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The 'Max Factor'

By Liz Conor - posted Wednesday, 4 July 2007


Be that as it may, a cursory glance around the room would reveal the simple fact that every actress present, no matter how exceptional their ability, trades on her beauty. Not one of them put themselves forward for a Hollywood career without using their eyes, appraising the fact of their beauty and calculating its cultural worth. The beauty of the film star is etched into their contract as an ineluctable condition of their public recognition. Whatever else they may bring to their celebrity - genius, charm, grit, quirk, family connection, political conviction, or substance abuse - their beauty came first.

McKew also has eyes, and as a journalist she is aware that the conditions and conventions of feminine visibility cross over the increasingly porous line between celebrity and politician. They sometimes do for men with good looks. Keating was a case in point. When he also displayed a penchant for wicked irreverence, ruinous wit and passionate conviction, he had half the electorate at least swooning in their ballot boxes, and the other half wishing they could attract as many true believers.

For visible women, however, the appraisal of their looks precedes all other modes of recognition. Good looks aren’t a bonus as they were for Keating. While a seasoned and effective advocate will be respected for the fact of her good works, good looks are nevertheless increasingly a condition of women’s public visibility.

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This is the fray McKew enters. It’s hardly news, particularly for women television journalists for whom looks can be a measure of career prospects. But there are two separate claims operating within her appointment as the “sexiest woman in politics”. One is beauty, which is made up of a powerful mix of universally accepted traits and culturally determined values, such as clarity and symmetry of features, combined with youth and race. The other is sex, which is even more troubling when it comes to women politicians.

The sexual appeal of public women clearly is not reducible to the conventions of “raunch culture”, suggestive or explicit exposure, or flirtatious posturing. Sex appeal starts with beauty and then depends on a contradiction at work in the persona. The contradiction at work in Munroe was angel/whore; in Minogue it is child/woman; in Gillard it is strine/smart; and in McKew it is competence/charm.

She is coolly capable and warmly connected. As well as esteemed and liked, it made her a formidable interviewer.

“Max Factor” is a clever description. It references the glamour of cosmetic couture, while it plays with an unstated recognition that McKew brings to the political stage qualities beyond the armoury needed to equip any political aspirant. McKew is good-looking, elegant and charming, none of which should have any bearing on her political prospects.

No matter how she plays these traits - and she has signalled she will not consciously play them - her visibility will bear on the success of her campaign. That is, as long as too much consideration is given to presentation and personality and not enough to policy and power.

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About the Author

Liz Conor is a research fellow in the Department of Culture and Communications at the University of Melbourne. Read her blog Liz Conor: Comment and Critique here.

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