Supreme Fatism & Sexism
I am not even sure I can even form sentences, as I am currently incoherent with rage. Jezebel’s headline is “Women Too Stupid To Stay Thin Are Not Smart Enough For Supreme Court,” and that’s basically it in a nutshell.
They’re covering an excellent article by Paul Campos about criticism leveled at some of the (female) possibilities for potential Supreme Court justices. Namely, that they are fat, or might someday become fat, and therefore should be disqualified.
A (female) Supreme Court justice should not “even border on overweight”:
“You want someone who will serve the longest, i.e. with the greatest remaining life expectancy—and that involves more than simple age. I tried assessing their respective health prospects, and ruled out all who even border on overweight.â€
A (female) Supreme Court justice should be “a hottie”:
(Wardlaw’s “ectomorphitude†also gets rave reviews at legal gossip site Underneath Their Robes, which describes her as “Heather Locklear in a black robe. This blond Hispanic hottie boasts a fantastic smile and an incredible body, showcased quite nicely by her elegant ensembles.”)
A (female) Supreme Court justice should be fuckable:
So what’s the real motivation for all the anxiety about the bodies that house two such apparently distinguished legal minds? A glance at the comments at a site such as Abovethelaw.com, which features a number of vicious attacks on Kagan’s appearance, provides one clue. For some men, the only thing more intolerable than the sight of a powerful woman is the sight of a powerful woman they don’t want to sleep with.
Jezebel also asks:
Should we get rid of Ginsburg, too, for being sick with cancer? Or should people with long-term, treatable illnesses be disqualified for public office? Or just vaguely not-skinny women.
!@(&%((%*@(*@(*%(!!!@&&@&#.
Posted by mo pie
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I guess I have a little more faith in our president than Mr. Campos, because I don’t think Obama’s choice of nominee is going to be based on anonymous blog comments. (Campos further elevates these blog commenters by referring to them as “commentators,” which is a little bit misleading, I think).
This makes me sick.
I’m somewhat astounded but in all honesty the human race has jaded me. So I’m not quite surprised enough to reach for the bottle of vodka….not yet.
Because all the male SCJs are buff to perfection?
Hell, the SC should be all-girl, because women as a group live longer than men as a group.
Today has been good and bad for me with regard to weight. Good in that it’s international no diet day! Kate and Marianne reached #1 at Powell’s! Bad in that I had to back away from a potential online confrontation with a total stranger about fat health. AND THIS JUST TAKES THE TACO.
I have been saddened to see the level of unfair criticism levelled at potential female nominees to the US Supreme Court. ‘Fatness’ or other issues of unattractiveness is part of it, but I’ve seen criticisms that certain female judges are not as intelligent as the male equivalents or that they are too opinionated and not deferential enough.
Can we live in a world where we look at the actual work of these judges rather than sneer at their appearance or be outraged at their refusal to treat male colleagues as the be-all and end-all.
To give everyone some hope, please note that four of nine of the Canadian Supreme Court justices are female. My former (male) law professor was the justice Minister who brought the numbers up to near-parity. It can be done! And while Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin does look very nice in an evening gown, she also kicks legal butt, as do her sister judges, who are of various shapes and sizes.
The topic of picking a new Justice was presented on C-SPAN this morning. All of the callers basically said the same thing – who cares about gender and appearance? Pick the individual who will do the best job on the Court.
I hope someone eventually plants a size 13 boot up that “Scough” guy’s narrow ass. Really, if you have nothing relevant to add to the discussion and are just there to stir shit, just stay on 4chan because they’ve got enough antagonism bullshit there that they’re wallowing in it.
(I should specify that I am not calling out anyone with a narrow ass who actually HAS contributed positively to the discussion.)
Well I’m a member of the small-ass club and I have to say, this right here? Is a perfect example of why I support fat acceptance despite not actually being fat myself. First of all, this kind of shit warps our entire culture by ensuring that we consistently refuse to promote the most qualified people, which is bad for everyone. Secondly, could the sexism with which it’s applied be any more obvious?
Personally I have no interest in fucking anyone on the Supreme Court. It’s not their job to be fuckable, their job is to be really really smart and well versed in the law.
I agree with Slothful, Greedy, Villainous Fat Stereotype – send this crap back to 4chan where it belongs.
Yeah, what everyone else said. Plus, for those unfamiliar with Above the Law, the comments on that site are always terrible and often offensive. It’s a legal gossip web site, sometimes with interesting topics, but I think people comment to be funny or sound intentionally outrageous. No one takes them seriously.
It’s obvious whoever wrote that is either a moron or has a weird sense of humor? Either way no one worth a damn would take it seriously.
How bigoted can you get? Damn. That’s some hard core discrimination going on there. That happen in the UK and you’d see people being asked to resign. (shakes head)
Resign from what, Lord Matt? The people quoted as making fat-biased comments are all blog commenters, not anyone in any actual position to influence the next choice of nominee. I mean, I suppose that “jackiej” could be Patrick Leahy’s preferred online alias, but I doubt it.
The author of the article is, I think, a bit deliberately misleading about this, because he mixes in the hateful blog comments with less inflammatory public statements by actual judges and journalists. But if you read carefully, you’ll see that no legal scholar, political figure or member of the media actually says anything about fatness being a consideration.