The XX Factor: What women really think.

Just Another Pretty Face

Hanna,

I think it’s always a better story to go from rags to riches as a pop singer than to be just another pretty face from the privileged ’burbs, isn’t it? That hasn’t been sexy since Debbie Gibson, if it ever was—or at least it’s not nearly as compelling.

There was an interesting e-mail discussion among Slate “XX Factor” contributors today about why wealthy politicians like Spitzer are always killing themselves to appear middle-class, a phenomenon that Michael Kinsley deconstructed (albeit on Bill O’Reilly rather than a politician) here. It seems that Ashley and Eliot deserved each other—both were trying to appear like someone they are not, and both were blinded by their own ambition. And posturing to be from a lower class background than you actually are presumably helps you whether you’re singing or on the stump. (And many professions in between, most likely. America loves an underdog.)

And as a postscript, I’m just glad someone took the time to do the reporting. The New York Times seemed to fall for Ashley’s MySpace story hook, line, and sinker.