Sex Appeal

There is a saying that a nice suit on a guy is the same thing as lingerie on a woman in terms of sex appeal.. but maybe we're taking that a bit to far when we as a culture expect female morning news broadcasters to pose "sexily" on the table next to their co hosts to sell a magazine. Granted, this was a Vanity Fair magazine..but still. For reference, the second photo is a picture of Mika Brzezinski on the job, and I actually think she looks way sexier in that photo than in the first one.

Slate included a link to the first photo in an article about how female news anchors are expected to be sleeveless, but professional, and show off some leg. What?! I think that the sexification of women has kinda gone too far, shouldn't news anchors be reporting on the news and look more like business people, or maybe just like casual women? In the article they point out that some anchors show up to work looking more like they are going out to a club, and less like they are going to a professional environment. GQ also did a similar article where they had news anchor Megyn Kelly pose partially naked and talked about how hot she is, not about how well she reports the news or can independently comment on newsworthy items.

I agree with the Slate article that this is completely ridiculous, and probably needs to stop. It's great that these women are in good shape, but it should not be a requirement of the job to (even at 45) be able to balance sexily on a table in stilletos on one leg and your arms while you gaze admiringly at your fellow newscaster who smiles knowingly into the camera.

I think if we're going to have women do this, we should have men do this too, but really, I think neither should be. Knowledge and clarity should be the selling factors in news, not looks. I can understand expecting presentable attire and looks, but this has just gone too far.