It’s Mesh ado about nothing, Mary Lou
MARY Lou Mcdonald’s bra is causing controversy.
The Sinn Fein leader was accused of being “disrespectful” in the Dail for wearing a mesh top with her bra on show.
I personally thought Mary Lou was rocking the mesh look but one disgruntled viewer of the Oireachtas proceedings was horrified.
Ceann Comhairle Sean O Fearghail got an email from the offended person saying Mary Lou was teasing the public with her bra on display.
The complainant added: “There is a shyness about commenting on women’s clothes and she is taking advantage of this.
“But it must be commented on. It is disrespectful and it shows she has no respect for her audience or her place of work.”
At the time of ‘bra-gate’ last October the deputy was in session blasting the government on their newly announced budget.
Yet all the aggrieved person focused on was Mary Lou’s attire, zoning in on the poor woman’s cleavage.
Maybe the burn the bra days were for nothing – when bras are still deemed risque for holding up our bosoms, that says it all.
Feminism seems to have gone backwards.
Why is it that we allow a woman’s appearance to be up for ridicule in 2024?
Male politicians are hardly oil paintings, but nobody is shunning their unkempt hair or dishevelled rigouts when the Dail is in session.
A recent study said the obsession with female politicians’ appearance in the media is turning young women off politics.
Mary Lou has been in politics since 2001 and has developed, as she’s often remarked herself, a thick skin. But women the world over will have seen her being publicly slaughtered by such misogyny. Why should any woman in the public eye have to take being publicly critiqued on their clothing?
The study by the charity Girlguiding launched a campaign encouraging young women to vote but found that the continual objectification of women in the political sphere and the obsession with what they look like is sidelining girls from the political conversation.
If Mary Lou was wearing fishnets but talking sense why should the public focus on her outfit?
It’s a running slur that continues to perpetuate the media – how a woman looks.
I’m sure Mary Lou was upset by this bizarre complaint.
We are human and just because you’re a politician does not make you impervious to such contempt.
Why is it that a woman’s appearance is ridiculed in 2024?