I’ve been reading a lot of stories about women in the past week. And I’m saddened that, even now, in the 21st century and after many years of feminism and equal rights, women are still judged on appearance.
In an age of instant communication the rush to judgment has intensified. There are many “news” websites and magazines that specialise in celebrities’ perceived flaws, with close-up photographs supplied by ever more aggressive paparazzi, and endless numbers of readers and social media trolls willing to share their downright nasty opinions, usually while hiding behind a veil of anonymity.
Any woman who either offers herself up for scrutiny or is chased down by the paparazzi pack is fair game now, whether they’re famous or not. And the saddest part of this is that women often seem willing to take the lead in tearing chunks out of other members of their own sex.
I was heartened, therefore, to read an article in The Daily Beast yesterday, written by American actress Ashley Judd (above). In it, she hits back at speculation over her alleged “puffy appearance” in a TV news interview.
She declares: “The conversation about women happens everywhere, publicly and privately. We are described and detailed, our faces and bodies analysed and picked apart, our worth ascertained and ascribed based on the reduction of personhood to simple physical objectification. Our voices, our potential and our accomplishments are regularly minimised and muted.”
Ms Judd has shown courage in speaking out. But in an article today with pictures taken on the red carpet, Mail Online has called her post an “extraordinary rant”, adding “the brunette still appeared to have a full face, due in part no doubt to her incredible cheekbones” – which is typical of the way in which the site continues to diminish women.
The easy option is to carry on being angry about such dismissive comments. The harder option is to be the change. Each individual woman must value herself, love her body, not be afraid to show her strengths and own her feminine power – as well as respect that power in other women – in order to transform the way we are viewed by the media.
That would be a story worth reading.
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