While our neighbours to the south struggle with the latest debate over the right to bear arms, a former Canadian Prime Minister thought the time was right to launch a conversation over the right to bare arms.
Kim Campbell, who had the misfortune of succeeding Brian Mulroney in 1993 (and, as a result, only “succeeding” in one sense of the word during that year’s federal election), recently took to Twitter with a comment on the number-one issue facing Canadians today: Sleeveless female news anchors.
As she re-tweeted an essay by American speaking coach Nick Morgan – in which he insists that “if you show up in front of us with skin exposed, we’re going to think about your body” and added that those who wear sleeveless dresses “look less brilliant than if you covered your arms” – Campbell suggested that she always found such attire to be “demeaning” on female TV news presenters and added: “Bare arms undermine credibility and gravitas!”
It didn’t take long, of course, for the Canadian cybersphere to recall a January 1993 photo of Campbell posing bare-shouldered behind a legal robe to symbolize her time as the federal Justice Minister. In response, she returned to Twitter and attempted to defend her participation in what she described as “art – juxtaposition of bare shoulders [femininity] and legal robes [male dominated power structure],” defiantly adding that at least she “wasn’t presenting the news!”
Fine then, Ms. Campbell – you win, you’re not a hypocrite. We’ll chalk that “art project” up to a youthful indiscretion (she was only 45 at the time, after all) and allow for the evolution of your viewpoint on the subject. Just one problem: Perhaps you should have given some consideration to the new generation of leaders that followed your rollicking five-month run as Prime Minister a quarter-century ago.
That includes Global’s evening news co-anchor in Toronto, Farah Nasser, who tore a strip off Campbell in a news commentary that ran earlier this month. Nasser pointed out that “no television news director has ever told me what to wear” in her 20-year TV career, which also included stops at CNN and Rogers TV, and added: “I’ve never lost brain cells while wearing a sleeveless dress. I also haven’t grown smarter while wearing a business suit.”
Nasser also chided Campbell for abusing her position as Canada’s first female Prime Minister to suggest that journalists lack “credibility and gravitas” based on what they wear on-camera: “When you are the first at anything, you have a responsibility. Whether you intend to be or not, you are a role model and what you say has an impact.”
Even Alberta Conservative MP Michelle Rempel, whose party is partly derived from the remnants of Campbell’s Progressive Conservatives, was astounded by the former PM’s words, writing on Twitter: “Wait. What? Credibility is earned by wearing sleeves? I give up.”
Now, I’m not going to sit here and suggest that broadcast journalists of any gender don’t have a responsibility to dress professionally while on the job. Over the past five years, I’ve seen a small minority of people on our regional airwaves that looked like they were going to hit the clubs in Halifax after they finished anchoring the nightly news or delivering the weather forecast.
But sleeveless outfits have never made me question a female reporter or anchor’s ability to deliver the news with dignity, seriousness and professionalism. If anything, they’ve made me jealous. Come on, men, admit it: Wouldn’t you like to go with short sleeves or bare arms in a business environment at least as often as our current (male) PM?
Days after the Campbell brouhaha unfolded, another wardrobe-related social media scuffle arose over the release of a publicity photo for the spy thriller Red Sparrow, which opens in theatres this weekend. Shot in London, the image featured the movie’s female lead, Jennifer Lawrence, in a slinky, low-cut Versace gown and open-toed shoes amidst four of her male co-stars, all wearing jackets, coats and scarves on a chilly February day.
Just one problem with the latest chapter in the sexism-in-Hollywood narrative: Turns out Lawrence chose the gown and insisted she wear it for the photoshoot.
“This is not only utterly ridiculous, I am extremely offended,” Lawrence huffed to The Guardian. “You think I’m going to cover that gorgeous dress up with a coat and a scarf? I was outside for five minutes. I would have stood in the snow for that dress because I love fashion and that was my choice.”
Lawrence’s last word – choice – is key to the success of feminism and gender equality. Hopefully we’ll choose to listen to the intelligent, powerful and creative female voices around us, instead of choosing to obsess over what they’re wearing at any given moment.