April 24, 2006

Don't trash the 'stache? There was a lot of talk about NDP Leader Jack Layton's moustache in the last Canadian election and the one before, about facial hair in politics as it relates to perceptions of trustworthiness and authenticity, blah blah blah. But what about facial hair as it relates to a woman?

Walking around the Plateau during Easter weekend, there were a lot of posters up for a by-election. Quebec political signs have always been something of an oddity, given their willingness to have candidate photos on them -- which can be, uh, defaced rather easily. Thus, when I saw this woman's photo everywhere, I thought that the moustache had been drawn on, but upon closer inspection -- nope. Which puts a whole new spin on the debate surrounding Jack's stache. Should Manon have gotten rid of her stache for the campaign? Or at least have a little photoshopping done on the campaign posters? Are those imported paradigms of women's appearance even legitimate? The stache can be seen on the site's B&W photo, kinda seen on the others. On the posters, it's rather prominent.

posted by Capt. Renault 18 years ago
  • How the hell is anyone going to vote for her when the posters are all in funny-talk?
  • she does have a dépliant available on her site. > Should Manon have gotten rid of her stache for the campaign? i dunno. is it going to make much difference to the people who'd vote for her? perhaps we don't have enough experience of facially hirsute women to have formed prejudices about their behaviour.
  • Um, the point here is that a female politician has some facial hair and you're wondering how this affects her chances of winning? Gawrsh, hope she's not overweight as well. Probably she has kids she's not telling us about, too, the creep.
  • Ummm, fish...think back to the Nixon/Kennedy debates. In the age of visual media, appearance is a huge part of votemongering.
  • "Um, the point here is that a female politician has some facial hair and you're wondering how this affects her chances of winning? Gawrsh, hope she's not overweight as well." I was just wondering how this is even possible, when every aspect of appearance is tightly controlled. I would guess that at some point, a campaign manager or handler said something about it, and that it was discussed, and that they decided to go ahead with her regular appearance. Which brings up the question of why -- is she trying to appeal to voters as being 'real', or is appealing to voters not a concern of hers, for whatever reason. I can't imagine that it wasn't discussed, and as it was likely discussed, it was approved. Why would they go that route? Offhand, a little photoshopping or airbrushing on the posters would go a long way to appealing to the more superficial and finicky voters, never mind just getting rid of the facial hair as a physical thing.
  • > a little photoshopping or airbrushing on the posters would go a long way but would leave her open to criticism when compared with any photos taken for independent media.
  • I'd definitely vote for the last election being a beauty contest with all the beauty contest rejects. Seriously, how many articles were there about hairstyles, moustaches and "what kind of tree would you be" and how many articles were about platform? For shame, Canada, for shame. I almost returned my maple leaves and igloo building kit. (Also, I live on the flaky west coast, so your mileage might be different.) As for women with 'staches: well, it's sort of unnerving to see, as I am quite a shallow cad, but to each their own and something like that would not reflect my judgement of her ability. To think otherwise would be like putting a lot of stock in biblical myths such as the Samson and Delilah thing.
  • Oop, please change reflect to affect... I just woke up.
  • All I see at the mannonmasse site is a blank page with Unsupported database type.
  • moi aussi
  • P'raps they're busy photoshopping.
  • As a mustachioed person I find your disdain for piliferous persons distressful.
  • I'd love to see a politician with a full Rutherford B. Hayes face-forest. I'd vote for him/her.
  • Mais, non! Manon est disparu!
  • You probably hurt her feelings.
  • Sacre bleu!
  • Try this.
  • It's not on the archive.org wayback machine, but there is a Google cache of www.manonmasse.net. Personally, I don't care what my politicians look like as long as they can do the job for which I voted.
  • C'est ici mes amis. Vous avez besoin d'un 'index.html' aprés le nom de domaine.
  • It has been said that a kiss without a moustache is like an egg without salt. For benefit of those hopeful of being kissed by a politician. Don't see that having face fuzz makes any difference to a person's ability to do the job. Or to slack off.
  • Um, I don't see the moustache. Did they change the photos?
  • (Shhh, the emperor looks amazing in those new duds.)
  • It's very fair, but you can see it. If you squint. I was hoping for a Frida Kahlo.
  • To tell you the truth, I couldn't be sure it's a 'stache or just those striated upper lip wrinkles that some old folk collect.
  • What about Matthew Arnold mutton chops, The Underpants Monster?
  • Now there's a face you can trust!
  • Man, Jack Layton flew SR-71s. No 'stache either.
  • Insolent Chimp: The scientific name for the condition you describe is Cat Bum Mouth.
  • Now THAT'S a 'tache!
  • That's a Cheech!
  • Or that annoying fuck from 'My Hero'.
  • THAT, my friends, is Dick Strawbridge, TV personality of titanic stature here in the UK. My friends and I have have concocted entire back-stories and a complete TV detective-type-airs-on-a-Sunday-evening TV series about him. Called simply 'Strawbridge', if you're interested. He rocks like Yoda.