Boobs er... basically
Yesterday the Daily Star upset me just like it pretty much does everyday of its sad, little, manipulative, patriarchal-piggish existence. As yesterday’s front-cover was blemished by this feature:
Although, I suppose it takes something to blemish The Star, as it is a perverse disgusting mole on the smooth landscape of journalism’s elegant contours overall anyhow. The masthead was mutated with a mini-headline reading: How does YOUR region measure up? GREAT BRITISH BREAST SURVEY. All I can say is: no wonder men are led to believe that God gave us a set of tits to churn out tit-wanks for their pleasure and not to feed young, when our excuse for journalistic institutions flog this degrading ‘boobs=sex toys’ concept week in, week out!
No wonder legions of women are getting breast implants done, and women who undergo this operation lose a personal element of sensation due to the procedure, just to ultimately please men with their newly-found buxom status. Fuck losing sensations from your nipples for your sexual benefit, I guess as long as they look bouncy, young, un-stretched and buoyant for the lads - that‘s all that matters... And the reason that women will jeopardise their own sense of sexual satisfaction is because the media instruct nations of females week in, week out that their worth is upgraded in juxtaposition with the increasing calculation of their bra size: and they have actually started to believe it! As the likes of Sam Fox, Linda Lusardi, Jordan, Jodie Marsh and Linsey Dawn Mackenzie (pictured above) have gone to show.
Do you ever feel like our breasts are no longer ‘our’ breasts anymore?
Only constantly, filthy flimsy male-orientated newspaper features such as this one in yesterday’s Star address women’s cleavages in a possessive tone. They rate our breasts, rank them, grade them, ogle them. The 1990s was the epoch of the Wonderbra where we were told that saggy breasts were unacceptable, we needed to buy this revolutionary bra that would push our breasts up so high they almost poked us in the eye! And now, as we evolve through the 21st century the sexualisation of female breasts has reached a point which can only be described as beyond mass media infatuation, as sporting an uplifting bra is no longer enough to meet these unachievable physical dimensions in the eye of the male gaze. Oh no! The Wonderbra era has passed us by, even the age of the ‘chicken fillet’ bra with jelly-like implants embedded in the stitching, now we have embraced ‘under the knife’ culture and we now willingly let surgeons cut open, slice, dice and pump silicone into our breasts to meet these ridiculous standards!
When I was growing up Baywatch was at the height of its fame and Pamela Anderson was paraded by the press as this invincible ideal that no man could resist; for crying out loud men tuned in just to ogle a succession of female lifeguards’ boobs bouncing up and down as they ran the length of a beach! I honestly thought after countless years of being subjected to this ‘blonde bombshell = perfection’ bullshit that women just had to be taken seriously, that there was nowhere left to run with this corny concept - but it was just the beginning. Baywatch just set the sexist stride for the subordinating society that adulthood was about to hurl me into.
Breasts bulge by out of billboards, the sides of buses and still uncensored on Page Three of The Sun, the biggest-selling British tabloid newspaper. Yet I just cannot understand how women can accept these sleazy features all under the excuse-laden umbrella of ‘innocent celebration of the female form’ or ‘empowerment because look at Jordan she’s earnt big bucks!’ I tell you now why Jordan is working aggressively on a third autobiography and it is because she is working her fingers to the bone (well a ghost-writer’s fingers are probably being worked to the bone) before she reaches her sell-by date. Because let’s face it, the aging process is inevitable and if you want to play along with this ‘existing to titillate men with your bits’ façade, then you have to wholly accept that by adopting this patriarchal philosophy you become worthless in the eyes of men before you even hit middle age!
I really do despair when I see these features because they are moulding a shallow sex-based, ageist and sexist society. In these newspapers women are seen, dribbled over and accepted as pretty things to look at, nipples n all! What they have to say is not viewed of as important, and I bet you if the majority of Sun or Star or Sport readers could have it, they’d introduce a scrap heap for all women over forty, because in their pervy garish eyes, women are only of value if they possess a firm set of buttocks and a plunging neckline with firm tits on display!
I feel sickened that the only way women can express themselves within the mainstream media seems to be by whipping their tops off! For the most popular newspapers fail to provide women with free, open spaces to express themselves, unless of course they wish to accentuate their opinion through the exposure of their hardened nipples!
I feel further annoyance when I consider the possibility that the only reason that a large percentage of women fail to consider themselves as 'feminist' is because either:
(a) the papers have successfully poisoned women against their own struggle by publishing poisonous propaganda and grave misconceptions about the individuals involved in the movement, or
(b) absence in the mainstream media to report on such serious women’s rights issues makes most women estimate that celebrity gossip is what women, like themselves, should be collectively nattering about, filling the discourse of their tea-breaks with, rather than putting group articulation to good use and closing the unequal pay gap.
Instead we are fed nonsense, such as this feature, declaring that women should be content to get their baps out for cash all in the name of ‘empowerment’ just because it gets our names in the papers, and our stiletto’d feet on the red carpet.
Why should I feel alienated for caring about women’s rights just because a large majority of newspapers don’t cover it? How can any woman claim not to give a stuff about women’s rights, dismiss feminism and say that they sincerely don’t give two shits as to what happens to their gender? While the newspapers cut feminism off on purpose mainly because they want feminists to forge their own specialized feminist presses because this distances their struggle from the mainstream, and ultimately alienates and amputates it from the nucleus of current affairs and portrays it as nothing but a hobby for radicals.
Inside this edition of The Daily Star, a double centre-page spread was spared to analyse the average weight and bust size of women, which was broken down into various different British regions. These women were weighed up and measured, discussed in dimensions, as if these journos were discussing a brand new car model to hit the market! Soon I swear they’ll be a version of BBC’s Topgear entitled Toprear instead, where men deconstruct the pluses and minuses of a certain type of shaped woman, and discuss what she ‘goes’ like, because to put it bluntly: the way these newspapers represent women is not far off this oppressive concept!
To the right is a sample of the one for Wales in which Charlotte Church was used as an icon for. We are told what our average weight should be, what the average woman in our region’s cup size is and bombarded with words like ‘minx’. This feature actually reads like a car manual, but whereas a car manual might tell you what the average highest speed a particular type of car could reach, etc - this one has shots of scantily clad women’s bodywork and makes sweeping generalisations regarding how in Wales’ case the average weight is 9.7 stone! Which for me is embodiment of my point that women are rapidly becoming more and more dehumanised every day of the week and slowly, but surely we are being perceived as nothing but ‘catalysts for male ejaculation’ and surely, I can’t be the only woman who is disgruntled to say the least about this, can I?????
I hate these features more than ever because they leave a lot of women feeling inadequate, ashamed and guilty that they cannot reach this ‘acceptable’ level of physical perfection. I hate these features because baring our boobs seems to still be the norm that we contribute to the public sphere after a thirty-year-long span has passed since the first Page Three girl made her debut. I hate these features because the portrayal of female-projected power distinguishes that women are only powerful if they are good looking (in accordance to the ideals proposed via a masculine media for the benefit of the admiring leer of the male gaze) and have their busts out for the boys. But when gravity hits a woman’s boobs, and the inescapable aging process attacks - we are nothing. Worthless, empty-shell citizens. Shrapnel scattered across the sidewalks left over from our ‘heydays’ when we were in our ‘prime’.
I shall leave you with a few statistics fresh out of this article also to mull over…
Article Source:
The Daily Star (2006) Front Page, 7 November 2006, p.1.
Harrison, L (2006)Breast of British in the Daily Star, 7 November 2006, p. 28-29.
Although, I suppose it takes something to blemish The Star, as it is a perverse disgusting mole on the smooth landscape of journalism’s elegant contours overall anyhow. The masthead was mutated with a mini-headline reading: How does YOUR region measure up? GREAT BRITISH BREAST SURVEY. All I can say is: no wonder men are led to believe that God gave us a set of tits to churn out tit-wanks for their pleasure and not to feed young, when our excuse for journalistic institutions flog this degrading ‘boobs=sex toys’ concept week in, week out!
No wonder legions of women are getting breast implants done, and women who undergo this operation lose a personal element of sensation due to the procedure, just to ultimately please men with their newly-found buxom status. Fuck losing sensations from your nipples for your sexual benefit, I guess as long as they look bouncy, young, un-stretched and buoyant for the lads - that‘s all that matters... And the reason that women will jeopardise their own sense of sexual satisfaction is because the media instruct nations of females week in, week out that their worth is upgraded in juxtaposition with the increasing calculation of their bra size: and they have actually started to believe it! As the likes of Sam Fox, Linda Lusardi, Jordan, Jodie Marsh and Linsey Dawn Mackenzie (pictured above) have gone to show.
Do you ever feel like our breasts are no longer ‘our’ breasts anymore?
Only constantly, filthy flimsy male-orientated newspaper features such as this one in yesterday’s Star address women’s cleavages in a possessive tone. They rate our breasts, rank them, grade them, ogle them. The 1990s was the epoch of the Wonderbra where we were told that saggy breasts were unacceptable, we needed to buy this revolutionary bra that would push our breasts up so high they almost poked us in the eye! And now, as we evolve through the 21st century the sexualisation of female breasts has reached a point which can only be described as beyond mass media infatuation, as sporting an uplifting bra is no longer enough to meet these unachievable physical dimensions in the eye of the male gaze. Oh no! The Wonderbra era has passed us by, even the age of the ‘chicken fillet’ bra with jelly-like implants embedded in the stitching, now we have embraced ‘under the knife’ culture and we now willingly let surgeons cut open, slice, dice and pump silicone into our breasts to meet these ridiculous standards!
When I was growing up Baywatch was at the height of its fame and Pamela Anderson was paraded by the press as this invincible ideal that no man could resist; for crying out loud men tuned in just to ogle a succession of female lifeguards’ boobs bouncing up and down as they ran the length of a beach! I honestly thought after countless years of being subjected to this ‘blonde bombshell = perfection’ bullshit that women just had to be taken seriously, that there was nowhere left to run with this corny concept - but it was just the beginning. Baywatch just set the sexist stride for the subordinating society that adulthood was about to hurl me into.
Breasts bulge by out of billboards, the sides of buses and still uncensored on Page Three of The Sun, the biggest-selling British tabloid newspaper. Yet I just cannot understand how women can accept these sleazy features all under the excuse-laden umbrella of ‘innocent celebration of the female form’ or ‘empowerment because look at Jordan she’s earnt big bucks!’ I tell you now why Jordan is working aggressively on a third autobiography and it is because she is working her fingers to the bone (well a ghost-writer’s fingers are probably being worked to the bone) before she reaches her sell-by date. Because let’s face it, the aging process is inevitable and if you want to play along with this ‘existing to titillate men with your bits’ façade, then you have to wholly accept that by adopting this patriarchal philosophy you become worthless in the eyes of men before you even hit middle age!
I really do despair when I see these features because they are moulding a shallow sex-based, ageist and sexist society. In these newspapers women are seen, dribbled over and accepted as pretty things to look at, nipples n all! What they have to say is not viewed of as important, and I bet you if the majority of Sun or Star or Sport readers could have it, they’d introduce a scrap heap for all women over forty, because in their pervy garish eyes, women are only of value if they possess a firm set of buttocks and a plunging neckline with firm tits on display!
I feel sickened that the only way women can express themselves within the mainstream media seems to be by whipping their tops off! For the most popular newspapers fail to provide women with free, open spaces to express themselves, unless of course they wish to accentuate their opinion through the exposure of their hardened nipples!
I feel further annoyance when I consider the possibility that the only reason that a large percentage of women fail to consider themselves as 'feminist' is because either:
(a) the papers have successfully poisoned women against their own struggle by publishing poisonous propaganda and grave misconceptions about the individuals involved in the movement, or
(b) absence in the mainstream media to report on such serious women’s rights issues makes most women estimate that celebrity gossip is what women, like themselves, should be collectively nattering about, filling the discourse of their tea-breaks with, rather than putting group articulation to good use and closing the unequal pay gap.
Instead we are fed nonsense, such as this feature, declaring that women should be content to get their baps out for cash all in the name of ‘empowerment’ just because it gets our names in the papers, and our stiletto’d feet on the red carpet.
Why should I feel alienated for caring about women’s rights just because a large majority of newspapers don’t cover it? How can any woman claim not to give a stuff about women’s rights, dismiss feminism and say that they sincerely don’t give two shits as to what happens to their gender? While the newspapers cut feminism off on purpose mainly because they want feminists to forge their own specialized feminist presses because this distances their struggle from the mainstream, and ultimately alienates and amputates it from the nucleus of current affairs and portrays it as nothing but a hobby for radicals.
Inside this edition of The Daily Star, a double centre-page spread was spared to analyse the average weight and bust size of women, which was broken down into various different British regions. These women were weighed up and measured, discussed in dimensions, as if these journos were discussing a brand new car model to hit the market! Soon I swear they’ll be a version of BBC’s Topgear entitled Toprear instead, where men deconstruct the pluses and minuses of a certain type of shaped woman, and discuss what she ‘goes’ like, because to put it bluntly: the way these newspapers represent women is not far off this oppressive concept!
To the right is a sample of the one for Wales in which Charlotte Church was used as an icon for. We are told what our average weight should be, what the average woman in our region’s cup size is and bombarded with words like ‘minx’. This feature actually reads like a car manual, but whereas a car manual might tell you what the average highest speed a particular type of car could reach, etc - this one has shots of scantily clad women’s bodywork and makes sweeping generalisations regarding how in Wales’ case the average weight is 9.7 stone! Which for me is embodiment of my point that women are rapidly becoming more and more dehumanised every day of the week and slowly, but surely we are being perceived as nothing but ‘catalysts for male ejaculation’ and surely, I can’t be the only woman who is disgruntled to say the least about this, can I?????
I hate these features more than ever because they leave a lot of women feeling inadequate, ashamed and guilty that they cannot reach this ‘acceptable’ level of physical perfection. I hate these features because baring our boobs seems to still be the norm that we contribute to the public sphere after a thirty-year-long span has passed since the first Page Three girl made her debut. I hate these features because the portrayal of female-projected power distinguishes that women are only powerful if they are good looking (in accordance to the ideals proposed via a masculine media for the benefit of the admiring leer of the male gaze) and have their busts out for the boys. But when gravity hits a woman’s boobs, and the inescapable aging process attacks - we are nothing. Worthless, empty-shell citizens. Shrapnel scattered across the sidewalks left over from our ‘heydays’ when we were in our ‘prime’.
I shall leave you with a few statistics fresh out of this article also to mull over…
60% of Irish girls want a boob job, just like Big Brother’s gorgeous Orlaith. It could be because they have the smallest boobs in the UK.
One in five Scottish girls have tried slimming pills.
Liverpudlian lasses are the ‘biggest cellulite haters in the country.’
- stats cited in Harrison 2006:28-29.
Article Source:
The Daily Star (2006) Front Page, 7 November 2006, p.1.
Harrison, L (2006)Breast of British in the Daily Star, 7 November 2006, p. 28-29.
