FEMALE CELEBRITIES DESERVE BETTER!!!

We live in a society that is obsessed with celebrities, and because of that they reflect and dictate a lot of the way the rest of society functions. A lot of people look to celebrities to help guide them, and lead their lives. While I think this personally is very dangerous, that's how our society has been constructed. We don't have royalty, we have celebrities. In celebrity culture every single move that a female celebrity makes is so scrutinized, and it's like everyone is just waiting for her to mess up, so they can attack her. From what she wears, to who she dates, she is under this microscope, and if she even steps out of line for a second, the reaction is so strong you would've thought that she just killed a bunch of puppies or something.

As far the men go, well a lot of them are openly misogynistic or can have allegations or even convictions of rape and/or domestic violence or murder and yet that hasn't deterred their success at all. They belong in prison for life, not making lots of money. This doesn't sound so different than our everyday lives as these same scenarios play out amongst our interactions with men, does it ladies?

This first article from Feminspire talks about the different reaction that happens when a female celebrity has revealing pictures surface of her, versus when a male celebrity has the same thing happen to him. In this case they were referring to the demure reaction to Prince Harry. I've heard a lot of men in the media come out and support him, and tell the media to leave him alone, I've never heard these same men say that when a woman found herself in this position!

"When this gross invasion of privacy happens to women, they’re called sluts. They are publicly humiliated, forced to apologise, and their careers suffer. When it happens to men, they are hailed as ‘lads,’ garner huge celebrity support, and manage to have their pictures removed or never published in the first place. It is sexism, pure and simple, and it is a display of the fundamental disrespect for the female body that contributes towards countless other issues, including arguments over abortion, sexual health, and rape."

http://feminspire.com/demure-reaction-to-prince-harrys-bum-but-what-if-it-was-a-princess/?fb_action_ids=10101130732729374&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

A lot of this comes from the fact that the media is run by men, and there are not enough women in positions of power behind the scenes, or even just in positions behind the scenes to change this. Not that we don't want to be, we just can't even get into these positions to begin with! It also stems from the fact that men always support each other, and their bad behaviors instead of holding each other accountable for the way they've chosen to treat women and girls. This is because then they'll lose their male privilege and we can't have that happen, now can we?

When chris brown chose (keyword: choice) to almost beat Rihanna to death, male celebrity after male celebrity came out in support of him, and they kept saying "they" have problems to work out. I'm pretty sure he worked most of his problems out on her when he practically killed her and her only problem is the fact that she met him and lives in a society that allows this to happen to her. There is ONLY one person to blame in this and that's him. I don't even think there was a male celebrity who spoke out against him. This is typical of all men, they're all just cowards, and they're weak and this is why they make horrible leaders and even worse human beings! (Since writing this, it turns out he got a tattoo of a battered woman on his neck, just to remind everyone that as a man he can abuse us and then torment us for the rest of his life. Lets see if the male population continues to enable him, or if any of them actually put him in his place.)

This excerpt is from a really great article courtesy of the Huffington Post talking about the recent "slut shaming" of Kristen Stewart and how it would've been completely different for a male celebrity. The most shocking part about this article is that it was written by a man! He completely gets it.

"But for young women, the culture of slut shaming that the Kristen Stewart scandal represents won't go away. I might not be concerned for K-Stew, but I am concerned for all the young women today who are tuned into this scandal, ones who are learning that it's not okay to screw up, ever. Chris Brown can publicly beat the hell out of his girlfriend but still be played on the radio and win Grammys. However, if you ever cheat on your boyfriend, your life is over and no one will ever want to be associated with you. Almost no one will blame the much-older guy you cheated with, and it might actually make him more famous and help his career. Few will care that he was your boss and in a position of authority or that he may have have taken advantage of your youth and relative inexperience. Everything is your fault, and your life will be threatened over it. If you are a trampire, you will be publicly staked for it, even though cheater Ashton Kutcher recently emerged relatively unscathed by the media. No one asked for him to be fired from Two and a Half Men."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nico-lang/trampires-why-the-slut-sh_b_1850940.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false#sb=2691671,b=facebook

The affect that all of this has on women and little girls is horrible. I used to say that as a woman you cannot participate in anything in our society without also supporting misogyny. We have to cheer on this men who choose to abuse us, and when we don't we're criticized for it!

What's really sad is when these gossip magazines engage in this too. This is sad, because a lot of the people that work for these magazines are women. I think a lot of this comes from that fact that every woman on this planet has internalized this idea that we are worthless to some degree, so we perpetuate that outwards. I think there is almost this desire to destroy ourselves by destroying other women, because that's how we've been treated our whole lives, like trash. It also comes from this patriarchal conditioning of forcing women to compete against each other for survival, and to keep us powerless. I think also pretty much every woman on this planet is super unhappy (and rightfully so) because the only things we've been allowed to do under the patriarchy is basically get married and be some guy's punching bag, or to just be a rape victim. If women were allowed to fulfill our full potential and to have some rights and respect, we would never tear each other down. This would all change very quickly. The good news is that the internet has given us a space to speak our truths and to stand up and fight for each other as women! We don't have to take this anymore!!!

In this article Ashley Judd fights back, and while I agree with her that the female celebrities do need to speak out and call out the media on this, I also feel like a lot of them are scared, because it could possibly cost them their career. I also feel like there is so much of it, that it would be impossible for any female celebrity to call out all of it, but even doing what they can will DEFINITELY help.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/09/ashley-judd-slaps-media-in-the-face-for-speculation-over-her-puffy-appearance.html