[Red Moon]

GIVING WOMEN A BAD NAME

As a feminist, I am in a dilemma watching Big Brother.

It is easy to criticize the whole BB culture as being inherently misogynistic. This year’s all-female house has meant women have been pitted against each other to affirm negative stereotypes of women being “bitchy gossips.” The all-female house has also allowed the red-tops to unashamedly rate how ‘hot’ each woman is and print endless pictures of them sunbathing in bikinis or soaking in the hot tub.

And yet – unfortunately, the young women on Big Brother are bitchy gossips who parade round in their bikinis in an effort to get male attention. They are, for the most part, ignorant and self-absorbed morons who will happily admit they “do not own a book” or “will never work for a living”. Rather than expressing opinions on politics or society, these women are more interested in who goes to the best parties and who has the skinniest legs.

Far from being a victim of the voyeuristic male gaze on camera, they play up to the idea of being watched by men – both viewers and other contestants – and constantly compete with other women to be the “sexiest housemate”. Most cringe worthy of all was their pathetic begging for more male housemates and their shameless efforts at impressing ‘Ziggy’ when he finally arrived. So much for female solidarity.

Ziggy yesterday told Big Brother that the housemates’ bitching and “looking in the mirror while other girls are talking to them” was annoying him. This man is equally objectionable to his female counterparts – he requested another male housemate so they could compare notes on the house’s “fit birds” – yet he has ended up having the nation’s sympathy for being stuck with a bunch of loud, vain and childish women.

So, the Big Brother house has so far affirmed every misogynistic stereotype in the book whilst making the only male contestant look sane and reasonable. This is not just the fault of the irritating women – it is also Channel 4’s fault for only choosing such contestants and placing them in a hyper-competitive environment; it is the media’s fault for building up these women into ‘celebrities’ – and it is also, of course, our fault for watching such an awful programme in the first place.

Source: Daily Express