Media Sexism via Pictures

There's a lot of internet space being taken up about Michelle Bachmann's picture on the cover of Newsweek.  Her rightwing supporters are pissed, saying the picture was a deliberate attempt to make her look batshit crazy.  The leftwing blogosphere is making hay on that picture as if it's proof she's a nutburger of the first magnitude. 

I've noticed over the years that women in power tend to have very unflattering pictures used in the media.  Eyes blazing.  Slackjawed.  Angular cheeks and twisted lips.  Hillary Clinton's and Nancy Pelosi's pictures have been awful, in particular.  Sarah Palin's pics are similarly goofy.  And Ann Coulter always looks hideously evil. Elena Kagan?  Please.  And what about poor Janet Reno? 

Ugly pictures have been a tool for each side for many years, so it's not new tactics.  And George W Bush almost never had good pictures published.  So it's not always women.  But c'mon, folks.  Even though I think Bachmann is a hypocritical political hack, she's not unpleasant to look at.  

When I start seeing more neutral or flattering pictures published of women in power, I'll know we as a society are judging them for their works and not their looks.  That will be very satisfying to me, as a woman.