Staying abreast of sexual politics

By Caroline Daniel

Published: September 29 2007 03:00 | Last updated: September 29 2007 03:00

Politicians are known for their naked ambition, but now more of them seem to be taking the idea literally. This week, seven attractive female Polish

candidates set a new standard in how much flesh to flaunt.

The Women's party unveiled an election poster that shocked voters in the Catholic and patriarchal country, but delighted male photo editors in western

tabloids. The women were naked, bar the modesty of a cardboard sign. "We are beautiful, nude, proud . . . This is not pornography, there is nothing to

see in terms of sex," explained party founder Manuela Gretkowska.

The stunt to get the party taken seriously on women's rights was reported to have been the brainchild of her boyfriend. Ms Gretkowska defended it,

saying: "We do not have our mouths open, nor our eyes closed."

Many men did not have their eyes closed either. Rather than being inspired to read Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman , online

reaction tended to misogynistic mockery. "Weirdest bunch of feminists I've seen . . . but I'd vote for them any day," noted one blog. "More assets than

Northern Rock," leered another.

But political nudity is more common than you think. In June, a nubile candidate from a joke political party in Belgium was shown naked, coquettishly

sucking on a pen, under the strapline (or stripline?): "I promise you 400,000 jobs." (The party later clarified what sort of jobs she was offering.) In 2006

a Canadian politician, Scott Brison, posed nude for a calendar behind an open fridge door. In 2005, Keith Locke, a New Zealand MP, lost a bet and walked

the streets of Auckland almost naked in body paint.

Even leading figures have not been immune from the desire to strip. Russia's Vladimir Putin flexed his presidential abs on holiday and earned paeans

to his virility. Shots of a bare-chested, surf-frolicking Barack Obama, Democratic presidential contender, on a Hawaiian beach, have done him no harm.

Yet there are limits. For the male politician it only works if you are lithe and toned. Seventy-year-old Senator John McCain would be ill-advised to try it.

But for serious female politicians, forget it. Even an inch of flesh is too much. Several have learned the politics of décolletage the hard way. Jacqui Smith,

Britain's home secretary, faced headlines such as the "politics of mass distraction" after revealing cleavage; her breasts were compared with "two peeled pears

in a vice" and "two bald men at a head-butting contest".

And Hillary Clinton was ridiculed for showing a shadow of cleavage in a Senate debate. A female fashion writer prudishly observed that she had given

the "sense that you were catching a surreptitious glance at something private".

Still, Mrs Clinton exploited the outrage, sending out a letter to drum up funds calling the press coverage "insulting". So it seems women can still use sex

to save their political skin - without showing as much of it as the Polish candidates.

The writer is the FT's comment editor

URL: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5daf4c10-6e63-11dc-b818-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

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