Hello friends.
Have any of you had a chance to see that meme that’s been floating around facebook for the past few days? It’s made up of two photos – one of Nigella Lawson and one of Gillian McKeith (a UK based nutritionist and tv presenter).
The nub and gist of its message is: one woman (Nigella) is kind of old but majorly hot, and the other, Gillian, IS SO OLD, OMG DEFINITELY LIKE CRYPT KEEPER STATUS AND SO UGLY I WISH I COULD UNSEE THAT MESS.
The comparison between the two is supposed to bring on the major LOLZ.
The reasons supporting this conclusion, and, undoutebly, your uncontrollable laughter?
That Hottie McHot Nigella eats butter, meat and carbs (aka doesn’t give a hoot about what she puts in her body and because of this attitude, holds the much coveted status of Hottie McHot), while in contrast, that Old Ugly Boot of a Bagmeister Gillian emphasizes clean, healthy eating (which in turn, only further emphasizes her Old, Ugly Boot of a Bagmeisterness.)
Now, this is really grating my gears for a number of reasons:
1.) It’s hasn’t been all that long (oh, I’d wager 30.7 seconds) since I was last told that my net worth as a woman is first and foremost determined by my looks that I really don’t need two hundred bastards on facebook reminding me of this.
2.) Body-snarking? Really. Not. Cool. Or. Groundbreaking. Get back to me when you have something else – not at the expense of someone else’s looks – which you want to talk to me about.
3.) Trying to frame this meme as an argument for the whole – eat what you want and feel great about yourselves!!! – movement is a total fallacy. Anyway you look at it the people posting this image are still shitting on someone for not only what they eat but more importantly how they look.
Eat what you want and feel good about it – period. Leave other people out of the equation.
If this meme was comprised of two photos, say, one of Chanel Iman and the other of Melissa McCarthy and the caption mocked Ms. McCarthy on not only her looks, but implied that she looks the way she does because of her eating habits, something tells me that people probably wouldn’t be posting it on social media, nor would it enjoy the same popularity of the current image (if any at all.)
4.) Lastly, that photo of Ms. McKeith was taken when she was appearing in the (totally awful, tabloid schlocky) TV show “I’m a celebrity get me out of here” (meaning: she was living in the blasted JUNGLE and not the Clinique makeup counter at Harrods. To be honest though, what in the world was she thinking not bringing at LEAST an under-eye concealer or eyelash curler? Sheesh!)*
Nigella meanwhile (who I will freely admit is a gorgeous, glamorous woman) is pictured on the red carpet at some kind of soiree/movie premier deal. Sitting at home in her snuggie, post-Saturday-night-do, she is not.
I cannot help but feel (and this relates back to #3) that if someone was to call shenanigans on the discrepancies between the two pictures – for instance yelling out: “NIGELLA IS TOTES OBVS ROCKING THE SPANX AND MAKEUP GUN HERE GUYS!!!” that this person would be lambasted as a body-snarking, fat-shamer.
Meanwhile, I would be there sitting in the corner whispering: you all are completely tone deaf to the rampant bullying that is presented in the original message. RED RUM.
Okay, so now that I’ve gotten that off my chest (and in its place I am putting some metaphorical vapo-rub – otherwise known as The Muppets Christmas Carol) I will move onto item #2 on today’s agenda.
Why for the love of Pete, WHY, do bookstores insist on marketing certain books under the banners: F
OR HIM/FOR HER?
Seriously – I almost had a bloody coronary today walking into Coles.
HEY MS. REISMAN! Could we emphasize destructive, totally outdated gender norms ANY MORE IF WE POSSIBLY TRIED!?! Oh sweet mother of pearl give me strength.
Let’s look at some of topics covered in the books put aside for him shall we?
- Fiction, Sports, Politics, Humour, History and Biography.
And for those silly, simple womenz?
- Fashion, Diet cookbooks, Regular cookbooks (thanks for not forgetting teh fatties guys!), and Autobiographies by some ladies from the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”.
What. The. Heck.
For serious, Tina Fey’s book was included in the men’s section and not the women’s! My heart is actually racing just thinking about it.
The crazy thing is, I know that there is definitely an excellent meme in here somewhere. So stay tuned!
I just need to make my way out of the jungle first.
*Please see: OED – sarcasm
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Rant and Roll 