I just finished reading Ashley Judd's article in the Daily Beast. And I had to blog about it. For those who haven't heard, there has been a lot of media speculation over the last few weeks that she has had plastic surgery -- largely due to a TV appearance she made with a puffy face.

She finally answered her critics, not only by denying surgery (she says she was on steroids for a cold), but by pointing out that discussions like this are a load of sexist crap. I loved, loved, loved her statements. She writes:

"...the recent speculation and accusations in March feel different, and my colleagues and friends encouraged me to know what was being said. Consequently, I choose to address it because the conversation was pointedly nasty, gendered, and misogynistic and embodies what all girls and women in our culture, to a greater or lesser degree, endure every day, in ways both outrageous and subtle. The assault on our body image, the hypersexualization of girls and women and subsequent degradation of our sexuality as we walk through the decades, and the general incessant objectification is what this conversation allegedly about my face is really about."

And again:

 "The Conversation about women’s bodies exists largely outside of us, while it is also directed at (and marketed to) us, and used to define and control us. The Conversation about women happens everywhere, publicly and privately. We are described and detailed, our faces and bodies analyzed and picked apart, our worth ascertained and ascribed based on the reduction of personhood to simple physical objectification. Our voices, our personhood, our potential, and our accomplishments are regularly minimized and muted."

In other words, it's not only nobody's damn business what she does with her face, but why do we continually subject women to this kind of scrutiny? I can't read any kind of magazine, watch TV, or read comments online without there being some kind of reference to how a woman in the public eye looks.

Judd turned it around and rightly asked why her face was such a topic of conversation anyway. We don't do this to men. Men aren't judged solely by how fuckable they are. When was the last time you saw an article dissecting Johnny Depp's face and whether or not it was "new and improved"? And that is what this whole thing is about in a nutshell --that a woman's primary value is limited to how she looks; how fuckable she is to men. If you aren't a fuckable female, you are useless waste of  DNA. If you don't believe me (or Judd) scroll down the page of the Daily Beast article and check out the vitriolic comments about Judd from a troll who calls himself/herself "AshleyJuddisOLDandFat".

I don't know whether or not Judd has had surgery, and frankly, it isn't any of my business. What I do know is that her comments are right on. Focusing on a woman's appearance minimizes her as a person. It makes it more difficult for all women to be taken seriously professionally, personally, and politically. If women are just eye candy than it's okay to control their reproductive freedom, pay them less money, and beat them silly.

The insanity needs to end.