As most people know, yesterday Canada participated in its 42nd Federal election. The Liberal Party won with the majority, making Justin Trudeau our new Prime Minister and finally ousting Steven Harper after nearly 10 consecutive years in office. This was a historical day for Canada for many reasons, one of them being the extremely high voter turnout. According to preliminary voter turnout results, 68.5% of eligible voters took to the polls on Monday. This is the largest turn out since 1993. However with all the aspects of the election that could be celebrated, what has showed up most on my Facebook news feed has been discussion about how attractive Justin Trudeau is.
To me, this is extremely problematic. Why when people could be discussing Trudeau’s merits (or lack thereof, however you feel) or the fact that we have finally “Stop[ed] Harper” are people more excited about how “hot” Justin Trudeau is? Commenting on Hilary Clinton’s appearance or how she dresses is considered objectification, but talking about Justin Trudeau’s hair isn’t? This is a clear double standard in my books. Articles titled ‘9 of the Sexiest World Leaders’ and memes like the one I posted above have been flooding my news feed. During the election campaign Trudeau was talked about as “being just not ready” but as having “nice hair, though” (conservative endorsed anti-liberal commercial). The internet has even started referring to Trudeau as a ‘Pilf’ (a very sexist acronym for ‘prime minister I’d like to f**k’). Even my grandmother, MY 85 YEAR OLD GRANDMOTHER, when I suggested she vote for Trudeau over Harper, replied “oh no, he’s too much of a pretty boy. I don’t trust him”. As if the fact that Trudeau’s level of attractiveness somehow effects his ability to run our country! Objectification isn’t only something that is directed towards women. The reaction towards how attractive our new PM is a perfect example of this. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy people are paying attention to our federal election, I just think there are more important things to be talked about regarding Justin Trudeau’s win than how attractive he is.
