Another rant about the way the media treats women
May 20, 2009 Leave a Comment
I posted back in March about the scary kind of beauty that the fashion industry holds up as ideal Since then I’ve got even more cross with the way our media treats women, specifically the way they look.
On 11 April Susan Boyle burst onto the worlds TV and computer screens. A 48 year old Scottish spinster who had never seen the inside of a beauty salon fronted up on Britain’s Got Talent, opened her mouth, and sang like an angel. She looked a fright, however, and apparently this juxtaposition of her painfully homely appearance and the extreme beauty in her voice was almost too much for her audience to cope with. The judges jaws dropped. Simon Cowell, instantly aware of the number of times his reaction to this moment would be reviewed in future, carefully widened his eyes and plastered a blank smile across his face. Amanda Holden looked photogenically tearful, and Piers Morgan was clearly not important or beautiful enough to get much of a look in.
The audience went wild, and within hours the story was being beamed across the globe. Tens of millions of people viewed a clip on You Tube. Acres of newsprint were devoted to analysing why we were so astonished. (For the record, I think it has something to do with exposing and contradicting our inner belief that only attractive people can be successful, combined with our delight at seeing someone “normal” looking do so well. Or something.)
Within a couple of weeks “Beetle Brow” Susan had got herself a brow wax, some vaguely fashionable clothes, and a haircut that belonged in the 21st century. Predictably, further ink was spilled analysing whether this meant she had “sold out”, whether it reflected terribly on our society, and whether people would still love the new and improved Susan Boyle. For my money, I think she had a fairly typical reaction to seeing oneself in pictures – utter horror and a resolution to completely change the way you look, which will ultimately not come to much apart from the superficial things you can do quickly.
Meanwhile, an Australian Miss Universe contestant, 19 year old Stephanie Naumoska, was pilloried in an utterly repellent way in the worldwide media for apparently being too thin to compete in the contest. TV networks and newspapers paraded nutritionists, doctors and other experts who derided Stephanie, claiming she was in the grips of anorexia nervosa, that they could see evidence of muscle wasting and that she was a terrible example to young women all over the world. Such was the hysteria over her appearance I almost expected a worldwide anorexia pandemic.
For some reason, no-one seemed to think there was anything contradictory about venomous and ill-informed criticism of a 19 year old who was, by their own prouncements, in the grip of a deadly eating disorder. If she was in fact severely ill, she would hardly get better after being criticised by thousands of newspaper writers, bloggers and talk show hosts would she?
The media, whatever that catch-all phrase means, seems to go mad and lose all sense of propriety when covering a story involving what a woman looks like. Some editorial control should be exercised. Women, expecially 19 year old women, should not be treated like a play-thing to spice up the latest news bulletin.
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