‘Legs-it’ and the naked truth about women in the public eye（816 words）

By Jo Ellison

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The great tragedy of the “Legs-it” front page published by British tabloid paper The Daily Mail this week was not that the prime minister Theresa May and Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon were judged by their clothes. But that their clothes only provided punctuation to a far more abusive judgment in which their garments were discarded so they could be pitted against each other in a battle of the “shapely shanks”. The politicians were undressed, like lumps of meat, and subjected to a scrutiny a judge might offer contestants participating in a local beauty pageant.

Bizarrely both were dressed according to the ancient patriarchal code of what is deemed appropriate for women in public office — smart tailored suits, modest jewellery, professional hair and sheer tights. Exactly the sort of ensembles tabloid papers like to fawn over, because they are womanly and attractive (not like those other female politicians, such as the matronly Angela Merkel, for example, who insists on wearing dowdy trouser suits that won’t even allow us a gawk at her ankles). Otherwise they were unremarkable. The outfits were singled out both for their similarity — an observation made by people who have clearly never been in a room of professional women — and for their comparative costs. Nicola Sturgeon wore Hobbs, while Theresa May wore a more expensive £595 jacket by Amanda Wakeley. Quite how anyone can still think this an extravagance, when one considers the eye-bleedingly high price tags of those