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| Welly boots at the front door. |
I found out there are foreign banking tax forms that I am responsible for that I never knew about, so I am busy digging out years and years of bank statements. Of course I have foreign bank accounts! I live in the UK, I have to pay the household bills, etc. So, no sewing until I have sent all my forms to the US Treasury. Don't think I could enjoy sewing much with this hanging over my head anyway! When you see me post a new outfit on the blog, you'll know I got everything put in order and mailed off.
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| Meet the Romans, BBC 2. |
Her name is Mary Beard, she is 58 years old, a mother and a Classics professor at Cambridge University. She is presenting a fun show on BBC2 about the day to day lives of the Romans. There has been lots of chat in the newspapers about how ugly she is!? Her supporters concede that even though she is unattractive, we should consider how worthy she is and not be superficial. Wow, with friends like that...
IMHO she looks great! She stayed trim through menopause, her hair is thick and her skin glows. She moves like a young person, and her eyes crinkle and dance when she smiles. What more do people want? What on Earth do they expect? What is wrong with people? Personally, if I look this good in 18 years time, I will be delighted. If the people writing snarky, condescending editorials in the broadsheets look this good at her age, they will be very lucky indeed!
It's interesting isn't it? If it was a male presenter there probably wouldn't be any comments on their looks unless they were really positive. She looks perfectly fine to me. In fact I've been thinking of stopping dyeing my hair to cover the grey and when I saw your photo I immediately thought how great her hair looks as natural grey. I'm her age and I think she looks great.
ReplyDeleteThere is big press in the US at the moment about a women who says her beauty gets her everything. Guess what? She's not beautiful, IMO and many others, but I mention this because it's the opposite side of the coin.
ReplyDeleteI love this women's look. She won't make the cover of Vogue but neither will my very fit, gorgeous young daughters. I think we should all aspire to be as healthy and as vibrant as this woman who clearly is also very very bright. How horrible to have the world discussing your physicality! So wrong in every way.
Bunny - I've seen the woman you mentioned being interviewed and was puzzled what all the hype was about. She was a very pleasant person to look at but IMO so is the woman shown above. We have a female Prime Minister here in Australia and people are always commenting on the size of her behind or her nose, or the jackets she wears when they should be concentrating on her policies. It is all so wrong.
DeleteMy first reactions to the photograph were 1. What great hair! 2. Love her coat! and 3. her smile is very inviting it made me think that she's an interesting and fun person.
ReplyDeleteWhat makes me angry about the media portraying her as "ugly" is that we would never see or hear comments about that with a man that is balding and has a belly all dressed up in a suit presenting the news. And we shouldn't. If anything is "ugly", it is the comments found in the media.
Such a shame that the media isn't celebrating this woman for her obvious beauty rather than some notion of beauty that will change in another place and/or time. [shaking head].
I think that she looks wonderful. If the programme she hosts is interesting - what do looks have to do with anything? I agree - if she were a man, no-one would mention looks.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that mad! I'm with you - she looks great, and she looks like she'd be a fun person to hang out with! She doesn't look perfect but nor does anyone her age who hasn't spent a gazillion dollars on plastic surgery or maintenance or something. Frankly I find 58+ year olds with that expensive 'youth captured forever' look much more upsetting to look at - I mean what sort of a person has so little going on that they'll try to look 25 when they're 58?
ReplyDeleteWTH? She is her own person and that is intimidating to some people. She isn't wearing makeup, her hair isn't styled in a current look, she isn't posing to make herself look different...in short, she is acting like a man. God, this is awful behavior on the part of those judging her harshly. She looks wonderful and vital and full of intelligence and humor.
ReplyDeleteI had the same first thoughts as Graca about her lovely hair, fun coat and captivating smile. I don't find anything ugly at all. I'd much rather hang around with people who are passionate about learning and like to share their interests, I'm a bit of a geek too! I hope I look/am as content as she does in 11 years time.
ReplyDeleteCheck this out
ReplyDeletehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/celebritynews/9223149/Mary-Beard-hits-back-at-AA-Gill-after-he-brands-her-too-ugly-for-television.html
What a supercilious pr***
Just went and had a look. AA Gill wasn't the only one to jump in, though he did make quite a slash! I'm sorry she felt she had to respond to him. But I am glad she got lots of support on twitter. (I don't tweet and don't know how to follow tweets, but I get the idea.)
DeleteYou won't want to read my rant. But you have hit a major hot button. I am 72 and I look really good if I do say so. But that isn't my accomplishment. My marriage of 51+ years and my 5 very successful and happy children and the education I earned over the years are what represent who I am. Beauty is a) who you are and b)in the eye of the beholder, as they say. She is beautiful in her own way and she has a lovely smile. This beautiful/ugly thing has got to stop!!!!!
ReplyDeleteShe looks lovely for an "unaltered" 58 years. We're getting so used to 50yoactresses looking like 30, we don't even know what 58 looks like anymore! Also: If she were fat and sallow-skinned and balding, more power to her, but I'm sure she wouldn't have that show. A man would.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and everyone else who has said that her looks shouldn't matter anyway because after all she is putting herself forward as an expert on antiquities rather than a beauty queen. But what really got to me was the critics' bizarre and unrealistic expectations about how a woman should look. In the real world, where we don't have the cover of photoshop, etc., I think she looks good by most people's standards!
DeleteSince you brought it up, I will say that I personally don't find her to be overly attractive (though if you hadn't brought it up, I'd have simply kept that opinion to myself, as it should be). HOWEVER....that's not really the point of what she does, and I think it's wrong to criticize her looks while ignoring her message. She's not there to model clothing, she's there because she's knowledgeable about her subject and that's much more important than how she looks. It's sad that people feel like they have to denigrate others about something completely different than the topic at hand.
ReplyDeleteHow awful! And what a sad commentary that in this day and age women are still judged and valued based on their looks.
ReplyDeleteWhat I really like about the UK produced shows we get in Australia, in comparison to those from the USA, is that they are full of normal looking people, not surgically altered 18-30 year olds with perfect teeth.
ReplyDeleteI would much rather look at and listen to a bright person who is an expert in her subject that someone with nothing to recommend them but their appearance- which will change as they age no matter how much time and money they spend.
How nasty to call normal "ugly"- and how petty.
What is wrong with this world? Look at the life in this woman's eyes! I think she is a beautiful, worldy intelligent woman. Maybe people (ie men) aren't comfortable with a 58 year old who is vibrant and active and that confuses them. Vivacity and passion is expected of young women but possibly not of mature women? It's wrong that someone's worth is measured by the shape of their face or body, but to me that's further proof that it is men who are mostly doing the judging because many of them have no understanding that for most women, attraction starts in the brain and not in the body. Sorry, didn't mean to turn that into a rant!
ReplyDeleteSeriously?! What silly shallow sexist people there are in the UK media. Not only do I think she looks completely and naturally gorgeous; I'm with the camp that hopes that I look even half that good when I am 58... but she is obviously learned and a very interesting person. Someone above mentioned she would not get on the cover of Vogue... I disagree and think this is exactly the sort of role model who SHOULD be on the cover of Vogue, a woman who has looked after herself and is naturally beautiful. Additionally is there EVER even similar such discussions about men in the same situation? of course not. This attitude makes my blood boil.
ReplyDeleteI will also mention that I think the attitude that needs to overtly classify someone as "a mother" to be equally sexist. What is wrong with just stating that she is a History professor at Cambridge University?
ReplyDeleteFair comment. She would have my sympathy whether she was a mother or not.
DeleteIn this case, I wanted to mention that she is a mother. It adds another dimension to her when painting a picture of who she is. And, in the game of sneering at women, and trying to publicly humiliate them for having the temerity to look as God/nature has made them, I think women whose bodies have given birth get some of the harshest parsing.
I agree Karin, and please don't think I was casting aspersions on your statement! I was merely expressing frustration at a system that puts us in a pigeon hole, whereas men do not receive the same classification. Do they ever say "here is Geoffrey Robertson, a father and a QC?"
DeleteI come from a position where I worked in a very male dominated profession (analytical chemistry) and faced discrimination and condescension regularly, so I am probably overly sensitive to the issue. Unfortunately being a mother, until only recently, immediately classed a woman as sort of dipsy, distracted and incompetent, and probably likely to have to rush off to look after her sick children. Women of my age group struggled to be given equal respect and recognition for our equal qualifications, and not to be singled out by the fact that we had given birth.
I'm sorry if you thought I was criticising your article, I was not and I am wholeheartedly on your side of the argument! :)
No offense takien! It's kind of you to follow up anyway:-)
DeleteI do know what you mean, though. To be fair on the BBC. They count men as fathers when giving news items, about as often as the mention that he women are mothers. (I haven't done a proper survey.). Sometimes it's relevant, other times it just sounds like an odd non-sequitur.
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ReplyDeleteOk, look, she isn't Dita Von Teese, but is she supposed to be posing on a car hood or giving us historical information? So many people are one thing at first glance but thru their intellect, wit and beautiful minds they become radiantto us. They become 'Dorkalicious' to me. I'd rather an articulate man or woman who didn't feel the need for eyeliner or trappings to a bubblehead that stumbles over words and brings no merit to his or her surroundings.
ReplyDeleteWhile she may not reflect the current "standards" of beauty (pish posh), she radiates confidence, wisdom and intelligence from her very depths, and I, for one, think that is stunning on a woman. AND, she has a very generous and lovely smile.
ReplyDeleteI do think she is beautiful. She has a lovely smile and a healthy glow. I hate that she is being exposed to such horrible public commentary, but do appreciate what she is doing to present and unaltered 58 year old woman on television. Such a specimen is ridiculously rare, which is what raises up all those expectations in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI think she looks wholesome. vivacious, and authentic. It seems as if is better to look plastic than human and natural. It is comforting to see former sex symbol Brigitte B to have not succumbed to the pressures of being "plastic pretty". Thanks, Karin for sharing. Beauty is beyond the physical...
ReplyDeleteI hope you get all your forms sorted out!
ReplyDeleteIf I am as happy as she looks, in the future, with lovely healthy hair and skin - I would be thrilled! I'm so conscious of the amount of unhealthy airbrushed images that our children are exposed to, that this lady is a breath of fresh air!
Our brains are so ingrained with what we see in the media that it has becomes hard for some of us to appreciated 'real' people without their flaws brushed out.
ReplyDelete