"How not to talk to a woman, lessons from Lebanese politicians"

Via AbuM, in Feministing, here

"The elections here in Lebanon passed rather quietly (a few fisticuffs here, some fireworks there) on Sunday, the results are in, and Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) performed far worse than expected.  While there are many explanations for this (Sunni expat voters airdropped in on free plane tickets by the Future Movement, inept speeches by Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah, unsubtle threats by American diplomats warning Lebanese people not to vote for Hizballah), I would like to think that the FPM’s nauseating “Sois Belle et Vote” (“Be beautiful and vote”) posters had something to do with it..... 

The campaign undoubtedly infuriated and enraged a lot of people, but it also represents some sad truths about Lebanon (and elsewhere):

1)    A lot of women want to look like the model featured on the poster, or at least have been convinced they should want to.  This phenomenon is obviously not limited to Lebanon; ...

2)    Worse, and possibly unique to Lebanon – male politicians here think that vanity is the only platform on which to appeal a female voter.  The response from the rival political party, “Sois egale et vote,” features another gorgeous model, although she looks slightly more Arab than the very European-looking one in the first ad.  Both say the same stupid thing: “Vote for us and you’ll look just like her!”  

Because of its sectarian political system (and corruption, and personality cults, and nepotism, and foreign interference, and its electoral law, and and and), Lebanese politics are at the extreme end of “unresponsive,” and very few politicians or parties boast nuanced, concrete platforms.  But it’s one thing to not respond to female voters; it’s another to insult them..... The thinking here goes that you’ll vote for whoever represents your sect’s interest (ie funnels lots of jobs and resources out of the government coffers into your district/sectarian community) and therefore platforms, shmatforms. 

This is in sharp contrast to what appears to be happening in Iran, if we are to believe NPR, the BBC, the WSJ, Reuters, The Times, and a number of other news outlets who are focusing on the power of politicians’ wives and the preferences of women voters in tomorrow’s elections.  People here in Lebanon whose political leanings tend away from the Hizballah/Aoun opposition often refer to Hizballah’s Iranian sponsorship and express fear that Lebanon’s free, liberated (read: tank tops, bikinis, bank loans available for plastic surgery) women will find themselves swathed in chadors should the other side ever claim a political victory.  

In both countries, whatever they are wearing and whatever they look like, women are highly educated (in Iran they are majority of university students) and have brains of their own in perfect working order.  The way these consecutive election campaigns were/are being conducted – with Lebanese politicians ignoring women’s demands in favor of appealing to their presumed vanity, and Iranian politicians at least making an effort to promise things like cabinet posts to women – says a lot more about how women are viewed as citizens than their dress codes."