The photo of Sarah Palin posing in her running shorts shouldn't be degrading toward women.
AP Photo/Newsweek, Brian Adams
Newsweek featured an article on Sarah Palin this week to coincide with the release of Palin's autobiography: Going Rogue. The headline is blatantly critical of Palin, but the aspect which has drawn the most criticism from Palin, and the most controversy in the press is the photograph that Newsweek chose for its front cover (pictured above). The photo, originally shot for a feature in Runner's World Magazine, appears to have been chosen to make Palin look like a precocious trollop. Palin has spoken out, calling the photo "sexist." "The out-of-context Newsweek approach is sexist and oh-so-expected by now," she told her fans on Facebook.
If the image is so sexist, then why did Palin herself pose for it? As Palin has pointed out, the photo has been taken out of context. The Runner's World article clearly necessitated a picture of Palin in her running gear, including short shorts and practically incandescent new shoes. But why does a pair of running shorts suddenly become "sexist" when they are printed on the cover of a news magazine? In a world where women are still fighting to shirk the stereotype of the "weaker sex," why shouldn't an athletic woman be seen as a symbol of strength and virility? Presidents Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and French president Nicolas Sarkozy have all been photographed in their running gear. President Obama has even appeared in his bathing suit without activists batting an eye. If the only difference between these presidential running photos and Palin's is that Palin is a woman, than is it more sexist to print the photo or to condemn it?
Regardless of what you think of Palin's politics (or command of the English language), her Runner's World interview shows a strong and introspective side of the most ridiculed women in politics. During the 2008 campaign trail and beyond, Palin painted herself as an illiterate yokel and a fashion-crazed MILF too shallow to deal with the complexities of international politics. The hard-working and stalwart Palin portrayed in the RW interview is possibly the most feminist portrait of the former vice-presidential candidate to appear in the unbiased media since she burst onto the American consciousness two years ago.
When Katie Couric asked Sarah Palin about what media sources she read in their now-infamous interview, Palin neglected to mention Runner's World. However, in her RW interview Dan Simmons, manages to get the reading list out of Palin that Couric could not. Among her favorite authors Palin lists former RW Columnist George Sheehan as one of her favorite authors. No one can vouch for whether she actually read her other two favorites (C.S. Lewis and John Steinbeck), but it appears that she did her homework with Sheehan. "[H]is books and columns so inspired me 10, 15, 20 years ago, and still do. I remember what he wrote about applying the lessons of running to relationships and families and businesses and, in my case, running a state. He was a brilliant man," Palin told Simmons.
In the RW article, Palin describes how her parents taught her goal-setting and self-discipline through running; skills that she has applied to her political career. Now that she's a mother, Palin uses running as a way to spend time with her children; pushing infant Trig in a baby jogger, running from phone pole to phone pole with her eight-year-old daughter, or having her oldest son Track (named for running) drop off water bottles along her long run routes with notes like "Love you, Mom" and "Run hard, Mom." Palin has also run through all five of her pregnancies, proving that she is not the anti-feminist "barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen" type.
In the RW article, Palin also praises Title IX, the supreme American expression of feminism in sport. "I'm so thankful for Title IX allowing equal access to [sports and recreation] opportunities, and I'm a huge proponent of girls being able to realize what they're made of by participating in sports," Palin panders. The former Alaskan governor goes on to say, "whatever I can do [in respect to Title IX] I'm going to be doing." To be true to her word, perhaps Palin should stop speaking out against skimpy running shorts as a symbol of sexism, and remind the world that strong women play sports.
Comments
She knew exactly what she was posing for and to pretend the photograph is now being taken out of context shows the spinelessness and ineptitude of this woman. Plus she is trying to work the old adage of "SEX sells". but will not admit it. Fancy talking to Oprah after such a blatant snub when she was running for something worthwile and not herself!!! Now she is going to talk with Oprah. Sarah give women a break and disappear in Alaska
The problems with Newsweek's choice are manifold. First, they had no legal right to utilize that photo, Runners World had exclusive rights until Aug. 2010, so Newsweek stole RW's property.
Second, the picture did nothing to highlight the perceived problems of Sarah Palin, but used her atractiveness in an unauthorized picture to increase Newsweek's bottom line.
A third problem is that the main question next to the cheesecake clearly is a play on "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria", forgetting that Maria von Trapp was called a naive disaster by her 'betters' in The Sound of Music, yet is the one who pulled a disfunctional family back together AND saved them from the forces of evil. Given that the article is a hit piece, and the cover's design clearly meant to denigrate her, I can only conclude Newsweek is incompetent. Their cover shows Palin as attractive and fit surrounded by symbols of power, and subliminally recalls to mind a beloved heroine. Not well thought out.
You are blind, dumb or lying if you are defending that this cover is not sexist.
just when you thought her 15 minutes were over . . . . don't even get me started on her ex-son-in-law.
Sarah is gorgeous on the Newsweek cover. She is slim, trim, super fit, and has legs to die for. She looks 25, not 45. This magazine will be a collector's edition. Sexist? Oh, puleeeeze.
The photo is completely appropriate for Runners World but I do not think that there is a photo of a male candidate in running shorts on the cover of "News" Week
It's not the picture that makes it sexist, it's the obnoxious headline that goes along with it. When you combine the two, it's ugly.
Nice hair-do for running! I need to get some of Sarah's super stiff gel to keep my hair from flopping and drooping.
Your argument (analogy) does not hold. But yes, the use of the picture is not necessarily sexist, but the use of a Runner’s World picture on the cover of Newsweek implies/connotes that she is a bird-brained cheerleader, not a serious politician. (You can opine that she's not, but she was elected governor, so that makes her a serious politician. Sorry.) And so Newsweek shows its agenda: marginalizing her. If Time did the same thing to Nancy Pelosi, the outcry would be ridiculous. And deservedly so.
RUN 4 FUN AND YOUR PERSONAL BEST SARAH OUR NEXT PRESIDENT!!!
The analogy to "The Sound of Music" is brilliant. Mother superior did ask the question "How do you solve a problem like Maria." However, Maria evolved to fix a dysfunctional family and save it from evil. Newsweek may have unwittingly written America's FlashForward.
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