Boobs Or Brains, Ladies — You Can’t Have Both

Who’s gonna tell ’em?

No chance of getting writer’s block when you have men like Shaun Bailey spewing sexist BS on national TV.

Bailey is a British Conservative politician who lost the election (thank god) for London Mayor in 2021 and now sits in the House of Lords despite being named and shamed for throwing parties during the height of Covid. Remember — that time when we, the little people, were all locked down, unable to visit sick and dying family members? Some people were fined; he was elevated to the House of Lords.

Recently interviewed on GB News (currently competing with the USA’s Fox for control of the far-right swamp), he opined on Carol Vorderman, who’d recently called him out. (Apparently, Carol needs to hear what he has to say.)

For non-Brits, Carol Vorderman rose to fame as the brainy mathematician on the TV show Countdown, and after a long TV career, she now uses her voice and pen for political causes. Whether or not you agree with her, it’s generally recognised that she’s brainy. Shaun Bailey disagrees with her, but rather than refute her arguments, he took what he thought was the easy way out — to discredit and demean her.

“You know, she’s a serious political commentator, then if you look at her Instagram, it’s all pictures of her bum and her boobs. What is it then? She can’t be both.”

When criticised for his attack and asked if he’d apologise, he said “No”, claimed his words were “clumsy”, and went on to assert that she “demonises and bullies those who hold different political views to her own”. This, from the guy who sexualised and objectified a woman because she holds a different political view to his own.

It says more about him

“She can’t be both.” — His words say women can’t be curvy and brainy simultaneously, but surely, he can’t be that thick? Let’s allow him the clumsiness he claims and assume he means women have to choose between a boobs or brains persona. In other words, Vorderman can’t put photos of her curvy self on the internet and then talk serious politics.

By the way, if you’re a woman in Bailey’s life and you have curves, I’d be having a not-so-quiet word with him. He’s either saying you can’t also be brainy, or you must keep schtum about it. Additionally, he’s illustrating his inability to look at photos of a woman without sexualising her. Yes, Carol’s curvy, but she’s not posing or sticking anything out in most of her photos. What does that say about him?

There’s a whiff of the Madonna-Whore complex in Bailey’s words, right? Women can’t be both, and only one type will be respected. Its originator, Sigmund Freud, described it as compartmentalising women into respectable mother-partner types on the one hand and desirable, promiscuous women on the other. In Bailey’s juvenile worldview, it’s either a ‘serious political commentator’ or a ‘woman who doesn’t hide her body’.

Is it sexism?

When talking about possible sexism, we should look at how a man in the same situation is treated. There’s always been an ‘authority gap’ — whereby women are taken less seriously than men — but how much is because of appearance rather than the traits women show? (Not that it makes much difference to women at the end of the day, I’m just anticipating the “it’s not sexism” brigade.)

There are quite a few male celebs who comment on politics. Still, I’m scratching my head to find one who’s been told his exceptionally masculine body disqualifies him from being a ‘serious political commentator’. (Yes, I know many celebs are told to “stay in their lane”; that’s just because they’re celebs, though. It generally doesn’t matter what they look like.)

Arnold Schwarzenegger comes to mind. Big and muscly, he’s probably the masculine equivalent of ‘curvy’. Even though he posed in teeny tiny trunks, his Mr. Universe body still wasn’t sexualised. Although we didn’t have social media then, he was in every magazine, so he was definitely putting himself out there. Pecs and glutes all over the place, as it were.

Schwarzenegger was so into politics he became the 38th Governor of California in 2003. Yes, he was laughed at in a few quarters, in the same way the late President Ronald Reagan was when he entered politics — they weren’t serious politicians; they’d been actors, for chrissakes. While some people effectively told them to pick a lane, it was because of their previous profession rather than their ‘masculinity’.

Here’s a woman criticising George Clooney’s activism regarding Sudan. Speaking of celeb activists, columnist Nesrine Malik said, “ … they bring their star factor, but little gravitas, and it is excruciating listening to Clooney’s beauty pageant contestant responses to what is going on in Sudan. But he’s an actor, not a political expert or an academic.” Those are pretty scathing comments, but she never goes after his looks, never mind his ‘masculinity’. The article is packed with facts; no need to hurl insults.

A man has spoken

Perhaps the most annoying part of Bailey’s little diatribe was the assuredness with which he spoke. Helped along by the fawning misogynists on GB News, no one pushed back as he confidently dictated what a woman can and can’t be.

Obviously, there are pundits and talking heads who’ve criticised men for commenting on something outside their profession’s remit. Like Clooney (mentioned above), in the UK, former soccer star Gary Linekar is now politically opinionated and often told to shut up. However, it’s usually by other men who disagree with him, and as far as I can remember, no one’s told him to choose between his Insta photos and his commentary.

From burkinis to skirt lengths, foot-binding to veils, patriarchal societies have been dictating how women dress for centuries. Very often, the way a woman dresses is said to convey how culpable she is in her rape or sexual assault and how much respect she is due. Shaun Bailey appears to be stuck in the antiquated, chauvinistic camp that thinks a woman must cover up to be respected or taken seriously because he showed zero respect to Carol Vorderman.

Shots fired

So, gentlemen, here’s how it’s going to go down. When you reduce women to their physical parts, sexualise and objectify them, you’d better hope they’re not smarter than you. (Which they probably are, given that you’ve had to resort to insults in the first place.) Brainiacs like Carol Vorderman can usually express themselves very well, and when they have an audience, well, it gets even worse for you.

In her own words —

“Shaun Bailey is a misogynist. Not only that, he’s a coward. You see “misogynist” is just a fancy noun for “someone who bullies women” and all bullies, as we know, are ultimately cowards.”

You’re on notice; not only are women not going to take this sexist BS anymore, we’re going to highlight it and call you out on it. We’re taking a leaf out of Carol’s book when she said-

“Perish the thought that a “celebrity” (all-encompassing noun there) dare stray from what they perceive as her narrow lane. Well, tough — I’ve strayed and I’ll carry on straying.”

Tough indeed! Guys, you’ve been warned.