Friday, November 10, 2006

Do women fancy Gordon?

Well Maryam D'Abo, ex-Bond girl (below) said she did on This Week. Diane Abbott lit up talking about him (Portillo looked miffed) and I too am, um, a fan! Poor Andrew Neil looked puzzled. What about David Cameron, he said.

Here's the thing - women hate men who love themselves (Blair). Ditto men who are too slick (Cameron), and men who pay too much attention to how they look (Cameron). Blair comes across as self-centred and Cameron comes across a little camp (he may win the pink vote). Also Cameron's eyes are too small.

Diane Abbott has said she thinks Brown may have a Mr Rochester thing going for him, right down to the near blindness and awkwardness, a mix of strength and vulnerability. Someone who'll keep you safe, won't cheat on you, but at the same time needs rescuing and looking after. It's an ancient stereotype - Mr Darcy in that other great novel had a bit of that too. (And of course men are completely puzzled as they don't really get Jane Eyre or Pride and Prejudice at all).

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is quite good analysis Snowflake. Some women MPs who were elected in 1997 say they should never have agreed to the Blairbabes photo. And the discomfort of some of the gaggle of female Lib Dem MPs promenading with Ming at their conference was evident. So even if Gordon reminds some female fans of Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights, I think he'll keep stronger support from female colleagues by avoiding that media trap.

Anonymous said...

And of course men are completely puzzled as they don't really get Jane Eyre or Pride and Prejudice at all).


a lot of truth in this, snowflake. for men accepting/admitting their vulnerabilty is a no-no.

I have watched P&P more than once and enjoy it more every time.

think Neil said that in his view (based on his perception survey)the 2 ladies in the studio (although had taste - my words) were definitely in the minority.

snowflake5 said...

traffic.one - it depends on what Neil and co were talking about - whether people fancy Cameron or Brown, or merely like them.

Cameron is the Dale Winton of politics - lots of women like him and are happy to talk to him about what are the best nappies for the baby and about the importance of hugging. They don't fancy him though, and they'd probably never in a million years expect him to manage an economy or a war.

Women fancy Brown though, and they also trust that he can handle the tough stuff for them.

Anonymous said...

cameron is into the quality of life stuff. and this appeals to women.

Anonymous said...

they'd probably never in a million years expect him to manage an economy or a war.
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interesting this. implying?
that he has not been bloodied enough?!

Anonymous said...

It's bit depressing that all this focus group research matters etc. I get the impression the if a party leader was not a parent they would struggle to be taken seriously in today's political world. Or if they were single i.e like Heath, questions would be asked.

Remember the questions asked about Brown's sexuality because he was single during Labour's 1st term?

A real shame that politics is so personality driven. Thou I guess it's always been like this and it's rather churlish to claim that there was some sort of golden age. Thou it would be nice to see some proper analysis of policy from time to time on BBC's current affairs output.

Anonymous said...

ah yes...manjit....we "meet" again.
in the uk, the cult of personality is unavoidable. in my view this is cause the english have a weak sense of identity. for this reason, personality matters. more so in this country than most others.