If, like me, you enjoy shouting at the television during University Challenge, then this story may interest you. While I consider an achievement to answer just one question during the entire show, The Corpus Christi College in Oxford recently flew to success, smashing their opponents by 275 points to 190. And arguably, the key to their success lay in their team captain, 26 year old Gail Trimble, who answered two-thirds of her team's points over all the shows leading up to the final.
Obviously, though, it is not enough for such a highly intelligent woman to remain... merely intelligent. No, these days you have to be either intelligent and annoying, or intelligent and hot. Ever since Ms Trimble's TV success, "The Cleverest Woman Ever On University Challenge" has apparently received everything from abusive criticism over her appearance and 'smug' attitude, to requests from lad's magazine Nuts, known for it's soft-porn, for her to pose for a 'tasteful' photo session.
And like she says... would she have received any of this attention if she was male? Unless she University Challenge's answer to Brad Pitt, it's doubtful.
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Go Gail!
I used to be the captain of my 'Reach for the Top' team - same set up as University Challenge only at the highschool level. I've never had anyone accuse me of PMSing or encourage me to "Smile! You'd be so pretty if you smiled!" but if I had a dollar for everytime someone suggested that I must scare off all the boys with my smarts, I'd be rich. My standard response was that I only scared off the stupid boys so it was okay but it frosted me that people would even suggest that would be a concern of mine.
As far as I know, no one ever accused my male teammates of 'scaring off the girls' with their smarts.
In one of the interviews (it didn't link directly to the interview, had to do some clicking), she said something very interesting about the men's magazines wanting her to do some tasteful photo shoots.
"It is nice when people are saying nice things about my appearance and not nasty things, but on the other hand its really sad that they feel the necessity to say things about my appearance at all."
Clearly she isn't accepting of the standard that once a woman enters "the public sphere" (be that getting your name in the paper or simply stepping outside), her apperance becomes an acceptable subject for scrutiny.
When will women's bodies stop being public property?
I think the problem is that, by only acknowledging/applauding her for her intelligence and academic accomplishments, they run the risk of making her an equal or even (gasp! The horror!) an intellectual superior. By focusing on her hotness/body flaws/sweetness/shrillness/etc., she becomes "just a woman" again. It's a sick attitude toward female success that needs to go away.
I've been noticing how mens magazines will overtly sexually objectify women. I recently subscribed to Mens Health (though, I'm a woman), and see how in mens magazines when they feature a woman, her sexual imagery and identity come first before any accomplishments. It belittles her. This is blatant indocrination.
BTW, I hate buying mens magazines, but the majority of womens magazines (Allure, ect) focus only on make-up and dress. Mens Fitness has alot of articles on finance, gadgets, ect. I would love for a similar magazine to come out for women.
Should I be ashamed that my gut reaction to the story was along the lines of "OMG that's so hot, I wish I could be her boyfriend?" I don't know what it says about me that, when I find myself admiring someone who happens to be a reasonably good looking woman, I can't distinguish between feelings of admiration and feelings of lust.
It probably doesn't help that she resembles the first girl I ever had a crush on...
Don't apologize, Doug S.
There's nothing wrong with being attracted to Gail Trimble.
Not only is she the smartest young adult in the United Kingdom she's also very pretty (and not in an airbrushed fashion model way).
So no, there's nothing wrong with both admiring her AND lusting after her.
I really liked the take of this post - http://www.agendered.com/archives/588 on the media coverage of Gail Trimble.
Even the people who are positive about her can't stop themselves objectifying her. There seems to be no space for an intelligent woman who is an intelligent woman, and no more. Sure, there's space for crushes on people in the public eye, but in the case of Gail Trimble, the incessant talk about how her intellectual achievements affect her attractiveness as a woman are clearly about her being a woman, and not a man.