Miley Cyrus on her Bangerz tour. Photo via Flickr user karina3094
Back in Oct. 2011, BC Premier Christy Clark found herself at the centre of a media controversy following one particular question period. It wasn’t because of anything she said though, just what she was wearing.
Clark sported a black V-neck top underneath a beige blazer—it was about as exciting as it sounds—that revealed about three inches of cleavage. It was enough to prompt this tweet from political blogger/former NDP MLA David Schreck: “Is Premier Clark’s cleavage revealing attire appropriate for the legislature?”
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Schreck was rightly criticized for his sexist remarks, remarks that Clark characterized as “stupid.”
“I don’t think we can groom a lot of young female leaders if this is the level of comment we have,” she said.
Funny then, that Clark now appears to be slut shaming two women, Miley Cyrus and Pamela Anderson, in an effort to dismiss their concerns about the province’s wolf cull.
The wolf cull is a controversial five-year plan to save endangered caribou populations by shooting hundreds of wolves. Cyrus recently implored her millions of Instagram followers to sign a petition to have the cull stopped, while Anderson penned an open letter asking Clark to consider other methods of protecting caribou and offering to discuss the matter further in a face-to-face meeting.
At a press conference Friday, the premier responded.
“If we ever need help with our twerking policy, we’ll go to [Ms. Cyrus],” she quipped, adding (because it’s so relevant), “both Pamela Anderson and Miley Cyrus, when they open up their closets, they probably don’t find a lot of clothes.”
The takeaway appears to be: women who dance for a living and wear revealing clothing shouldn’t have opinions on serious issues.
Regardless of what side of the wolf cull debate you stand on, it’s patronizing and arrogant to brush off the concerns of Cyrus and Anderson just because they’re celebrities. Anderson, a longtime animal rights advocate and award-winning member of PETA, launched her own foundation last year. And Cyrus spent the last weekend with a conservation group in BC’s Great Bear Rainforest in order to draw more attention to the cause. It’s also worth noting that their views about the wolf cull are shared by experts.
Clark was recently criticized for another tone-deaf remark, when, during a weekend soccer game between the Seattle Sounders and the Vancouver Whitecaps, she tweeted the following:
“The Seattle Princesses are putting on quite a performance tonight. So many miraculous recoveries.”
“Sexist much?” replied a follower in one of many angry responses. “Calling someone girls should never be used as an insult. Someone in your position should know better.”
In a year-end interview with the Vancouver Sun, Clark spoke about the sexism she encountered as a female in a male-dominated arena.
“I think that the NDP, some of the members of the NDP, do have a tendency to see women differently from men,” she said. “It’s something women experience all over the place. Any woman watching this will be going, ‘Uh huh, I’ve felt that.’”
She’s right. While Canada’s three female provincial premiers govern a large proportion of the population, regularly dealing with sexism is still a part of their job descriptions. Their time would be better served fighting negative stereotypes rather than pandering to them.
Clark did not respond to request for comment on this story.
Follow Manisha Krishnan on Twitter.
