February 24, 2009

Hurrah to Coprus Christi, Boo to Prevalence of Demeaning Attitudes Towards Women

Posted in Society at 2:20 pm by Paul Sagar

So last night Corpus Christi beat Manchester in the final of University Challenge. It was a gripping affair, with Manchester leading consistently until the final 5 minutes, when Corpus woke up and suddenly unleashed a barrage of wisdom to win the match decisively.

Before the final there had been much comment made about Corpus’ unbelievable captain, Gail Trimble. For most of the previous rounds Trimble had been almost single-handedly slaying entire opposition teams by huge margins. 

Although Corpus’ victory in the final was actually very much more of a team effort than previous rounds, Trimble’s performance in the final 10 minutes was again astounding. So well done to her.

Not well done to what people have been writing about her. Aside from the envious ravings of people clearly put-out by how fantastically intelligent and knowledgeable Trimble is, even those purporting to praise her often only manage to patronise her.

Take, for example, this article from Sunday’s Observer.

The article runs a paragraph with this choice sentence:

“Men have been captivated by “hot lips Trimble” and “tasty Trimble”, and she has been described as “a fine young lady, beautiful in a scholarly sort of way”.”

In addition, there is a selection of comments from blogs, including:

“Just watched UC tonight and saw Exeter slaughtered by Corpus Christi – I mean Trimble, as the rest of team were surplus to requirement. I was fascinated by her, and I must admit I found her sexy.”

“I thought Trimble was fantastic. Fabulous brain. She had an incredible breadth of knowledge. She virtually won the competition on her own. What a stunning looker, too. Very sexy. Gorgeous smile.”

“I agree that she comes across as patronising and with a healthy sense of her own intellectual superiority. These characteristics are common in establishments such as hers. However, she clearly isvery knowledgeable. And she is also a mite sexy.”

“I loved ‘tasty Trimble’. Intelligent and well brushable hair.”

“Yes, she is attractive in a blue-stocking sort of way. The new Joan Bakewell?”

So apparently in 2009 one of the most intelligent people ever to have graced our TV screens cannot be discussed simply in terms of her formidable intellect. No, some comment must also be made of her status as on object of male physical desire. And a supposedly progressive publication like The Observer feels the need to repeat such comments at length. 

Indeed, Gail Trimble has apparently reached the heights of approval for a society obsessed with presenting women as sexually available objects for male satisfaction: the magazine Nuts wanted to contact her for a photo shoot.

Trimble has several times been quoted as saying “I don’t think I’d be treated like this if I were a man”. You don’t need to win University Challenge to know she’s right about that.

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