Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Do Powerful Women Really Need Killer Smiles and Heels?



Kathleen Kennedy Townsend recently chided folks for how powerful women are treated. From her experience we can only infer that a powerful woman must wear rouge, stockings, heels and not too many bracelets. Ridiculous, you say; no one calls it rouge any more. It's dated, right? But I think not.

Witness the recent clamor over Hillary Clinton's smile, or more appropriately, her lack thereof. Then there was the grumbling about Harriet Tubman's facial expression in preparation for the 20. A NY Times article about the resting bitch face, or RBF, noted that some see Botox, and even surgery, as viable solutions to "the problem." These things made me angry.

I'm not gonna lie; it's personal. When I was a girl, people would often look at me, widen their eyes in an exaggerated way, as if beholding a rare bird or maybe a unicorn, and throw me a slightly confused look. It mystified me because I was not an unusual looking child. Read more here...