily .

That's your right of course - but no point in denying it