Last month, Twitter — the Internet's most sophisticated source of information — gifted us with the trending topic of "#rulesforgirls." Tweets included delightful advice, such as "If you don't have an ass don't wear leggings it looks gross," "These dishes aren't going to wash themselves," and "If you don't want to be cheated on u better be a bad bitch, better show ur man ur the shit."

While these are all undisputable aspects of life every female should remember, the curious case of Rep. Julia Hurley is a reminder that these rules don't go far enough. We need rules for female politicians so us ladies don't waste our time and money running for an office we don't deserve.

Here's what I've got so far:

1. Don't be too qualified, serious or ugly or everyone will call you a bitch (or maybe a lesbian) and complain that your shrill voice reminds people of their nagging wives and mothers.

2. Don't be too young, too pretty or too blonde or no one will take you seriously.

3. Don't run if you're single, because how can you succeed in office if you can't even succeed at getting a husband?!

4. Don't run if your husband has ever done anything wrong (like cheat on you) because that is a stain on your character.

5. Don't run if you have non-grownup children, because that makes you a bad mother.

6. Don't run if there's any evidence that you have ever had or desire to have a sex life or might allow yourself to be a sexual being — except for the purpose of having a brood of children, of course.

Easy enough, right? Now why is it women are so underrepresented in public office?

The latest female politician to earn the scorn of the Internet for violating these rules is Julia Hurley, a first-term state representative in Tennessee. Hurley's crime is two-fold — having worked in her youth at a Hooter's restaurant and having the gall to not completely disown such a scandalous past, and instead try to inspire other Hooters girls with her success.

Hurley wrote in the newest issue of the Hooter's magazine in the "Orange Pride Spotlight" section that her work at the restaurant helped prepare her for success.

"I have taken quite a bit of flack from the public at large during my run for State House in Tennessee for being a Hooters Girl," she said. "But I know that without that time in my life I would not be as strong willed and eager to become successful."

Hurley was a teenage mother who says she worked at Hooter's to help pay for college. Having known other Hooters waitresses, I can confirm that waiting tables in skimpy clothes earns you more money — but it also earns you stalkers, constant pressure to maintain your perfect measurements and apparently a lifetime of jokes at your expense. Just ask Adam Sandler.

Now I'm not a fan of Hurley's beliefs — she's a Republican, a Southern Baptist minister, a supporter of gun rights and a volunteer at a crisis pregnancy center that uses Christian counseling as information on reproductive choices. But while I may fight against everything she has to say, I'm disgusted that her experience, rather than relevant political discourse, has been used as a weapon to silence her.

Compare the fuss over Hurley's past — as a fully clothed waitress who worked to improve her station in life — to the collective shrug produced when it was discovered Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown had once posed nude in Cosmopolitan magazine. The standard of propriety is so lopsided it's not even double — it's more like quadruple.

Hurley is only the latest in a string of women politicians and candidates to get slut-shamed for living their lives. Last year, Virginia House candidate Krystal Ball (yes, that's her name; no, she's not a stripper) lit up the Internet when photos emerged of her at 22 wearing a sexually suggestive Halloween costume and leading her husband on a leash. And just this week, women running for student government positions at Concordia University were dismissed as beauty queens for daring to include a (normal!) photo in their flyers.

As Ball said in an op-ed in The Huffington Post,

2011 is the first time in over 30 years that the number of women in Congress actually decreased. America will continue to lag behind other industrialized nations in female political involvement and representation if women can't be politicians and people, too.