Palin's Appearance
I know, more Sarah Palin?
But this article blames her appearance for John McCain's loss in the election.
Oh yes.
"It wasn't her appearance per se" that soured people on Palin, Heflick said in an interview. "It was the effect her appearance had on their perception of her competence and humanity. Those variables made people less likely to vote for her."...
Here's the rest of the article.
I find this interesting...and a little ridiculous. What are your thoughts?
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McCain and Palin losing had nothing to do with her appearance or her being a woman. It had to do with people being tired of the same policies they'd had for eight years. Some people in the conservative movement would like to blame Palin rather than admit that the Bush polices McCain agreed with 95% of the time were unpopular.
Even if we had evidence their loss was because of Palin I think her appearance would be near the bottom of the lists of reasons people didn't go for her. Right behind...
1. Her obvious ignorance and some of her confused sound bites that reminded people of the "Bushisms".
2. Her extremist religious views. Most Americans don't believe in witches or think dinosaurs and man lived at the same time.
3. Her cruelty to animals. Even some hunters in my family felt shooting wolves from helicopters was a bit sadistic.
4. Her anti-choice and anti-gays beliefs coupled with her claim she wasn't homophobic because she had a "gay friend" who's existence no one has been able to prove.
5. Her total lack of experience.
And that's just off the top of my head.
Unfortunately I doubt 2-4 counted against her very much with anyone likely to vote Republican anyway.
Unfortunately, conventionally good looks can be a double edged sword for women. I have not personally observed a man’s ‘hotness’ or sex appeal undermine peoples’ perception of his intelligence and general competency. If anything, it adds to the perception of power and influence. It doesn’t seem to lead to assumptions that he screwed someone to get where he is or that he only got there because of his good looks (to be eye candy). With women, there is this unspoken dichotomy that you can either be smart OR sexy/beautiful, but not both at the same time. Men and women alike can be quick to assume negative things about a beautiful woman who is in a position of power, especially if she holds a position that they feel should be rightfully theirs. More often than not good looks are a blessing in every day life but for women they certainly come with a downside if you have any serious political or business ambitions. It seems that people want you to be attractive enough not to scare people away but not so attractive that you inspire lust or romantic crushes, at least not if you intend to be taken seriously. It’s all BS, but it exists all the same.
I completely agree. I don't know if this is per se to blame for McCain/Palin's defeat, but I absolutely feel that above-average looking women in positions of power experience a backlash wherein people tend to assume they slept or flirted their way to the top.
HAHAHA! She lost because she was a loony toon, not because of her face.
I didn't know people as conservative as her even EXISTED until I saw her on tv. And then I was afraid. Very afraid.
Watching her interviews on tv was hilarious though. They always seemed like they were jokes to make fun of her, but it actually WAS her, and she was being serious. haha.
The most brutal Tina Fey impression of Palin was when she quoted her answer from the Katie Couric interview literally verbatim.
I agree that it was her ignorance and extremist views that may have lost the Republicans votes (not that I'm complaining), but, as far as how she looked is concerned, there is one factor that has been overlooked here....that is the sheer volume of money spent on clothes for the campaign trail (more than I earn in a year!).
You get what you pay for. McCain's campaign focused its resources on making Palin look good, and that's where they had their greatest success.
Let's see... if you look like Hillary, they make a nutcracker doll out of you. Then you lose the race. If you look like Sarah Palin, you get this huge buzz about how fuckable you are. Then you lose the race. wtf????????????
If Palin were a qualified candidate, I think her appearance would have only rocketed her to more popularity among the nation... But because of her character, perhaps it's fair to say that people looked at her in a more negative way because she came off as a barbie doll.
this study barely makes sense. the outcome comments make even less sense. when was it conducted? undergraduates? participants already had multifaceted information about these two women walking into the study. a more substainable debate would be about the logistics of this "study" and the pontificated results. sounds to me like they already knew what they wanted to blame.
Granted, I'm straight and female so maybe I'm missing something important here but am I the only person who doesn't think that Palin is all that good-looking? She's average, sure but hardly a knock-out. I'm not trying to be mean or anything, I just don't see it.
kis4me - Exactly. I don't even understand how they came to any conclusions based on what was presented of the study in article.
I'm a hetero guy and I thought she was pretty until her Convention speech when her inner ugliness (viciousness + stupidity) was exposed. She's no Tina Fey, but compared to most politicians she was downright adorable until I got to know her. There's a reason the highest paid person in the McCain campaign was Palin's hairdresser, that's where the competence lay.
It's not that her appearance made her appear less competent, it's that her appearance got her promoted to the level where her incompetence really shined.