Cosmetic Coverage

By Jennifer L. Pozner, FAIR. Posted March 13, 2001.

In a bizarre attempt to link Florida secretary of state Katherine Harris' fashion faux-pas to her job performance, Washington Post Style reporter Robin Givhan (11/18/00) wrote: "She seems to have applied her makeup with a trowel. At this moment that so desperately needs diplomacy, understatement and calm, one wonders how this Republican woman, who can't even use restraint when she's wielding a mascara wand, will manage to use it and make sound decisions in this game of partisan one-upmanship."

It wasn't Harris' connections to George W. Bush's presidential campaign that made Givhan doubt her impartiality, it was that she "believe[d] the magazines when they said that blue eye shadow was back. She failed to think for herself. Why should anyone trust her?"

In the weeks following the election this insulting invective was echoed by a multitude of media voices, including Givhan's Style section colleague Tony Kornheiser (Washington Post, 11/19/00), who derided Harris as "the Junior League Blind Date From Hell!" Taking their cue from late-night comedians and partisan pundits, news reporters and columnists alike relentlessly ripped into Harris' appearance, turning her hair, makeup and clothing into a national joke.

To their credit, some journalists expressed outrage that Harris' looks had become a major topic of public debate. L.A. Times columnist Mike Downey (11/22/00) compared the abuse to media personalities' mean-spirited savaging of Janet Reno's height, Monica Lewinsky's weight, Hillary Rodham Clinton's legs, Paula Jones' nose and Linda Tripp's body. "Why are only women fair game?" Downey asked. "I don't hear a lot of comedians saying on TV: 'And then did you see what that bald-headed Bill Daley did?'" This sort of media treatment may be a barrier to women vying for office, Downey wrote: "Wonder why more women don't run for president? How would you like your physical appearance ridiculed seven days a week, for four to eight years?"

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorialized (11/22/00), "Amazing how quickly the nation's anger over a frustrating election morphed into a full-scale attack on one woman's appearance.... Sophomoric cracks about [Harris'] appearance should be out of bounds. Criticize her for how she applies herself to her job, not how she applies her mascara."

A Girlish lady

Too bad the "newspaper of record" didn't learn from this advice. When George W. Bush tapped foreign policy expert Condoleeza Rice to be the first female National Security Advisor, a front-page New York Times story (12/18/00) reported that "her dress size is between a 6 and an 8... because of 'muscle mass.'"

Times reporter Elaine Sciolino also felt compelled to mention that Rice has a "girlish laugh and gushes of Southern charm" and "can be utterly captivating -- without ever appearing confessional or vulnerable." At times the piece read like a game of "one of these facts is not like the other":

"She eats either a bagel or cereal every day for breakfast. She is always impeccably dressed, usually in a classic suit with a modest hemline, comfortable pumps and conservative jewelry. She keeps two mirrors on her desk at Stanford, apparently to check the back as well as the front of her hair. ('I do try to make sure everything is in place,' she explained.) She has an oil supertanker named after her, a result of being on the Chevron Corporation board."

It is significant that the woman chosen to shape American foreign policy has direct ties to a company implicated in serious human rights abuses overseas (Democracy Now!, 9/30/98). The newsworthiness in Rice's bagel breakfasts, sensible shoes and haircare regimen is harder to discern.

Salon.com's Fiona Morgan (12/18/00) found the "retrograde gender imagery" laced throughout the Times' profile "shocking." As Morgan noted, "We read nothing about her experience and positions on national security until the story's 27th paragraph, not quite the very end." But the Times did find space to quote Colin Powell in the 14th paragraph, reflecting that "Condi was raised first and foremost to be a lady," and to tell us in the 16th paragraph that her father "still calls his daughter 'little star.'"

Discussing the Times' treatment of Rice on CNN's Reliable Sources (12/23/00), pundit Jack Germond said, "Well, you know, I'm not notoriously sensitive. But even I when I read that thought, 'What a thing to do.' What you're not going to do is, you're not going to describe Colin Powell [that way]. How many mirrors does Colin Powell have? I don't know."

You Are What You Wear

Media coverage that trivializes women in politics is certainly outrageous, but it is far from new. Condoleeza Rice is not the only record-breaking woman in politics to be noted for her dress size. Reporting from the 1984 Democratic convention (7/18/84), NBC's Tom Brokaw referred to Geraldine Ferraro as "the first woman to be nominated for vice president -- size 6!" Earlier that year, when the Democrats were first flirting with the notion of a woman on the top ticket, the Washington Post reported, "Ferraro lost 25 pounds on a careful diet, down from a size 10 to a 6."

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