Graydar

In this week's Time magazine, an article called "The War over Going Gray" suggests that hair color is the newest site for feminist debate. As Jenny Cool points out, it is also an interesting example of the rhetorical use of the digital production program Photoshop, in that powerful women associated with the authority of the state like Condoleeza Rice and Nancy Pelosi are shown with their locks as they would be in their natural graying state. Apparently gray is not politic. As author Anne Kreamer observes, of the 16 female senators now serving their constituencies, not a single one has a silvery mane. Given that Time has featured some remarkably artful Photoshop, such as its "Reagan's tear" cover artwork, I was surprised by the relatively crude digital painting featured by the glossy magazine.