Bright Copper Kettles

Zen Tiger made an interesting comment about the appearance thing on my Women's Magazines post.

I was going to reply but then I realised that perhaps we are not really talking about the same thing and that perhaps other people wouldn't understand why I "overreact" to negative comments about our Prime Minister's appearance. I understand that the underlying intent of the comments was to highlight the perceived fakeness of the PM. I'd probably agree with the intent, but the nature of the comments distracted me.

I will try and explain where I am coming from. I'm not sure if other people feel the same way as I do. Maybe I'm just a freak.


Harsh comments are fine. I don't have anything against harsh comments. It's just that I will sometimes overreact to them. I tend to personalise certain topics and certain comments. In particular the frequent negative comments about appearance and childlessness.

For example, this is how the "Woman Supposedly Our Prime Minister" post plays out in my head:

1. I see photos of Helen Clark not looking her best (ie looking like a normal person) and a photo of her looking like she is going out for a nice evening. I think that the "bad" photo of her is not that bad. I think I look worse than that. I think the "good" photo looks a bit fake. The makeup artist has gone overboard and she doesn't look like Helen. Still I think it looks very nice. I very rarely look that good and that's only when I too have a team of makeup artists and hair stylists.

2. Then I read these comments about Helen's appearance:

"A rottwieler in drag!"
"Still a dog"
"Pages with PM pictures, my lunch is coming back up..."
"Our Prime Minister, supposedly a woman..."

3. I feel like complete crap. It has nothing to do with Helen or politics. It has everything to do with me feeling like an ugly dog.

4. I know I shouldn't take it personally. But I can't help it. It is very difficult to not follow through with the logic: I look worse than Helen. All these people think Helen looks like a dog. They must think I look like a dog.

5. So when people say that appearance doesn't matter. I just think...LIES!!! Appearance matters. Especially if you are female.

6. Then I get depressed because I am not a hot blonde and I am going to be alone for ever.

You might want to tell me not to be so sensitive. That is like telling me not to be me. That is like saying I am over-sensitive ugly dog.