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The Forum > Article Comments > Kate Ellis sends mixed messages with simmering Grazia photo shoot > Comments

Kate Ellis sends mixed messages with simmering Grazia photo shoot : Comments

By Lydia Turner, published 15/4/2010

Tight-fitting leather and dominatrxi heels - another body image blunder for Youth Minister Ellis?

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'One of the functions of sexualising powerful women is that they become less threatening. Their abilities fade into the background while all that is focused on is whether they are ‘hot-or-not.’ '

There I was thinking men just liked looking at beautiful woman, when really it's all a conspiracy to take focus off their other attributes that are 'threatening'.

By that rationale, no stupid women would ever be 'sexualised'. Women are sexual beings, they cant be sexualised.

Oh, I get it. If you're a girl with a brain, you have no right to dress in attractive clothing, and no one else should be allowed to find you attractive. Intelligent women should take their lead from feminists and refuse to express themselves in the way they want and become asexual identities.

Perhaps women can be smart AND sexy. Radical I know.

'Instead of giving in to the pressure to sexualise herself,'
Hang on. I thought she was an independent intelligent woman with her own mind? Now she's a brainless drone that is giving in to 'pressure'?

'So many of the comments posted in response to Ellis’ photoshoot have been about whether she is ‘hot or not.” Because that’s what counts.'
Yes it is, IN THAT CONTEXT! Geez.

' while catering to the sexual fantasies of men.'
By wearing some boots and not going into a feminist lecture in response to being told she's sexy?

'Given that girls and women are already taught that their worth is measured by how sexually desirable they are, having our Youth Minister reiterate that message just trivialises an issue she seems to care deeply about.'

I rather think she sets the example that you can be sexy and intelligent and contribute to society in a positive way.

BTW: I don't see any feminists jump up and down about the millions of references to Tony Abbot in speedos. If the treatment about the budgy smugglers was aimed at Gillard in a bikini there would be an outrage-athon.
Posted by Houellebecq, Thursday, 15 April 2010 12:29:58 PM
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Pelican: exactly.

Ellis claims she did this photoshoot to make a point about body image- and what is it?
no different to any other modelling shot out there.

the "i was just trying to spark a debate on body image" is a pathetic excuse for a fashion shoot.

there is nothing wrong with wanting to look hot in a fashion shoot, just don't say it's in the name of improveing women's body image/ self esteem.
Posted by Sylvie Jade, Thursday, 15 April 2010 12:30:21 PM
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I reckon the best photoshoot for body image would be to line up a bevy of male and female politicians in a group nude shoot. No airbrushing or other interference just plain old skin in all its glory with every fold, wrinkle and dimple to be seen.

With a big slogan underneath saying - naked and proud of who we are. Or similar.

Probably not too many takes on that one though. :)
Posted by pelican, Thursday, 15 April 2010 12:43:52 PM
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I wonder if Grazia would have approached Kate Ellis for a body image shoot if she didn't conform to socially constructed beauty standards, and whether kate ellis would have said 'yes' at all if she wasn't attractive.
Posted by Sylvie Jade, Thursday, 15 April 2010 12:48:02 PM
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Our company does a lot of branding work with personalities such as politicians, writers and general advocates all trying to achieve personal celebrity ONLY so that they may deliver the true protagonist - the message or issue they want to amplify.

I really believe Kate Ellis needs to hire another communications/marketing/and PR consultant if her aim was actually to highlight issues related to Body Image in Australian Popular Culture.

Remember, as Lydia highlights, this is what Ellis claims to have been aiming to do - but, as other commentators here in the forum point out - they didn't think about the issue at all when looking at these images.

Well, maybe it's because the brand focus was soooo heavily diluted that it achieved the opposite.

If Ellis was aiming to present herself in the light of being happy and positive about her sense of self in her own skin, we would have approached the shoot with her in her favourite outfit (which she notes this is not,) in which she actually looks comfortable and genuinely happy and situated in a location representative of her political goals.

It's clear she is, in fact, uncomfortable in this totally unrelatable shot and it's sad to think that she has now conformed to what she was working against - a sexualised portrayal of designer/ societal femininity - instead of presenting her real, authentically beautiful self.

Ahhh - another case of intelligence being photoshopped away!
Posted by CatalystCommedia, Thursday, 15 April 2010 12:49:16 PM
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I think Kate Ellis' latest stunt has less to do with body image, than the Rudd ALP, like Blair's New Labour, being utter, desperate media tarts.

Face it, Kevin Rudd would pose naked with a rose in his mouth if he thought it would win a few votes (rather than send voters screaming and clawing at their eyes).
Posted by Clownfish, Thursday, 15 April 2010 12:55:30 PM
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