Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search
 

iverglas

(38,549 posts)
7. that's interesting too
Sat Jan 28, 2012, 07:27 PM
Jan 2012

But -- if you look at gatherings or bilateral meetings of powerful men, you find they do that to each other all the time. And yes, there's definitely an element of power-exerting in it: the one who is in the dominant position (host in a bilateral meeting, or pretender to dominance on neutral ground) is the one who does the touching.

To me, it's like the thing men do when they put their hand on the small of your back to "take you in" somewhere - to the table in a restaurant, out a door, whatever. Anybody doing it to me is cruising for a bruising; I find it one of the most obnoxious dominance-asserting behaviours I know. And that's what powerful men do to each other, establishing their pecking order.

In this case, he was in the dominant position, he's President, apart from their respective sexes, so I don't find it surprising that he'd be the one touching.

It's so hard to tell from that photo how close they actually were, whether he was actually touching her, how long this apparent confrontation went on, whether it actually was testy or unpleasant, etc. Other photos from the event show her smiling broadly at him.

noamnety -- you're even more out of it than I am! This picture and the outrage has been all over this site for a couple of days, compounded by the insistance of some people on using misogynist language to describe Brewer based on what she is described as having done.

Latest Discussions»Alliance Forums»Feminists»Why Jan Brewer Should Kee...»Reply #7