November 24, 2008
Greer, Cole, Ellen and Feminism
Barbara Ellen’s comment pieces in The Observer seem to be getting worse with every passing week. I used to rather enjoy her articles, but over the past couple of months her column has become increasingly lazy and ill thought out. Her leader piece this week was so objectionable I actually found myself getting out of bed at 10 past midnight to write a letter to The Observer in reply. You can read Ellen’s piece here.
As my letter is a tad long, it probably won’t get printed. So:
When Germain Greer comments that Cheryl Cole is ‘too thin’, it is
surely a mistake to take this – as Barbara Ellen does – as a sign of
‘thin-woman-hating’. Surely Greer is making the reasonable point that
a woman whose physical appearance is vaunted as sexual perfection, but
which is unattainable for 99% of women, can hardly be classed as a
feminist icon? Ellen writes “Modern feminism could do a lot worse than
claim Cole as one of our own”. Really? A woman whose career is based
on singing songs about love, looking attractive and crying on The X
Factor? A woman who embodies a patriarchal attitude towards women
whereby docility, prettiness and virtually unattainable physique are
the ultimate virtues? Ellen claims that she must frequently “explain
what [feminism] is from painful scratch”. Yet a key tenet of modern
feminism is that the struggle for equality is not straightforward
emancipation from the kitchen, unequal pay and domestic violence
(though those issues certainly remain), but a mental emancipation from
the ideals of a society dominated by artificial male stereotypes of
the feminine ideal. Key is for ordinary women to reject the
patriarchal male ideal. Given Ellen’s unflinching praise for Cole, it
is puzzling as to why she considers herself a ‘modern feminist’.
jma71 said,
November 24, 2008 at 8:49 pm
Not to mention having committed actual bodily harm against a poor black female toilet attendant, quite possibly after spouting racist slurs at her – on a drunken rich-bitch bender. Not exactly the model of feminism…
Peter said,
November 24, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Great letter! Let us know if they publish it.
Listen up, Barbara « Bad Conscience said,
February 28, 2010 at 5:49 pm
[...] weekly column. Her eternal whining about how hard it is to bring up teenagers, or her inability to understand that feminism is not the same as worshipping Cheryl Cole, are frankly tedious, and I’ve never [...]