Oh, come on!

Every time I get angry about something more important than just "damn you, person in the car in front, the speed limit is eighty. EIGHTY!" I come here and write a blog. And very often, it seems to me that I get angry about (A) The Federal Government or (B) Self-esteem (particularly women's) and how the world tries to make sure you don't have any. Today's post is about B. Again. Sorry about that, but this is really pretty disturbing and enraging.

"[Katie] Price is often viewed a collective ideal of genuine modern femininity to a widespread audience: particularly to females. Her continual struggle with the British media against her personal life and 'rags to riches' story has turned her into an inspirational role model."

That is an excerpt from the Wikipedia entry for Katie Price (or Jordan), ex-wife of Peter Andre, 'glamour model' (read: near-naked most of the time and possibly outsizes Pam Anderson in the implant stakes), and the skankiest skank who ever did skank. You can see the result of a Google Images search for her below.

http://www.google.com.au/images?q=katie+price&hl=en&rlz=1T4DAAU_en-GB___AU307&prmd=ivnsuo&source=lnms&tbs=isch:1&ei=n7AiTfz7LIGKvQPnr6WNDg&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&ved=0CBIQ_AU

Sexually appealing (if you're into girls and like them uber-fake), maybe. A role model? No.

NO

She is no more an 'ideal of modern femininity' than a cactus. Or a rock. I mean, holy hell, we are talking about someone who no joke put make-up and false eyelashes on her two-year-old daughter and then posted a picture on the internet. Katie Price is a shell made out of sex and tits, essentially a living sex-doll. That she is an image of the very worst example of modern femininity there is no denying. She is an epitome of the 'I am woman, watch me wear very little and have sex with as many men as possible' mentality. Very little clothing, even less self-respect.

To be clear, I absolutely believe that it is Katie Price's right to live her life in this fashion, just as it is for anyone who chooses such an utterly barren path through life. But don't tell me that she is ideal. Don't tell me that this total lack of any merit or virtue or anything that could remotely be called a good quality or be at least indicative of an acquaintance with reality is what the modern woman is or should aspire to.

So who should be a role model for modern women? Who is ideal? Well, to be honest, the best case scenario would be that women be strong enough not to need to rely on other women to make them feel confident in themselves. But I have to admit Kate Winslet and Helena Bonham Carter are both excellent examples of what femininity (and indeed humanity) should be about - self-belief and self-expression that pays no heed to the heckles of the crowd.

Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter, Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland amongst others) is utterly herself, without hesitation or apology. Nearly every time she attends a film premiere, she gets attacked by the 'fashion commentators' for dressing in way that could be fairly described as bonkers. But damn it if she doesn't always, always look bloody awesome anyway. Why? Because she doesn't give a crap what those idiots think, she's comfortable in the body she was born with, and the clothes she chooses to wear. She is completely happy to be herself - a rare thing in a person of any sex, let alone an actress.

Kate Winslet is, like me, a woman who is made angry by the promotion of insecurity. From her Wikipedia entry:

"Winslet has been outspoken about her refusal to allow Hollywood to dictate her weight. [...] She ha[s] always expressed the opinion that women should be encouraged to accept their appearance with pride, and therefore 'was particularly upset to be accused of lying about my exercise regimen, and felt that I had a responsibility to request an apology in order to demonstrate my commitment to the views that I have always expressed about body issues, including diet and exercise.'"

Now, if you did a Google Images search on either of these women, you would most definitely find photos of them posed provocatively, or with very little on, or nothing at all. Doing these things doesn't automatically make you into another Katie Price, no matter how much I might rant about her, her image and her lifestyle. (And I repeat - it is her life, she can do what she wants) But there is a rather large difference between dressing/being photographed in a manner that embraces one's femininity and sexuality, and dressing/being photographed in a manner that is, let's face it, largely for the masturbatory fantasies of boys, teenaged or otherwise. The former is about self-expression, about confidence in one's body and person. The latter is an marketing tool at best, a heinously void, self-perpetuating lie at worst.

I don't know exactly where to end with this - I came into this angry that anyone, anyone at all, could even begin to consider Katie Price as a positive reflection of femininity. Because (to hammer the point home one more time) she is everything that is negative in modern constructions of woman. (SIGHS) I am aware of how lucky I am to feel comfortable with myself and my body. I am aware that is excruciatingly difficult for some women to even look in the mirror, so deeply mired are they in self-loathing. I just wish that more people would find a way (to paraphrase Kate Winslet) to accept themselves for who they are, to be proud to be who they are. The fact that there are so many people out there who would look to someone like Katie Price as a role model is more depressing than anything else, because it means that in the battle between positive and negative views of the modern self (for both men and women, I should add),
negativity is winning. Quite overwhelmingly. It's hard to be anything but sad about that.