On ta-tas

Hoo-boy.

It turns out that Carrie Prejean's 15 minutes aren't quite up yet, courtesy of the MSM's fascination with her boobies. Or, more accurately, how the alleged existence of her breast implants and "nude" (read: less revealing than a swim-suit) photos intersects with her professed "Biblicly correct" views on same-sex marriage.

There's an entire doctoral thesis' worth of material here exploring when it's permissable for women to have opinions (not when implants are involved, apparently), and why it's okay for a pageant organization to cut up a woman's body but then threaten to strip her of her title when she says or does something that butts up against their skewed standards.

It's easy to defend people that you approve of. It's not easy for me to defend Carrie Prejean. I think her views on same-sex civil rights are elementary and based on a faulty interpretation of both scripture and law. I think she's letting herself be used by bigots who wouldn't give her the time of day if she weighed 300 pounds and had bushy eyebrows. But I also think that, as poor as her reasoning is, she has every right to her opinion. I also think that the nudie-picture/implant shaming of her is as sexist as when Laura Ingraham tried to shut down Meghan McCain by calling her "plus-sized." As Feministing wrote today, it's not okay to fight homophobia with misogyny.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of men and non-beauty queen women who've said the same thing as Prejean, but no one's fixating on them. Why? Because in this country in 2009 it's still perfectly acceptable to look at a woman first, and - once you approve of what you've seen - listen to her second. And though Prejean may not want to claim us, that's why the work that feminists are doing should matter to her.