Kucinich is a victim of LOOKISM, not sexism

[Elspeth]

He is not being rejected on the basis of his gender but of his looks. No is secretly thinking "You're a guy. You can't be president." But, for the sillyheads among us, some might think he looks too short or too goofy to be president, and that's called looksism. Seriously.

[Uncle Sinister]

1. But alot of us LOOOVE house elves!

[Elspeth]

3. Now, now....

I actually have been supporting Dennis all along. I love the guy.

[Uncle Sinister]

11. I actually quite like him too, Campaigned for him in '00

But liking him isn't enough. He's a lot like Nader...Smart, Honest, hopelessly out of touch with the MAJORITY (which we kinda need to get this time around, yes?)

[Elspeth]

14. Yeah, I guess. But I wish the majority were more towards Dennis

They might actually fight for themselves.

[Bonobo]

2. "Lookism"?

It's straight up sexism.

A short woman would not be considered less of a woman.

He is short and considered less of a man for it. It's true. Same for Dukakis. Remember him?

[MercutioATC]

7. That wouldn't be "sexism"....

...it'd be "heightism" or something...

"Sexism" is discrimination based solely on gender....not on any other attributes or perceived shortcomings

[Elspeth]

8. And a fat women is considered less of a woman, yes? AT least in our anorexic-loving

society.

A taller Dennis might be more viable.

A thinner or less wrinkled Hillary would still be a woman, regardless of her looks, and that would be enough to disqualify her among some men.

The Dennis thing is about looks.

[nonconformist]

24. A fat woman less than a woman? No. She might be discriminated against...

but not because she's "less of a woman". She'd be discriminated against because of her weight, period.

Actually, I've heard the term "less than a woman" NUMEROUS times, even here on DU, used against thin women who "lack curves".

[hiaasenrocks]

4. Shouldn't there be a "phobe" or "phobia" attached to this scourge?

That REALLY makes the word powerful!

:rofl:

[Elspeth]

13. hiassenrocks-phobia!

(The fear of opaque screen names.)

[MercutioATC]

5. Actually, it's his demeanor that puts me off...

I wish I could remember which one it was, but in one of the 2004 debates, he was speaking about Iraq and lowered his voice and loudly said "WAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR" into the mic. It was a little spooky to think of him doing that as President.

I like many of his positions, but his mannerisms are often like an elf on crystal meth....he seems incapable of calmly dealing with opposing viewpoints.

[rug]

6. I think overlookism is more precise.

[Elspeth]

9. Now that's just sad....

:(

[Writer]

10. I will likely get flamed for this, but there's another side to the coin here...

there seems to be a looks bias in the liberal camp against anyone that is polished. In other words, the less attractive, the less polished, the more "liberal" they must be (some assume.)

Before Kucinich became the anti-war champion that he is now, he used to be pro-life. But now some liberals liken him to Noam Chomsky.

[Elspeth]

12. Actually that makes sense

There's something less authentic about the polished look. It's interesting that the Shrubmeister even plays that "man of the people" card when he rolls up his sleeves gettin' ready to do "hard work".

[Writer]

17. The person that always comes to mind when discussing this topic is Amy Goodman.

She reports through a liberal filter. There's no doubt about that. However, she is also so deliberately under made - salt-and-pepper hair, little make-up, etc... as opposed to the made-up women on network and cable news (the "MSM") that liberals assume are always touting corporate talking points.

[Elspeth]

23. Yes, it kind of gives a certain credibility and authenticity

Even though it is largely a contrived look as well.

[maddiejoan]

15. well

it is sexism in the form of "is he man enough?"

[Elspeth]

25. Nobody was asking about his dick size

At last not last I checked.

[maddiejoan]

16. dupe

delete dupe

[Elspeth]

22. I am not a dupe!

:)

[Swamp Rat]

18. The word 'bigotry' comes to mind.

;)































:patriot: GEAUX KUCINICH!!! :patriot:

:kick:

[Generator]

19. Yes it goes both ways too-

and you know what, Edwards gets flack for being TOO pretty, too much money on his hair, too smooth looking.

And then Kerry was called and I will never forget on this board after the election of 2004 (and I put most of the anti-Kerry people on ignore because I couldn't take it) a "haunted tree." Or wooden. Or not emoting enough. Or too TAN! And then the shorts he wore-not acceptable!!!!!!!That was a fun week in the summer of 2004-anywhoo-looks are everything in the teevee age.

I hear that Lincoln dude looked damn weird. But thankfully he didn't have to go on Hardball.

[undercutter2006]

20. that's a great point

so much emphasis is placed on gender or race. yeah, black people are discriminated against and women are discriminated against, but guess what, there are a lot more variables than that, and if you don't comply with the conventional beauty standard, that is a lot worse than being a black or a woman or both, yet we have all these endless studies about race and gender, and ignore all the people who are discriminated on the basis of how well they look, how well they can articulate themselves, how much money they make, those variables are so much more important than race or gender in today's society

[Elspeth]

21. Thanks for getting it.

I appreciate your thoughtful response.