Must Conservative Women Look "Feminine"?

A recent Blaze post cited a study suggesting that right-wing women politicians who've been labelled "conservative" seem, as a group, to "look more feminine" than left-wing women politicians:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/study-finds-republican-women-look-more-feminine-than-democrats/

How true is this? Sarah Palin does seem to have started the trend that allows women politicians to choose styles that used to be considered "too feminine, not serious enough." Notably all that long, thick hair. I like it on Palin, love it on Michele Bachmann (who's had the courage to show grey, and long may her hair wave), and worry that it may become a media standard that might be used to discriminate against women whose hair just won't grow that way.

I'm less convinced by the claim that Hillary Rodham Clinton, Joycelyn Elders, Connie Morella, et al., looked "less feminine." They became famous during a period when women generally were wearing dark skirt suits and short haircuts. I don't see that that made any of them look like a man. The only left-wing woman politician I'd describe as looking mannish was Janet Reno, and I saw her as working very hard to counteract what nature had done, choosing much "girlier" styles than most women in Washington would have worn in public--tall as she was, she actually wore built-up heels.

Too many people confuse "feminine," which means whatever quality all women have in common, with "girlish." Unfortunately, after age 30 women stop looking and acting "girlish," and instead of celebrating our grown-up womanliness, some Americans (especially in the commercial media) have demanded that we either fake girlishness or be replaced by teenyboppers. If Joycelyn Elders, Donna Shalala, or Rosalynn Carter don't fit your mental image of "feminine," you have probably been brainwashed into imagining that older women somehow lose "femininity" rather than embodying the mature or perfected form of it.

However, just in case someone out there does see our Republican women leaders as looking "more feminine" and feel that this means that Republicans are demanding that women who have the right ideas must have "pretty" facial bones that look Hollywood-perfect-for-the-sweet-ingenue-character...here's a bit of feminist consolation. Youall have the opportunity to support Deb Fischer, prospective Republican Senator from Nebraska, whose mug shot shows that she's not ashamed of her age, much less of having a round rather than telegenically angular face, and she's not trying very hard to look "pretty." She looks nice, friendly, motherly, but not Hollywood.

The long, messy web address opens a clearer picture of Fischer's face, on this computer, than the short and simple one. One of the two should provide a nice clear mug shot:

http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=xni7ufkab&v=0012ndadPBmR-L_4Z88Ud860ppGHFDgpo06cSYrRQ1QWHACoxXs3JXaCSfDsJSMS4smnHMl7IrFP0VKK_UiLjFrL-lLiHOTbFIkwWlX6q6xYTE5nUCL-6otraJYfHghH_IvTpVqXHjUEqPBO6UMeDqVAebt8KPARJ9IQEl5ImpOCWy6M8Aw3vjjfWNCzLfPluhMSUYnHxio31W1AurH-Bfc5yz-aJDQrpVFmoWBhzGaWluCGu81erDe2g%3D%3D

https://2012.senateconservatives.com/step1?c=d7145254c21d675c75d88a36262ffbc3

Want to know more about her than what she looks like? Beware of the fundraising site that pops up first in a Google search for her name; the web filter at the computer center blocks it. Debra Strobel Fischer has a legitimate professional-looking web site. The video at the home page shows up fine on this computer but wouldn't work on an older computer at the same lab. However, you should be able to find Fischer's positions on key issues at:

http://debfischer2012.com/issues/agriculture/

http://debfischer2012.com/issues/energy/ (Nebraskans should read the fine print here. Support for "coal" could mean strip mining.)

http://debfischer2012.com/issues/healthcare/ (Hurrah!)

http://debfischer2012.com/issues/national-security/

http://debfischer2012.com/issues/taxes-spending/ (Hurray!)

Most readers of this page are not Nebraskans and can't vote for Fischer, but we can root for her.