women in public

So when I self-googled today (I am not ashamed to admit that I do), I came across my name mentioned in a comment on this post on the SerandEz blog:

http://serandez.blogspot.com/2008/09/women-in-public-tznius-or-not.html

It's an interesting post about whether it is permissible for a woman to be a public figure. The article suggests that because more attention is paid to women, women are responsible for keeping a higher level of tznius than men.

ProfK commented that men are just as 'noticeable' as women, and gave my recent post about my distractingly hot prof as evidence. (here's the post: http://materialmaidel.blogspot.com/2008/09/teachers-should-be-ugly.html )

So what do I think?

I do think women are more noticeable. If a man and a woman walk by - who do you look at? Guys will look at the woman - to check out her assets. Girls will look at the woman - to check out her outfit. It's the truth.

Girls look at girls. Not because they're attracted. But because they're assessing. When girls check girls out, we think to ourselves "where did she get those shoes" or "is her hair real" or "ugh she's so pretty - I hate her".

Unless the man walking by is especially good-looking, he's not the one that gets noticed first.

BUT - with that said, why shouldn't a woman be allowed to run for public office? Or take on a job or position that puts her in the public eye?

I have a friend who went to a high school that wouldn't allow men to hear their daughter's speeches during graduation. Are women to be seen and not heard? Is that the message being taught to their children?

If women ran the world - the world would be a much better place. Maybe that's what they are afraid of.