Sami's posting on Sarah Palin reminded me of something. I remember when the movie Monster came out. Some a%%hole reporter in Miami wrote a scathing editorial on how the praise of Theron's acting was overblown; after all, she only gave up her own 'natural' beauty (which, let's be honest, is amazing but often augmented with cosmetics) in favor of a chunkier, less appealing visage to play the role of a woman struggling with abuse, poverty, and possible mental illness. What galled me most was that the reporter admitted to not yet having seen the film! And shortly after Monster, for which Theron won an Oscar for Best Actress, Nicole Kidman donned the persona of Virginia Woolfe, but she received more attention for donning a fake nose. Kidman also won the Oscar, and there were many people who commented that all these beautiful women had to do to win an Oscar was to 'ugly' themselves up.

Just one year before Monster, Salma Hayek starred in Frida, and the artist's lover Diego Rivera as played by Alfred Molina. Hayek was actually criticized for not wearing Frida Kahlo's distinctive mustache throughout the entire movie. Meanwhile, Molina's performance received rave reviews--no one attributed his success in the role to the fact that he'd gained a lot of weight to play the muralist.

So women, it seems, are damned if they do, damned if they don't, while men don't have to prove themselves; they change their appearance, but they are still humans. Women change their appearance, and it changes the entire objectified construct of WHAT they are.