Oh the joys of being a woman. Your appearance is never *quite* acceptable enough.
Few understand this reality as well as Hillary Clinton. She’s weathered attacks on her hair, her scrunchies, her clothing, her age and her facial expressions.
When Clinton isn’t grinning constantly, she’s criticized, primarily by men, for not smiling enough. When she does smile ― like when she is winning her first general election presidential debate ― men think she’s, wait for it, smiling too much. Yes, that’s correct. The woman who was repeatedly told to smile by everyone from Reince Priebus to Ed Rendell, is now being told to smile less.
Just see the below sampling of tweets. Even The Atlantic’s David Frum got in on the fun!:
Fox News host Brit Hume took things one step further. He didn’t simply object to Clinton’s smile (or lack thereof) ― he took issue with her entire face.
“She looked composed, smug sometimes, not necessarily attractive,” he said.
Well, if Hume doesn’t think Clinton is very attractive, let’s just call this whole presidential race thing off. We all know ladies are only worth anything if they’re hot.
Update ― 9/27/16: On Tuesday, Hume clarified his earlier comments, saying that he was speaking about Clinton’s demeanor.
“I was commenting on the candidates’ demeanor, which is what you evaluate as a political journalist when you’re watching a debate,” said Hume, “and I said Trump looked uncomfortable and out of sorts, and I’ve forgotten what else. And I said Hillary Clinton looked composed, smug some of the time and not necessarily attractive… talking about demeanor here. This is what we judge.”
CORRECTION: An earlier video included a picture that was misidentified as Brit Hume.
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