"Unsexiest" Woman Holds Mirror Up To Judges
"Am I really the unsexiest woman in the world?"
That's the rhetorical question actress Sarah Jessica Parker posed to Grazia (which actually bills itself as Britain's "first glossy magazine"). She was responding to the title of "Unsexiest Woman Alive" bestowed upon her by a poll of the readers of another magazine, Maxim.
In questioning their choice, Ms. Parker fails to notice that she's acquiescing to the notion that there really is an unsexiest woman in the world. But she deserves credit for bravely admitting that it caused her significant pain, enhanced, in turn, by her husband's anger.
"Do I fit some ideals and standards of some men writing in a men's magazine?" she asked. "Maybe not." (Plaudits also for taking the trouble to Q & A herself, thus lightening the interviewer's work load.)
Again, Ms. Parker is on the right track, but only halfway there. She herself illustrated the point in the 1991 film LA Story. Playing SanDeE*, a dizzy, flirtatious young woman, she beguiles the middle-aged Steve Martin. (And, in the process, makes it impossible for girls to ever unselfconsciously twirl again.)
By parodying it in its most juvenile and blatant form to a T, Ms. Parker draped herself with the mantle of sexiness and the rest was history. It's indicative of her intelligence that her career was built on irony.
Maxim's readers likely weren't singling her out for a lack of sexiness, which no red-blooded man can dispute at this point. Arguably, it's her long face to which they object.
In fact, Ms. Parker is the latest in a long line of formidable women stretching from Cleopatra to Bette Davis to Madonna. Though lacking the symmetry of a classic beauty, they bent men -- and the world -- to their whims, whether by disposition, determination, or talent.
The case can be made that Maxim's readers object to having a sex symbol chosen for them on the basis of her success in a "women's" TV series. Also, there's no disputing that La Parker is ubiquitous -- besides TV, from billboards to magazine ads to commercials -- not to mention, much the richer for it.
But, as is too often the case with a poll, it reveals more about the voters than the subject. First, Maxim readers seem oblivious to the extent to which their tastes in women have been shaped by today's surgically enhanced models and actresses. Talk about an image being forced down their throats.
Second, conferring a title as vicious as unsexiest woman alive on anyone reflects a poverty of spirit that, in itself, cancels out a Maxim reader's qualifications to choose the winner of any poll.
Except for maybe which male mixed-martial-art star they'd most like to be in the ring with alone and naked.
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this poll was about making a point and that point was MEN DONT FIND HER SEXY SO STOP TRYING TO CONVINCE US THAT SHE'S THE KIND OF WOMAN WE SHOULD WANT.she might be sweet and a great mom but please dont make her out to be a sex symbol when sex symbols are beautiful women like halle berry,angelina jolie, j.lo jessica alba those are sexy gorgeous women. sarah jessica parker has been represented as sexy but the truth is most men find her ugly and poll could have been in people magazine or time and the results would have been the same dont make her out to be something shes not and then get upset when you are called out on it. she has a horse face with a witch nose, most men dont find those features sexy.
Know what, you just like the rest of America have lost sight of what sexiness is. Halle Berry sexy? C'mon man, she's a beautiful woman..but sexy? I don't think so. You just buy into what the media says You're just like the rest of the sheep grazing on the poisoned grass they try to feed us every day, goes to show how powerful the media is on feeble minds which apparantly is the majority of consumers.
For all you people who don't know, sexiness comes from within, & there is just no raw sexuality coming from Miss Berry..sorry! Not Anjelina Jolie who is not even as pretty as Halle Berry but has sex oozing out of every pore. Halle Berry's has a sterile beauty, like a work of art locked in some case that can't be touched. Sexiness is not a pretty face, a nice figure...it's also not something that can bought, taught or emulated it. You just have to have it. & guess what, there are straight-up ugly people out there that happen to be sexy & it has nothing to do w/their looks. Get a clue. Stop confusing pretty or gorgeous for sexy.
Maybe our press should know their subject matter before creating polls that don't even make sense.
SJP has the best "agent" money and the market can buy. The idea that the "spin" created by her management co, wants guys to buy into the idea that she's this sexy vixen persona - turns the average physical, visual, "spoon-ably" motivated and lusting guy's ideal beauty on its head.
Men are from Mars & Women from Venus, we're wired differently and women and their surrogates in the gay community need to understand that guys resist blatant, in your face "training". Subtle moves buy you way more latitude in getting us to act right. "They" just went overboard in this instance, and got called on it.
Yes, Men get the concept that guys should seek more in depth criteria before judging a woman's beauty - this however isn't what Maxim's vote was all about, it's simply a MANdate against the "woman's agenda.
Continuation... I don't ask a straight guy if what I am wearing is appealing to women, why cause he doesn't know. he doesn't want to think of me as sexy, that is just not the way it is. Since straight women and homosexual men don't think of women as sexy why would they be able to give you an honest opinion about how you would look to a straight man. I don't think they can. So in conclusion, let it slide. Just ignore em, you may not be the sexiest woman alive, but it could be worse. You could look like me.
I've never watched "Sex..." because I don't care to see women acting like men (dogs, or in this case, bitches). Whenever I do see SJP in a commercial, I find her to be quite unattractive. However, I do give her kudos for apparently not having given in to the hollyweird obsession with the plastic surgeon's knife. To have forged ahead in her career with the looks her genes gave her, she must have good self esteem. I applaud that.
For years my wife and friends have went on and on about how beautiful SJP is. I don't see it and probably never will. I'm just glad that there are others out there that see her the same as I do. To be honest if I had a dog that looked like her I'd shave his butt and teach him to walk backwards! Please don't even get me started on the Troll named Angelina Jolie. She had to have been so ugly as a child that her parents had to tie a pork chop around her neck to get the dog to play with her!
Is Sarah Jessica Parker the ugliest woman in the world, Probably not. There are tons of other women that are way uglier, but they are not celebraties. When you are a celebrity, you are exposed to a lot of judgements by all people. The fact that she felt the need to address the poll at all seems to let me know that maybe she is self consious about the way she looks. It is an unfortunate result of our society that there is so much pressure for women to look a certain way. And it is mostly the fault of women, designers, and homosexual men that comment on the way women look. When was the last time you saw a show that had a construction worker sitting in a room saying how horrible (insert female celebrity here) looked in that red dress from versace on the red carpet, when everyone knows that green is in. Just about never, and if you have seen it, let me know cause I would be interested to see what kind of format it is. Most of the time it is women and homosexual men that are saying it. Which leads me to my point. Why, for the love of God, are women following what women and homosexual men say about you. Isn't the point of dressing up and looking nice to look good for your man, or to be attractive to men who are interested in you? see next post for continuation
She didn't respond because she's self-conscious. She responded because she was insulted on such a grand scale. It wasn't some little blog taking a poll, it was a major magazine and as you can see, they made a major deal out of it. She had to protect her image (whether we think it's attractive or not) because it has been the source of alot of her success & she's spent many years devleoping it into what I think to be a pretty nice package. I know alot of people out there agree with me, this girl's got flair! Gotta hand it to her - It's easy to be born beautiful but it takes skill & intelligence to create your own kind of beauty the way she has. Beauty takes all forms.
Women's magazines are hypocritical..they endorse female power and self - love, but they only use walking twigs in their photo spreads - unless it's an article about finally finding jeans that will actually fit a real butt ; every other article is about how to hide that big butt with their super-secret slimming tricks...or how to lose that stubborn belly fat for good... you get the point.
Maxim readers aren't interested in real women... Their magazine is not geared towards teaching young men to respect real women... just how to masturbate to fantasies.
But to each their own. Women who don't mind the hypocritical glamour magazines can read those and masculine types can read Maxim to feel butch and manly.
Personally, I think SJP is all the more adorable for her long face and quirky looks. Who wants the same boring cookie cutter chic that's on every billboard and t.v. commercial? Monotonous. Why not accept that not every woman can/should/or would look like Jessica Alba. SJP has a fun flirtatious quality that adds to her appeal. And I can say that some men do go for her type. My friend could pass for her younger sister and she drives men crazy.
Beauty is subjective and no poll that judges a persons looks or sex appeal is thinking of real beauty - just the superficial stuff that will be gone in time.
"Maxim readers aren't interested in real women... Their magazine is not geared towards teaching young men to respect real women... just how to masturbate to fantasies."
I love it when people claim that only average-to-ugly females are "real women," and the hot females that men actually find attractive are not. When was this decided? Was there some kind of vote? Does this also mean Brad Pitt is not a real man?
I didn't mean to piss in your Cheerios, Sunshine. I wasn't implying anything of that nature. My point was that it's all about the outer, sexy image in that type of magazine, not the "real" intellect inside. I did not mean to imply that smart women have to be ugly or that beautiful women are stupid. But Most real women with important things to say do not go to a man's magazine to flaunt their funbags. Angelina Jolie may be the one successful exception...and I admire her, by the way. I think she is very much a real woman.
I'm saddened by the intelligence quotient of alot of today's sex symbols...male and female. They aren't exactly MENSA material, are they? Brad Pitt seems smart ... he does good things for less- fortunate people, follows world affairs and politics and he is actively involved with his family... that makes him a real man in my opinion.
My point, El Queso Grande, was that most popular - culture magazines, male and female, objectify people by focusing on the external sexiness and ignoring the real person inside.
mow they put it up this is a crazy place.
Everytime I see a pic of sjp it creeps me out!!! She reminds me of the ugly girls in high school who were only popular because of how slutty they were...eeewwwww!! It also reminds me of how glad we should all be that there are creepy girls so the creepy guys will go after them and not bother us pretty girls.
wow. It's girls like you (since you don't have the depth of character to be considered a full-grown woman) that make me glad high school was only four years out of an 80-year lifespan. Were those popular girls really slutty, or were you just insecure and jealous as hell? I assume as much, since women who are pretty on the inside AND out usually don't need to proclaim it on an anonymous website. They have enough people in their REAL lives telling them all the time.
your ugliness of spirit surely diminishes any prettiness you stake a claim too. Thank God there are hateful bitter "pretty girls" like you so that lovely women like SJP shine as examples to us all.
wow, you need to grow up. are you even out of high school yet?
Ann Coulter, is that you?
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Maxim/FHM/Stuff is to men as to what People/US/OK! magazine is to women...and it's all crap! It doesn't matter what Maxim and its reader did, but the fact that a lot of you don't recognize that women themselves have put labels and lists on their own and men for a whole lot longer. Look in the mirror! Women's magazines do more to hurt the average female reader than to help with their "insightful" how-to's and latest fab/trend diets. SJP being a public figure, any actor/actress can be open to anything like this and it can go either way. Maxim does sell the pretty girls with the neat bodies, but if you look on their lists, you'll see names of a lot of the stars you like. It's easy for the Catherine Heigl of Roswell to go to that of Knocked up and of Grey's Anatomy. I agree that SJP is a very good actress, but she has suffered from over-exposure and a force-feeding that she's a sexual icon. To use a similar analogy, it's much like pro football player Reggie Bush's huge marketing campaign that he's the next great player, even though he hasn't touched on the greatness in the NFL he had in college. People don't like it when Madison Ave. tries to tell you what to like and how to like it. And in this case, Maxim found a way...albeit, not a very smart one...to fight back.
of course it's all crap and of course it's all ridiculous and of course women's magazines are the WORST of the worst for hurting women. i get all that. but frankly, it's just plain mean. did you actually read the article? i've never read any women's magazine (and sorry, but gossip rags don't count--men are just as much gossip whores as women) that has come out with a list of the ugliest men in hollywood that then go into explicit detail as to why they're so hideous. women's magazines love to rip women a new a-hole on a daily basis: the new clothes that will make you look better! the new make-up to make you look younger! the new diet that will make you lose 34 pounds in one week! and then on the next page will be their own list: hottest male actors over 40--always next to pictures of ashlee simpson/hayden whateverhernameis/nicole ritchie's new nose/boobs/chin/face.
so while i don't hold maxim responsible for bringing down the women's movement, the article itself was just a nasty read. and you know what? we NEED to be force fed that SJP is a sexual icon so we can try and maintain a little bit of balance with being force fed EVERYWHERE ELSE that [insert cokarexic actress here] is the ultimate standard of beauty.
You're sort of getting what I'm saying, but not quite. You say we "need" to be force-fed SJP...if that keeps up, she'll be reviled on an even higher level. If for you, she fits as a sexual icon, that's fine. The point is, some guys aren't buying into the Madison Ave. package and if it is sold even harder, the backlash could be equal. What Maxim did certainly wasn't bright, but once you are a celebrity living in the public light, you're open to thing like this. As many people who'll prop you up, just as many or more will want to bring you down. SJP's reaction was probably what Maxim and its readers was hoping for...they were able to make their "ugly" girl cry. SJP has to be careful that she herself doesn't fall into the caricature category that her show entails, must like the former members from M*A*S*H only being known for their characters and seen as their characters afterwards.
Nonsense. Everybody knows Ann Coulter is the unsexiest woman in the world.
Oh, wait ... they said "woman" ...
LOL! perfect.
Without doubt, the Maxim readers who think Sara Jessica is "unsexy" are sitting around in their boxers, guzzling beer and belching, poking out bellies that are twice the size of their chests and watching really deep programs like American Idol or Baywatch re-runs.
Really, girl, you should be GLAD these losers aren't wanting to hit on you!
Seriously. Most of the guys who have time/care to vote in a maxim poll are losers. Most of those losers voted for her because they feel threatened by "sex in the city" (and by women who do not look like models sleeping with hot guys)--it's a HUGE double standard. Jerry Seinfeld looks like his face got caught in a vice, but somehow he dated girls way out of his league and that didn't threaten or bother Cosmo enough to have an unsexiest guy alive vote. Guys get mean-spirited when they feel threatened. None of the guys who voted would ever have a chance in hell of dating her (by the way, before she married broderick, she dated other v. hot guys) and that's a fact...
Jerry Seinfeld isn't sexy and knows it and doesn't pretend to be. And his wife is quite average looking.
You don't see him plastered on buses half naked or wisping around in gauze like a goddess. He never stared in a show with SEX in the title, that was serious.
Live by the sword, die by the sword. She has reaped lots of money and fame trying to be a sex symbol and she is not.
She is ugly but has a good body, but she is not at all sexy. My son was a baby when she made that movie and played a witch and he cried over her face, it scared him. He's grown now and still feels the same way.
Maxim is the same magazine that voted Lindsay Lohan #1 on their hot 100 list. In my opinion the SJP poll was a compliment.
Lindsay Lohan is hot. If you're a straight guy.
HAHA, yeah, lets be honest, Lindsay Lohann is hot, SJP is not. That's not the worst thing in the world. But SJP is probably a much better person, more depth, more ... ugg "inner beauty", and ultimately would make her more attractive. But then again, her obvious insane insecurity would probably drive most men crazy. Listen SJP, you got money, your married, get over it. Your life is better than 99.999999999% of the people in this world, stop whining that some magazine or its readers doesn't like you. I really don't feel too bad for you at all.
I'm female so I don't have the standing to argue with your assessment, but I did want to let you know that your screen name made me chuckle.
Yawn. Smart women know there's so much more to being a woman that "being considered sexy by shallow men." While those bozos are reading Maxim, we're out changing the world. How important are these guys? Appendicks comes to mind.
Out changing the world?
Maybe you missed the point or don't have a television. She built her fame and wealth on a show called 'SEX IN THE CITY", that was about superficial woman and casual sex.
Ever seen the ads for her products? She is almost always wearing a dress the size of a postage stamp, if at all. She 'works' her sex appeal and beauty, but she really doesn't have any.
The public is just tired of pretending. Maybe she should try making a movie about a real woman if she wants respect.
Live by the sword, die by the sword.
Live by the publicity machine, die by the publicity machine. Was it mean to call her the "unsexiest" woman? Sure (though not as mean as a word like "ugly" would have been- what does "sexy" mean, anyway?). But it is no more unfair than spending millions of marketing dollars to convince women that someone who is not particularly good-looking is, in fact, hotter than they are- which is, face it, what has been happening ever since Sex and the City debuted. It's sad, maybe hurtful, now that the Manolo is on the other foot. But, like Liberace, I'm sure she's crying all the way to the bank.
she has the face of a transexual but her bodys ok. truth is most guys would not approach her in a bar ive never meet any male that thinks shes sexy or beautiful only people that would call her sexy are women but comon take a nice long look at that face yuck. i love women of all races and body types but sarah jessica parker is not sexy in the least
Keep lovin' the trail mix, rover. That's about the only way you're going to get love in return (unless you go the Spitzer route).
Naaw, I don't think so..transexual..you can tell something is out of sync. She isn't pretty or ugly, which means she's just normal. Dye the hair blonde, get some plastic surgery, body enhancements, etc. etc. No no. Just comes off as hard to please. Sexy is about a one-night stand, as in how likely, not so much how you look. Beautiful is about faces.
The thing with her is that she portrays that college girl that was always around, and actually single. Guys think she is unsexy because she doesn't have that 'come hither' look of Lohan. She probably reminds those guys of their girlfriends or wives (if they have any), actually a real woman.
Below Rosie Perez, Rosanne Barr, Paris Hilton...don't think so.
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