Ragged Claws

Friday, February 27, 2009

Gail Trimble illustrates the concept of "reframing"



Having, um, something of a personal interest in weirdly judgmental public reactions to women who answer trivia questions, I loved watching Gail Trimble deftly take ownership of the above interview. Trimble was the captain of her college's University Challenge team, and got hit with the firehose of public attention after leading her squad to victory in the finals. (The team was later disqualified after it turned out that one member had graduated several months previously, a development which exposed Trimble to further media nattering.)

The entire interview is great, as Trimble emphasizes the contributions of her teammates, distinguishes between recall of facts and other types of intelligence, and forthrightly says that sexism conditioned much of the public kerfuffle over her performance. The best part, though, comes around 7:08. In response to a vapid suggestion from the male interviewer that she might enjoy being "celebrated" in a "tasteful photo shoot" for a lad magazine called Nuts, Trimble politely disembowls the entire premise of the question. She notes that while positive comments on one's appearance are better than negative comments, ideally no one would feel obligated to remark on her appearance at all. It's a beautiful pivot, and it leaves the interviewer scrambling to eat his previous words and agree with her. And it can't be said too often: The decision to present oneself in public, even on tv, is not a request for feedback on one's appearance. Thank you Gail Trimble for articulating that point with so much clarity and dignity.

2 Comments:

  • At March 16, 2009 at 7:10 PM , Blogger Ray said...

    This is why I dislike certain categories of meatspace interactions. People always judge you by appearance when you meet in person.

    Depending on the activity, that fact may outweigh the benefits of meeting in person.

     
  • At March 19, 2009 at 5:54 PM , Blogger Lara said...

    Yeah, but at least when you meet people in person they don't usually feel compelled to share their assessments of your appearance (I hope). It's kind of weird when people ONLY know the superficial things about you, and have no reluctance to offer commentary.

     

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