Remembering a Mind

Colleen McCullough, world-famous Australian author of The Thorn Birds passed away this Thursay, January 29th. She will be remembered for her masterful novels and work as a neuroscientist. And, according to one Australian newspaper's obituary, her looks, or lack thereof.

This particular obituary described McCullough as "plain of feature, and certainly overweight." They quoted her saying "I've never been into clothes or figure and the interesting thing is I never had any trouble attracting men." This description of McCullough is degrading and outright rude, and as a woman, I find it completely offensive and demeaning. The mention of McCullough's looks has no placec in her obituary, something that is supposed to praise her life and all she did with it, which was

Colleen McCullough

a lot. This newspaper is linking a woman's importance to her body and her "ability to attract men," something of little importance compared to one's mind.

The fact that this newspaper thought it was acceptable to post something about a woman's appearance in her obituary is concerning. A woman is not her appearance, and I can say with certainty that in a man's obituary, nothing would be said about their looks. So why is this the case for women? Why are women always inevitably linked to their appearance, as opposed to their work as an intellectual, their mind, heart, etc? And then, why does society oversexualize women?

Women in our society are portrayed as highly sexualized, even oversexualized, and this is seen in all forms of media, perhaps most prominately in advertisements. I won't post any pictures as examples because they tend to be inappropriate, but just think about it: How are women portrayed in advertisements? How are their bodies used to sell products? Once you start thinking about it, it becomes obvious that women are sexualized in the media as a way to sell products. The oversexualization of women in the media is an issue for many reasons. First, it shows society that women should be viewed as objects, and that they are always linked to their appearance. It appears that this sexualization has leaked into other aspects of society- a highly intellectual and influential woman's obituary. I hope that the world respects and remembers Colleen McCullough for the mark she left on the world, not for her looks. I hope that society remembers her for her mind, not her body.