An Outfit That Showed Only Your Weaknesses

Regarding the July 20 Style story "Hillary Clinton's Tentative Dip Into New Neckline Territory":

I hope that there was considerable controversy in your newsroom over the decision to run a story posing as a "fashion" piece on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton's cleavage. The article lowered your paper to the level of a leering celebrity tabloid.

Looking at the picture of Clinton and her "cleavage," I saw a relatively staid outfit that hardly deserved such a column. Yet Robin Givhan wrote, without irony, that looking at Clinton's breasts felt voyeuristic and that her small, "not unseemly" amount of cleavage is the equivalent of a man's unzipped fly, as if Clinton deserved the sexualized attention thanks to a shameful social faux pas.

Surprisingly, there was also no irony in Givhan's analysis of Clinton's tendency to dress conservatively and to avoid "sexy" clothes, as if somehow these choices were an authentic reflection of her personality. Instead, Clinton's fashion choices are largely dictated by an attempt to avoid just such media coverage; Givhan even noted Clinton's overall ambivalence toward fashion.

Unfortunately, Givhan's story illustrated a much larger problem facing professional women, especially those in public office, such as Clinton and Nancy Pelosi. When I am at work, as a young woman often surrounded by older men, I want my mind to be on display and my body to be relatively invisible. Givhan acknowledged this predicament for women, but columns such as hers are part of the problem.

-- Cara Daggett

Washington

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