Women Are Worth More Than The Paper They're Printed On

“World's Hottest Footballer's Wives.”

“World's Hottest F1 Driver's Wives.”

“World's Hottest Musician's Wives.”

They're mainstays of tabloid media. Pointless, redundant articles which spew the virtues of being nothing more than eye candy and masturbation material for a male orientated market. They're everywhere, and a day doesn't go by when one woman or another is put on a pedestal because she's married to someone famous.

“You're just jealous,” people say. “I don't know what you're getting upset over?”

Don't know what I'm getting upset over? Have you ever read one of those articles and seen any mention of the woman's life other than the fact that she's “beautiful” and “married to X celebrity”? Chances are you haven't. They never make a mention of that. Never mention the achievements of said woman. Instead the woman's form is just reduced down to that of an object. That's it. Nothing else. The article might mention if she's had a breast enlargement, or if she lost her post baby fat really quickly. You might get a mention that she's an actress or a model but you won't be given a list of her works. Again, that's it. And people wonder why the world is so screwed up. They wonder why there are girls who are literally starving themselves to death. They wonder why self esteem and self confidence are low. There are many reasons, a lot of it starting with the media.

“But you objectify men!” you say.

Yes, I'll hold my hands up and say that I'm guilty of that. But go and take a look at the lists titled “World's Hottest Actors” or “World's Hottest Rockstars”. You won't find a list of why their hair's nice or how they got their killer abs. No, you'll get a list of how well they act, which countries their band's toured, how many cinema seats they've filled or CD's they've sold. You'll probably get the name of their highest grossing film or best selling album. You might even get a glimpse of the car they drive, the house they live in, and how much their bank balance is worth.

“It's not offensive! I don't see your problem.”

While it's not outwardly offensive (no blood, no overly graphic content) it does the same nudity and murders and normalises people to it. Suddenly it's “normal” to want to be “hot” and “married”, as if it's the only thing which women are good for. Forget the 21^st Century. Attitudes towards women are still firmly rooted in the past. Women are only supposed to be broodmares, used for nothing more than pleasure and bringing about the next generation. At least in the eyes of the male orientated media.

“You must really hate men!”

Actually, no. I just hate the misogynistic attitudes towards women. I've worked in many industries where, to be a woman is the worst crime ever. Bar manager, nightclub DJ, band manager. I've lost count of the number of men who've come up to me and told me they can do a better job. Really? Here, have the lack of sleep, the paperwork, the hours of phone calls, events being cancelled, staff being sick, equipment not working, merchandise being delayed, and the crappy pay. None of those jobs were ever done for the money. They were done for the love of music or creating amazing events. And, with each of those jobs, I was approached to do them. I didn't apply. I was asked to take the roles. Someone with tits and a vagina. What does that tell you? It's not the gender of a person but their ability to do a job. Unfortunately, as we all too often see, the gender of a person does still play a part in every day life.

“You hate women!”

<sigh> No, I don't hate women. I just hate that they're used and exploited for the pleasure of others. Some do do it for profit and pleasure and I take my hat off to women who are strong enough to do that. We need more strong, independent women in this world. More role models that the younger generations can look up to. Role models whose entire life doesn't revolve around being pretty and married.

Basically, I'm tired of a world where women are treated like second class citizens. I'm tired of being told I can't do certain things because they're “only for men” (playing any instrument other than a cello or piano, learning to fly, listening to heavy metal etc). I'm tired of people trying to pigeonhole me. Tired of people telling me how to live my life because I'm a woman. Women can do whatever they want to and they don't need approval from anyone to do it.

There's a lot of wonderful and loving men who read this blog and I don't want you to feel like this is aimed at you. It's not. I love you guys to bits and I hope you'll stick with me despite some of my rantings!