The refrain — yes, that’s what it has become — “treat women with respect” has reached such levels that now the only reaction it elicits is that of psychic numbing.

So, now it is UP minister Rajaram Pandey, who praised a district magistrate for her beauty — and for possessing a perfect body. Pandeyji is happy that every time he comes to Sultanpur there is a woman DM there for his service. And not just any woman DM; one who is beautiful and has a great body.

Now don’t cringe. There is nothing wrong about praising a woman for her body. In fact, the large number of fitness institutes in the country and the constant question lingering in a woman’s head — “Am I looking fat?” — which scares her to her soul, tells us that a woman would fly to the moon in happiness if she were praised about her body.

Except that she doesn’t. Except that praising a woman, or for that matter even a man, about their body is a very personal thing.

Doing that on a public platform not only shows your insensitivity, Pandeyji — and that appreciation for you is only skin deep — but also shows a deeper malaise of objectification of a woman’s body, which has become such a norm in today’s society that no one even notices how wrong it is. Scantily clad women seem to be selling everything on television these days — products they have got nothing to do with, such as men’s shaving razor, and selling them well.

Praising a woman about her looks when she is present in a gathering in her professional capacity is similar to degrading her professional abilities, and just because she is not beautiful enough. For example, leaders like Mayawati, who cannot communicate their way of working to many people because they are not beautiful enough. Or like Hilary Clinton, who could only capture as much news time on American television, during the nomination debates, as the length of the skirt allowed her to do.

Or for that matter Hina Rabbani Khar, who again is so pretty that that was all the media and people could look at and talk about.

Beauty, poise and chic are qualities to be appreciated. Ministers can be so pretty that your heart skips a beat when you look at them (case in point Shashi Tharoor). But judging them, or for that matter any professional, for their looks, or for the lack of them, makes evolution look like a serious conspiracy.