Apparently it is now a grave error to compliment a woman on her looks. Our very own president, Barack Obama, learned this the hard way after being condemned by ultra-feminists for calling California Attorney General Kamala Harris “the best-looking attorney general in the country” (Kansas City Star).
After this comment, the president took so much heat from certain fringe segments that he actually called Harris to apologize. Yes, he apologized for complimenting her! Now, maybe I am not “open minded” enough to understand the radical feminists’ argument that by complimenting Harris’ looks, the president was objectifying her body while paying zero attention to her intellectual and professional attributes. Or, more likely, I fully understand this argument and believe it is completely paranoid and detrimental to the feminist cause.
First of all, the charge that the president did not call attention to Harris’s other attributes is simply false. Before complimenting her looks, President Obama said “she is brilliant and she is dedicated and she is tough, and she is exactly what you’d want in anybody who is administering the law, and making sure that everybody is getting a fair shake” (Kansas City Star). His compliment on her appearance, therefore, was just one of many that he showered her with. He was not focusing exclusively on her looks.
But for argument’s sake, let’s suppose he was. He merely called her the “best looking attorney general.” He didn’t draw inappropriate attention to any part of her body or say anything crude. If he had, that would have been completely inappropriate, and I would not be defending him right now.
Furthermore, President Obama and Harris are not strangers. It would be one thing if the U.S. president hit on random women in a public setting. But he and Harris are longtime friends, so when you put the controversy in that context you have one friend playfully complimenting another on her looks—hardly the serious offense that some have made it out to be.
Nevertheless, even with this logic staring them in the face, many radical (and I emphasize radical) feminists still choose to believe the paranoid delusion that anytime a man even so much as thinks about a woman’s looks, he is being a sexist pig.
The same issue came up a few months ago when, during a football game, announcer Brent Musberger called one of the quarterback’s girlfriends “a beautiful woman” (CNN). Radical feminists caused a firestorm in the media for days after the comment was made.
Now what if women call men “handsome” or “attractive,” like many did for former Vice-Presidential candidate Paul Ryan or former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown? I did not hear any backlash from the radical feminists then. Apparently that is ok, as it should be. If a woman compliments me, I happily accept.
By attacking men for chivalrously complimenting women, the radical feminists only make a mockery of themselves and hurt their cause. They propagate the false stereotype that all feminists are crazy Amazons in an eternal war against the male population.
Instead of going out of their way to complain about innocent remarks, these radical feminists should dedicate their efforts toward important feminist issues, like equal pay for men and women and encouraging young girls to pursue traditionally male dominated careers and positions of power. Furthermore, they should seek to combat real objectification of women by taking strong stances against stripping, prostitution and the morally degrading behavior of women on modern reality TV shows. These are the areas where feminists must take a stand.
It is quite unfortunate that President Obama felt pressured to apologize for his compliment. That was his only mistake in this entire circus. By doing so, he has merely emboldened the radical feminists to continue pettifogging important issues by focusing their fire power on harmless statements.
Tony Bara
Editor in Chief