Laura Kuenssberg Is A Household Name In Politics, So Why Is She Being Reduced To A Sex Object?

Yesterday, it was announced that Laura Kuenssberg is stepping down as BBC’s political editor after holding the prestigious position for seven years. Moving on to ‘a range of news and current affairs projects across TV, radio and online’, Laura announced her departure on Twitter saying, ‘it’s time for the next move.’

With Laura being the first woman to hold the position, fellow political editor Beth Rigby (Sky News) credited her with ‘breaking the glass ceiling’. Earlier this year, Beth told Grazia that Laura was one of three other female political editors in the political lobby alongside her (also including Heather Stewart from The Guardian and The Mirror’s Pippa Crerar.)

‘Politics is still a very male-dominated world,’ Beth said. ‘Look at Parliament, you only have to see who is doing the media rounds in the morning, who’s hosting the press conferences every day, to see that there aren’t enough female voices at the top of the table.’

It's no wonder that Laura Kuenssberg is trending on Google this morning then as a household name in UK politics. But it’s the breakout search around her name that’s concerning.

First, there’s the expected stuff: ‘Laura Kuenssberg new role’ and ‘who will replace Laura Kuenssberg’. These are the questions we don’t yet know the answers to. Then, there’s the more controversial search: ‘Laura Kuenssberg bias’ and ‘Laura Kuenssberg political views’. These are in relation to a number of allegations Laura has been subject to over the course of her tenure as BBC’s political editor.

While she has primarily been accused of being biased against the Labour Party and Jeremy Corbyn, a July 2020 interview with Boris Johnson also saw her receive complaints of being generally anti-government after interrupting the prime minister when he spoke. The BBC has conducted numerous investigations into complaints of bias by the public and - bar one incident of breaking impartiality guidelines in 2017 – has always concluded her reporting was done in ‘good faith’. Laura has never explicitly stated her personal political views on the record.

The fact people want to know more then, is unsurprising. What is shocking though, is the last few search terms attached to her name. Among a slew of understandable queries about Laura’s political career sits the following: ‘Laura Kuenssberg feet’, ‘Laura Kuenssberg bikini’ and of course, ‘Laura Kuenssberg husband photo’.

The search for who Laura Kuenssberg is married to (city management consultant James Kelly) is eye-roll-worthy. It’s the classic search that comes up whenever a woman is the centre of the news, no matter who she is people always want to know whether she’s married and what HIS job is. It’s an exhausting narrative - but it’s the least of our worries when you consider the former queries.

Laura Kuenssberg bikini. Laura Kuenssberg feet. Really?

This is a woman whose career has spanned over two decades, culminating in her takeover of the most pivotal position in political journalism this country has. She’s interviewed countless world leaders, broke many of the most impactful political stories of our generation and, regardless of your personal feelings towards her impartiality, set a new bar for women in journalism.

It shouldn’t be the case that women are treated differently based on their apparent respectability as a smart person, that their value be considered higher because they’re contributions to this world are intellectual – but in society's view, that often is the case. How then can it be that even a woman who has only ever been known for her mind is suddenly reduced to a sex object as soon as she vacates her position as a political editor?

If this kind of need to pervert women and make them the subject of sexual fantasy can happen to someone like Laura, how far are we really in changing the way society at large views women?

We write these think-pieces a lot - namely around female actors and musicians who are more often victim to this kind of search. People seem to think they’re fair game because they are sometimes more overtly sexual on screen or in the public eye. But this trend in search just goes to show that a woman’s job, her public image, or however she expresses sexual agency is absolutely irrelevant to the way that she is perceived by a society determined to sexualise her no matter what.

Yes, that’s a very long way of saying ‘men’.

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