Decolleté Coverage: Merkel vs. Clinton
April 14, 2008 by Kristen
German Chancellor Angela Merkel went to the new Oslo opera house this weekend and showed a bit of décolletage. Now, while this news is unworthy in itself (and yes, I do feel ambivalent about drawing attention to it), there does seem to be a gulf of difference between the German newspapers’ coverage of this versus the way Hillary Clinton’s cleavage was treated by the American news media which is worth exploring.
In most of the major German newspapers, the Chancellor’s fashion choice was a non-item. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung had almost zero news on her trip; the Frankfurter Rundshau had a lovely article about the opening of the opera but no commentary; Die Zeit and Der Tagesspiel both also had nothing doing. Only two major news sources really took note, as far as I’ve seen. Der Spiegel, a national magazine, noted it within the body of an article about her appearance at the Opera, describing her as “feminine, glamorous, and stately.” Die Welt, on the other hand, provided a very helpful seven photo gallery of the “décolletage” event, labeling it “The new style of the Chancellor.” While both of these are problematic in considering what the Chancellor wore a matter of national interest, never mind Die Welt’s decision to dwell through copious pages on the quote, unquote “scandalous” cleavage exhibition, Merkel’s fashion is still far from receiving the across-the-board coverage that the American media graced Hillary with.
Hillary Clinton’s “shocking” dip into cleavage territory initially set off the alarm at that stalwart of national news (and many 2008 Pulitzer Prizes!) the Washington Post. Then the New York Times decided to add their two cents, reporting it as a hard news item, and an opportunity for Mr. William Safire to muse upon the etymology of cleavage and for Judith Warner to explore the “cleavage conundrum.” Never mind the online chatter that ensued.
While I don’t think a politician’s fashion choices should be a real matter of discussion (except when the fashion is overtly tied to politics), particularly as only female candidates generally receive this kind of scrutiny, let’s take a moment to pull at the threads and determine the reasons behind this differentiated coverage. On the one hand, Der Spiegel’s rather blasé reference speaks to a more European approach to dipped necklines. But more pertinently the silence from most of the dailies may speak to either a masculinizing or de-gendering of Merkel because of her role as Chancellor.
I had never really thought about this before, or realized it, though it is thoroughly disheartening, but in the introduction to Gendering Modern German History, Karen Hagemann and Jean H. Quataert discuss how labor historians show that “a feminization of the workforce often spells a decline in professional status” (16). The unwillingness to discuss Merkel’s cleavage may be an unwillingness on the part of the German media to admit to the feminization of their highest office. Which leads us to the same gender questions that are plaguing (provoking, stumping) the media/public in the first American presidential campaign with a major female contender: what does it mean to be ‘feminine.’ Should a female candidate use this ‘femininity’ to garner support or to differentiate herself from a male candidate? Should all gender be ignored? But is ignoring gender just a euphemism for maintaining the traditional ‘masculinity’ of the office?
My gut feeling is that I prefer a media that does not privilege a female officeholder’s dress over her actions. On the other hand, female candidates should not have to “act the male” to avoid this. On the third hand (yes! we magically have three!) it doesn’t seem that Chancellor Merkel was masculinizing herself in this case, but just wearing what she would normally wear to the opera. Can we acclaim the German media’s non-interest a moment of progress? Would this be shocking?!? Scandalous!?!
Kristen
Interesting your comparison of the European vs American press reaction. Unfortunately however I think that the European reaction may not be as unanimous as you make out. I’ve just seen an online report (with photo) in a Spanish newspaper that I read, La Vanguardia, politically fairly centrist and staid, about the surprising stir that Merkel’s revealing cleavage had caused in the German press. So the initial press reaction of disinterest was not unanimous (the report quotes Das Bild’s cleavage exposé) and that has now created the opportunity to beat-up a “media reaction” angle, and other newspapers can jump on the bandwagon even if they had decided to ignore the original “story”. To say nothing, of course, of the online chatter…
“only female candidates generally receive this kind of scrutiny”
I disagree. The rumor that our previous chancellor might be dying his hair was considered to be of interest for quite a while, as was his foreign secretary´s fluctuating weight.
Don´t know if that makes any difference for the rest of your post, though.
In response:
Bob: Your reference to the European reaction is a good one, and indeed I have found many references in press from the Netherlands. However, my point was more that the German press has not touched it as much because it is in reference to their own Chancellor, whose status they do not want to touch by feminizing it. Das Bild is a whole other story and no shocker in their coverage, as they tend to be quite news-magazine-y (let’s make up a word!). But the serious German papers aren’t covering it, unlike the American Washington Post and NYTimes’ response to Hillary.
grmblfjs: You make a really excellent point, and male politicians have found themselves more under the press scrutiny regarding appearance: we all remember Bill Clinton’s weight fluctuations in the U.S.–but on a daily basis female politicians are scrutinized more for their appearance. You will find an exceedingly larger number of stories on Hillary’s hair, her dress, Michelle Obama’s style, etc. than about their husbands. And I’ve yet to see an article questioning whether a male politician’s “pants were too tight–did they show off his ass too much?” for example–you won’t see them sexualized in the same way.