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?
We don't but you MSM media types find it necessary to bring it up and make it an issue.........
He looks like this dude i went to school with in 8th grade.
If more women looked like that it would save the planet!
(because nobody would be #$#@^&ing
This is a question for people with phds in biology. not freepers
The photo does not identify the person. Is the person a teen age boy, or an undeveloped girl?
If it is Rachel Maddow she most certainly is NOT a sex symbol. How in the world would anyone conclude that?
Barf Alert
She looks a little like Sean Hannity there.
She looks like a 20 something guy.
LMAO!
Huh?
This fails to give rise to some far fetched double entendres that I refuse to post. :-)
She looks like a guy and I also find it creepy.
On the other hand, I have been intentionally trying to make just that happen with Laurie Dhue and Megyn Kelly for years with no luck, so its probably not something I should lose any sleep over.
Only liberal men, who have been deonionified and as a result less masculine than she is, find "her" sexy.
I doubt even Slick Willie would hit it.
That’s when you know it really is a he instead of a she.
I kept seeing the name “Rachel Maddow” in various posts here, and because I very rarely watch TV, I had no idea who - well, what - it referred to. So I clicked on this thread.
I can’t believe this poor, conflicted looking critter is actually a TV personality. She’s not despicable, just very confused, and I hope that at some point, she gets her act together and realizes how she is being used. But she’s making good money at it, so she probably won’t.
I’d never seen any older photos of Maddow—she had nowhere to go but up and she certainly made some improvements because she is somewhat less unattractive in her present persona.
As far as the other two mentioned—I can’t find O’Donnell attractive in any way, mainly because she has such a horrible personality. DeGeneres on the other hand is usually very pleasant.
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