Thursday, August 09, 2007 Seares: Hillary’s and Glo’s cleavage By Pachico A. Seares News Sense
IT'S still ablaze, if no longer roaring: the firestorm in the States over a "Washington Post" column on Sen. Hillary Clinton's Senate speech, broadcast on C-Span2, last July 18.
Robin Givhan's column drew torrent of mail and calls to the Post and set off debate in newspapers and blogs. All about what?
Cleavage. Hillary talked about cost of education. And Givhan wrote about Mrs. Clinton's pink jacket, black shirt, with slight V-neck---and the hollow between Hillary's breasts.
In the past, Hillary wore only "dowdy pantsuits." Then, she showed cleavage, not huge, only a bit, but still a cleavage.
The column was coarse, petty, an insult to women, critics said.
Perfect storm
At a UP Cebu class on Media Issues yesterday, one question was, Would President Arroyo have created an uproar had she worn at the Sona a cleavage-revealing dress?
A future journalist retorted, "What cleavage?" Ignoring that, I said, "A plunge in her neckline could have set off a perfect storm."
And sent media to frenzy. It would have shown a different Mrs. Arroyo, shocking to conservative culture of the woman and the presidency.
But why all the fuming over Givhan's column? It wasn't news or editorial, just a fashion writer's "Style" commentary.
As for the Post devoting too much space for "a non-political aspect of a tense national political battle," what nonsense.
The Post is not the US voters' sole source. Besides, most of the paper's content go to serious discourse.
One more note: A woman need not be insulted if the audience admires not just what she says but also what a neckline fall reveals.
