Y Factor Blog: "Whose body is it anyway? Take note of my substance, not my style"

Published: Monday, July 08, 2013

The Y Factor's latest blog is now live! It focuses on the media's obsession with the female body image and how it deliberately trivialises the important work women do in the fight for equality and a voice at all levels of decision making. An extract from the blog is featured below while the whole article can be found on the Y Factor website.

'Hillary Clinton once famously quipped, 'If I want to knock a story off the front page, I just change my hairstyle.' We live in a world where a woman's style is a bigger story than the substance of what she has to say. It's not possible to encourage young girls to enter politics, or any decision making forum, if the reality of the situation is that they will be judged more for how they look rather than what they have to say. In the current debate surrounding legislation for the X Case, we see a Dáil full of men making choices for women. The voices of the debate are predominantly male, and this is in part because the main time we give women a voice is when we discuss their appearance. This suits the male patriarchy, because it lends credence to the idea that men will decide the important political stuff, while women concern themselves with lesser topics such as fashion and beauty.'