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Mo Rocca has appeared on a bunch of shows, including 'The Daily Show,' 'I Love the 80s,'...

Is it Sexist to Ask if Someone is Sexy?

One of the issues that has come out of the Don Imus controversy is whether it's sexist to even mention a woman's attractiveness. Imus not only took a shot at the Rutgers players' race and gender, but also at their looks. These are young girls who couldn't defend themselves on-air when Imus made the comment, so it was a cheap shot.

But is it ever appropriate to comment on a woman's looks on-air? What if she isn't in the entertainment business? What if she is in politics? My personal take is that it is completely acceptable, as long as that is not the only characteristic you look at when judging a person.

We all have different sides to our being that makes up the whole. Men and women have a sexual side, but that is not all they have. They also have an intellectual, political, professional and social side as well. So, if you judge a woman (or a man) only by her (his) looks, then you are hopelessly shallow and almost certainly sexist. But if you pretend not to notice if they are attractive or not, then you are almost certainly lying.

I wouldn't be telling the truth if I told you I never considered whether Terri Hatcher was attractive. Same goes for Margaret Thatcher. But my conclusions on that front don't effect what I think of their acting or political skills.

So, is it ever appropriate to discuss whether you find people in the political or professional sphere attractive or not? I admit that I'm too scared to offer up women choices in the current atmosphere for talk show hosts. So, I will go with male politicians as my examples here.































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(Photos: Getty Images, AP)


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Mo Rocca appears on a bunch of shows, including CBS News Sunday Morning (with the indescribably wonderful Charles Osgood), The Tonight Show on NBC, and NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! He's a sometime judge on Iron Chef and was featured on Telemundo's Amore Descarado. Last year he starred on Broadway in the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. His expose "All the President's Pets" was published by Crown in 2004.



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News Bloggers

Mo Rocca appears on a bunch of shows, including CBS News Sunday Morning (with the indescribably wonderful Charles Osgood), The Tonight Show on NBC, and NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! He's a sometime judge on Iron Chef and was featured on Telemundo's Amore Descarado. Last year he starred on Broadway in the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. His expose "All the President's Pets" was published by Crown in 2004.

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