When a former Disney CEO is lightly piddling over the hopes and dreams of girls and women everywhere, you know there’s a problem.
In yet another high-profile case of ‘open mouth, insert foot’, Michael Eisner has claimed that beautiful and funny women are… “impossible to find”. If that wasn’t awkward enough, he made this statement while in conversation with the delightful Goldie Hawn. Who is beautiful and funny.
Face, meet palm.
We’ve been over this already, and not that long ago. I can imagine Disney wants to distance itself from this as far as possible. The Disney Princess range is worth billions to the company worldwide. We can’t have girls thinking something is ‘impossible’.
Michael’s main point seems to be that beautiful women get by on their looks, so they don’t need to tell jokes. I don’t even know where to begin.
Let’s start with the assumption that pretty women use their appearance to get ahead and not their brains. I can’t help but be reminded of the #distractinglysexy backlash on Twitter after scientist Tim Hunt’s comments on single-sex labs. (He’s since resigned.)
We’re then looking at the direct implication that funny women aren’t attractive. As someone who’s not 100% happy with her looks (who is?), I’m offended by that. And Michael Eisner’s comments are defining ‘attractive’ as physical, which is so wrong. Warmth, kindness, the way you laugh, that family recipe for brownies that everyone loves – these are the things that make you beautiful, ladies.
And on top of that, why are we holding women to such high standards of physical appearance in order to be successful? You have to be this. You have to be that. You have the wrong nose. You have to weigh this. Sorry, it’s been five seconds and I haven’t laughed, except at your choice of shoes.
I want to say something to every woman reading this: you are beautiful. No, I’m not writing a Dove advert. You are. People love you for who you are. And if you want to pursue a line in being funny, then go for it. We’ve got your back.
