Monday, May 19, 2008

Man Bags?

I've been wanting to write this post in such a long time, yet time and time again distraction has gotten in the way and blogging has hit the back burner.
So alas, here I am and ready to write.

I don't consider myself to be a feminist. Infact with the good feminism has brought I also feel that it has wounded and dissillusioned woman tenfold. I respect and admire strong, independant woman more than I can ever express in words. But as the well known phrase states, "No man is an island" and nor is any woman.
When woman begin to believe that they would benefit from the exclusion of men from their lives. Well thats where I begin to feel that familiar irk. We were made for relationship with both men and woman. Friendship. And one gender without the other will inevitable find themselves lacking. We need things from each other which we struggle to find alone. We are incapable of 'doing it all'. We need the other so that we are better able to do whatever it is we were meant to be doing, to the best of our ability.
I have posted on similar things previously, and believe it or not this wasn't actually my reason for posting.

Rather I wanted to talk about this constant in the media for woman to always be eye candy and rarely anything more.
A couple of happenings which caught my attention recently were the visits made by 2 first ladies to the UK. However, while UK Newspapers couldn't keep one of them off the front page, the other didn't even receive a mention. Not in the back pages, not even a little article. Nothing. It was as if she was never there at all.
I'm talking about former supermodel Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, otherwise known as the new wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, otherwise known as that french chick who posed in nude photos. The other woman of which I refer is our very own Therese rein, otherwise known as the wife of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Both woman joined their husbands on a visit to the UK, no doubt to ensure alliances remained strong. The visit for both woman involved many photo ops aswell as charity events. One look at carla and Therese and it id clear they are completely different, yet they both fell prey to the same cruel media focus.
The way they looked.
newspaper after newspaper reported on the arrival of the french President and his wife, yet rather quickly it became clear what was believed to be the most important news of the hour, heres a roundup of newspaper reports about the Sarkozy-Bruni visit:
"Not since Anne Boleyn has a woman curtseyed so deeply, so demurely, or so calculatedly before a British monarch, writes … the Daily Mail as Fleet Street clears acres of space for the state visit of what the Independent calls France's ‘bling bling president’ and his wife. The Times - beside a black and white photograph of Carla Bruni-Sarkozy leaving the presidential plane in her grey Dior overcoat and matching pillbox hat - says she went for a look that was ‘part Jackie Onassis, part district nurse.’ ... But the Left-leaning Liberation highlights Mr Sarkozy's nervous ticks … and says he babbled like a child to the Queen at those moments when he had been advised to stay silent."
Daily Press in London stated, "...French President Sarkozy yesterday delivered a major speech on relations between our two countries. Can anyone remember a word he said? And will anyone forget the sight of his enchanting wife?..."
Not to mention the images of Carla's naked exploits during her younger days of modelling which plagued the press for the entirety of her visit.

While everyone is focussed on sideshows like Dior Coats and nervous ticks, France is actually in a bad way and in dire need of reform.

In Comparison the visit from Our Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Wife Therese, went unreported in the UK, however A Current affair hit the streets here in Oz to ask the big and important questions hich need to be answered...

...find out what the public thought of Rein’s fashion choices during her recent world tour with husband Kevin Rudd... What?!!!

Responses ranged from “just not stylish” to “very frumpy for a first lady” to, from Sydney hairdresser Joh Bailey,“[Her hair] definitely needs to be blowdried straight and smooth. It’s just not an appropriate look for the world stage.”


While Carla received nothing but praise, and Therese nothing but critisism, they do both find themselves in the same position. being valued on the bais of the way they look.
It is a sad reality that we find ourselves in. Forgive me for not knowing her name, but I saw woman on channel 7's Sunrise program appear as a guest panelist not long ago who had interviewed both Carla and Therese [at seperate times of course] and commented that both women were incredibly intelligent, warm and friendly people. Yet we are rarely told of any of this. Instead we find ourselves bombared with images and comments on their fashion choices rather than their thoughts and opinions and ability to communicate with people and do their husbands proud.
now I've heard of Man bags, but this is getting ridiculous. men should not carry handbags, because women have more to offer than that.
it's time we started to value women for more than face value. theres some incredible women out there, yet sadly we will never know so long as we continue to merely look and not engage.

Because honestly if we're going to talk about Therese Rein then lets not forget that This woman has founded and run a multimillion dollar business while raising three kids and supporting her husband to the highest office in the land.

But no, lets just keep talking about her clothes.

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