womankind’s image challenge
MEREDITH PENMAN
Day one: What to say about The Bachelor? Having never been able to endure an episode, I coaxed myself through it tonight. The fantasy system of a single handsome man at the centre of a hive of peroxide and fake tan is fairly monstrous. Given its popularity, you’d hope that the series could recommend itself on some other anthropological level. Scrutinising the one episode, however, it appears not. The can’t-look-away factor does a number on me, though. What drives these women to apply for such a gig? Is it a blatant grab for upwards media mobility? Or are they actually interested in falling in love? My questions are left unanswered, and perhaps it is this curation of surface sheen without messy undertow that drives the ratings.
The ad break contributes to the sensation of watching a constant runway of 20-something slim white girls. Every corporation has somehow decided that this tiny slice of the female population is the only way to sell their products, and the type who best entertain us. But among this display I can’t find a single example of a woman who inspires in behaviour rather than appearance.
Ooh - fun. A new series, has dropped online. Word on it is strong, and the previews are colourful. The “Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling” is based on a true story, a troupe of
