Posted on 03/01/2009 3:46:20 PM PST by presidio9
Why do we -- men and women, gay and straight -- find Rachel Maddow sexy? Daphne Merkin's "Butch Fatale" about the newly minted MSNBC icon, hidden among the overpriced handbag porn and fluffy profiles of last weekend's New York Times T style magazine, is more complicated than it appears.
As Merkin writes, it isn't often that mainstream culture celebrates the attractiveness of butch lesbians. Sure, we admire femmes like Portia de Rossi and Lindsay Lohan. But for the most part, lesbians who wear suits, cut their hair short or otherwise don't conform to traditional standards of beauty -- the Ellen DeGenereses and Rosie O'Donnells of the world -- have to remain culturally neutered in order to participate in public life. Though we find classic representations of gay male beauty in the films of Luchino Visconti and the writings of Oscar Wilde and Thomas Mann, says Merkin, "It's much harder to envision a lesbian icon without coming up against Fran Lebowitz, looking surly and bored."
The problem with lesbian archetypes, according to Merkin, is that "both categories -- butch and femme -- borrow from gender-influenced dichotomies of beauty." And this is where Rachel Maddow, supposedly, is a revelation. "She may not be one of Hefner's Girls Next Door, exactly, but she is no bare-faced, unstylish dyke either, however she chooses to characterize herself," says Merkin, going on to coo over the way Maddow combines a light dusting of makeup with "Poindexter glasses, Jil Sander pantsuits and Converse sneakers" and concludes that "she's willing to prettify her image sufficiently to endear her to male viewers."
Here's where I disagree with Merkin: I don't think Maddow's TV appearance is particularly calculated to attract male viewers. The makeover doesn't seem like a ploy to sex up Maddow; rather, it's a concession to appearing on television, where everyone has to wear makeup and dress like a professional. According to a New York magazine profile, Maddow's partner, Susan Mikula, is responsible for her wearing makeup: "Without it, 'she looked like a dead person,'" Mikula said. And as for the designer suits, it's not as if MSNBC was going to let Maddow -- or Keith Olbermann or Chris Matthews, for that matter -- go on the air in a ratty button-down and carpenter jeans. Meanwhile, Maddow makes no effort to hide her casual, butch off-screen appearance, either. In this pre-New Year's video, also for New York magazine, a bare-faced, hoodie-clad Maddow gives a lesson in mixology.
It's true that while the butch-femme dichotomy has already broken down among many younger lesbians -- I'm hard-pressed to categorize any of my mid-20s lesbian friends as either -- Maddow is still a butch in my book (and her own). And besides, I think Merkin misses something major about what makes Maddow sexy: the nerdiness! From the "Poindexter glasses" to the Oxford Ph.D. to her perfectly crafted sarcasm, Maddow is as geek-chic as she is lesbian-chic.
Unlike Merkin, I believe Maddow when she says "she has no interest in the issue of physical appearance -- her own or anyone else's." And as much as I would love her to herald a new age of lesbian beauty, it seems to me that viewers respond more to Maddow's non-physical qualities -- intelligence, charm and, above all, authenticity -- than to her looks. But I'm interested to hear Broadsheet readers' take, too. What do you think makes Rachel Maddow sexy?
I do not think she can help her looks or her orientation. So I won’t rip her for those things. And as for how “brave” she was for staying “out” during her interview process for the Oxford scholarship, is she kidding?? That’s what got her in! Everyone would be scared to be called a homophobe if they turned her down!
Don’t kid yourself, that is how she got her job today, too! She is attractively male. Admit it, people, if this were your friend’s son, you’d think he was perfectly decent looking. (Looks like a nice Jewish boy to me!) She is the best of probably all the bulldykes MSNBC could have hired, and surely they saved a timeslot for one. The tough lesbian mocking all things right wing works out better for a news channel than a flaming effeminate gay commentator (picture Paul Lynde dissing George Bush... See, it just doesn’t have the same effect.).
And how she keeps her job, and why liberals are “in love” with her, is because she is so sarcastic and mocking, it must be fun to “hate along with her” and be secretly glad she’s not laughing at YOU. To me she sounds painfully insecure. I’ve only seen her a couple times and have absolutely no desire to see her again.
It better look out for little Dutch boy’s and their fingers.
marker for pics!
at the risk of being flamed by ya’ll, i happen to think that confidence and being just exactly who you are and what you are is attractive. i have some gay friends who just are what they are and they are confident people who do not look for approval. they just live their lives, have their own circle of friends who can accept (if not approve of) their lifestyles and get on with life in general. they don’t try to force people to accept and approve of their lifestyle, but they expect to be treated respectfully just as we do. one of these persons put like this “ in my world, people who are attracted to the opposite sex are the ones living an alternative lifestyle. i dont agree with the choice but i don’t harp on it either. i live and let live.” i tend to see the world the same way.
Maddow is an azzhole. A very unattractive woman in body and spirit. It has nothing to do with her being a lesbian.
Maddow is an azzhole. A very unattractive woman in body and spirit. It has nothing to do with her being a lesbian.
gawd I can’t stand Maddow.....what more can I say...
She looks like a dude. Nothing sexy about a chick who looks like a dude.
I think I’m gonna hurl!
a fairly nice guy from queer across town..
5.56mm
That’s a female?
Yoicks, I thought it was just some college metro-boy.
Nothing sexy, or even attractive there. Not to me, anyways
Who is this person and why should I care?
--Tom Waits, "Union Square"
Sex symbol?
Bahahahah! Bahahahah! Bahahahah! Bahahahah!
I’m gonna pee my pants if I don’t stop laughing.
The next thing they will say is how she as caused a spike in the sale of batteries!
Why do we — men and women, gay and straight — find Rachel Maddow androgenous?
FIXED IT.
LOL!
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