Sunday, July 22, 2007

Clinton's Cleavage? What? Are you kidding me?

So, what is this going to be, the year of the breast? First they focus was on McCain and Thompson's wives' cleavage and now this? This is just silly:

With Clinton, there was the sense that you were catching a surreptitious glimpse at something private. You were intruding -- being a voyeur. Showing cleavage is a request to be engaged in a particular way. It doesn't necessarily mean that a woman is asking to be objectified, but it does suggest a certain confidence and physical ease. It means that a woman is content being perceived as a sexual person in addition to being seen as someone who is intelligent, authoritative, witty and whatever else might define her personality. It also means that she feels that all those other characteristics are so apparent and undeniable, that they will not be overshadowed.

To display cleavage in a setting that does not involve cocktails and hors d'oeuvres is a provocation. It requires that a woman be utterly at ease in her skin, coolly confident about her appearance, unflinching about her sense of style. Any hint of ambivalence makes everyone uncomfortable. And in matters of style, Clinton is as noncommittal as ever.

Does she have a fashion consultant who is advising her to compete with Republican cleavage? Who knows, but we do know that Gore had a fashion consultant who advised him to wear earth tones to appear more of an alpha male. Maybe having taken the hit for not being much of a woman, she's decided to fight back and demonstrate that she is a woman.

BTW, I don't think it would get her kicked off a bus.