dagblog - Comments for "This picture irritates me"

OK, I can't resist: I

CVille Dem — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 06:14:41 +0000

OK, I can't resist: I sincerely hope Hillary doesn't go to one of those bare-breasted places; or at least not feel required to do the same.

Thanks for the thoughtful

Emma Zahn — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 03:54:23 +0000

In reply to This picture irritates me

Thanks for the thoughtful post. I especially like the part about the language of clothes.

Between this accidental post and yard work, I am pretty much burned out and over my irritation now.

Good to hear from you.

Good night.

Heh. Proximity does not make

eds — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 00:42:19 +0000

In reply to This picture irritates me

Heh. Proximity does not make for bedfellows.

"when in Rome..." You'd

kenga — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 23:24:35 +0000

In reply to This picture irritates me

"when in Rome..."
You'd probably reject my:
"sack the Vatican".
(not without reason, but still ...)

I adore Queen Rania and the

dijamo — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 22:09:02 +0000

In reply to This picture irritates me

I adore Queen Rania and the work she is doing for women and children's rights in the Muslim world. She gets hammered for some for not wearing the headcovering, but she only does so when she wants to. I believe when visiting mosques, she wears headscarves, just not in everyday life. But when she visited the Pope at the Vatican, Queen Rania wore a mantilla out of respect for Catholic traditions, though it was not required. When he came to Jordan, she remained uncovered. It's about showing respect to Catholic traditions, just as Hillary was showing respect to Muslim traditions.

On more thought, I would like

artappraiser — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 21:51:41 +0000

In reply to This picture irritates me

On more thought, I would like to throw another vein into the discussion.

It has always struck me that Hillary Clinton has always waged a mighty struggle with the iconography of dress. She didn't like having to do it back in first lady days, even as first lady of Arkansas. That clothing is a language just bugs her, as if she would welcome a uniform for work, i.e., the navy blue suit, white shirt, and red tie of the old IBM man.

Seems to me reading about her over the years, she vacillates between obediently taking advice from advisors on what to wear and rebelling against them, feeling that they are not getting the message right. But because she has never cared much about such things, and indeed sometimes hated the fact that clothing was important, her own judgment on the messages that this or that clothing gives is very bad, too. So we have the 100's of hairdoes, etc. And I think we will see her as Secretary of State falling into what some see as an inappropriate message as to dress because of this. Sometimes she will be in the mood of "I don't give a fuck what I look like and no one else should either."

(There was a comic commenter here I enjoyed on TPM during the primaries, RenStimpy--got banned, I think, for being too boisterous--who mostly picked on the Obama worshippers but sometimes threw in a crack at Hillary as well. I just loved his wry cracks about Hillary's huge primary pantsuit collection, something about that resonated, that the pantsuit thing was something that advisors and Hillary had settled upon as appropriate and also "her.")

While it can be argued that

artappraiser — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 21:27:20 +0000

In reply to This picture irritates me

While it can be argued that there are many "evil" sides to the Hashemite rule of Jordan, I find I've got to admire Queen Rania (and hubby for supporting her) for running around allover the place with long "sexy" hair uncovered, and not only that but posting tons of pics doing so on her official website:

http://www.queenrania.jo/default.aspx

(Be sure to check out the Women Empower page there, Emma:
http://www.queenrania.jo/content/sectionPage.aspx?secID=womn)

I'm sure there's some Wahhabi sermons someplace calling her the painted hussy whore of Babylon. More power to her, keep on keeping on.

As for my opinion on your topic, I think that it's an ok show of respect to put on a veil of some kind when visiting a holy site or meeting with a religious authority, but I am also happy when people push the boundaries by not doing it. It's a symbol of tolerating (and I do mean tolerance in the true definition of the word) "the other" to not expect them to affect your dress codes and not to read any meaning into it when they don't. It's the kind of tolerance we are going to need in a globalizing world, and symbolics of that would be a welcome sign in that process.

For all the leaders at a conference to don some part of the host country's national dress for a photo-op as a sign of respect is also silly business that I would welcome stopping. It's not a big deal, but the stopping of it would signal progress in the diplomatic world in my mind. It is a so much better message to have a natural mixture and to have everyone accepting the others dressed as they usually do. It would be a good sign if some of these expectations stopped--

either you're welcoming a guest who is an "other" or you're not.

It is about women and power.

Emma Zahn — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 20:55:55 +0000

In reply to This picture irritates me

It is about women and power. Women at the pinnacle of power diminishing that power or letting it be diminished by losing control of their image.

Nancy Pelosi is a very much a power dresser. She understands image and will likely not make let the scarf thing become an issue again.

Hillary is much more down to earth and the power dressing thing does not really work as well for her. Nevertheless, as SOS, she should take care with her image.

IIRC, Wonder Woman is from

Emma Zahn — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 20:49:23 +0000

In reply to This picture irritates me

IIRC, Wonder Woman is from Amazonia. Royalty too. And those are her everyday work clothes. She wore different ones at court. :-)

So have you ever wondered why

Zipperupus — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 20:18:48 +0000

In reply to This picture irritates me

So have you ever wondered why Secretary Clinton hasn't worn a suit and tie, or why President Obama hasn't worn a pantsuit?