Thursday, April 19, 2007

Femail

Every now and then the Daily Mail prints something not about a) the evils of career women b) death by the NHS c) the Royals in crisis. Women, Germaine Greer once said, have no idea how much men hate them. But given the avid female following of the Daily Mail, despite its lamentable portrayal of women, you can't help wondering whether they hate themselves even more than men do.

The paper seems locked into a conspiracy with the reader to lament the modern independent woman. It assumes the role of watchful neighbour, sniffing disapprovingly as it leans over the garden wall to share malevolence disguised as concerned gossip. It constantly harks back to a kind of mythical golden age in which women knew their place. It's a Stepford Wife picture of the world.

And sadly nothing was different about the "Are you ready for extreme dating ?" article in last Sunday's paper. Guised as a piece on the 'world of romance New York-style,' it was little more than a Middle England version of The Rules. It includes lines such as "the more attractive a man is, the less available you ought to be." Inspired.

But there was one bit I did rather enjoy. The article suggests there are three levels of problems one comes across in a relationship: glitch (minor annoyance), core challenge (tough problem) and deal-breaker (it's over). The key being to find out what yours are, so you know what you can and can't live with. It was then that I realised mine would be if he hates Elvis, loves PlayStation and reads the Daily Mail. What are yours?

18 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Missed that Mail piece. Good psot. Thanks CS! LOL :-)

7:30 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

he he

mine would be

farts
smokes
cheats

7:31 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Love you CS for days like today

Brilliant

Thanks

12:56 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

LOL :-)

1:13 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Mail is Satan's right arm.

8:03 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Being a lefty Guardian-type, I try to avoid this rag, although sometimes it turns up in the coffee-room to the detrement of my long term health. Apparently patients sometimes turn up with cuttings displaying its latest health scare: another reason I like working in A&E - if they can't remember their list of medications, they really can't remember their newspaper cutting.

I had a boss once who told a patient that the best thing she could do for her health was to stop reading the Daily Mail.

9:57 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Is this for real? Hello 1950s. What a load of tripe. The Mail readers deserve nothing better than to be told such crap if they till read that rag.

9:58 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Middle England’s house paper is guilty of many crimes, not least supporting fascism in the 30s.

9:58 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Daily Mail peddles a despicable cocktail of hatred, bigotry and fear.

9:58 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great post CS! Couldn't agree more. The ideal Daily Mail story leaves the reader hating somebody or something

9:59 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Is gay
Eats kebabs
Watches darts

11:16 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I could never go out with a blogger :-)

Just kidding city slicker

Good luck with competition!

11:33 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

As a man reading that Daily Maila rticle all i can think is: heaven help us. Seriously women if you go to those lengtsh to manipulate and tease us we will have lost all interest in you.

Straight up is always best.

11:38 am  
Blogger Pants said...

To be fair - the Mail did say that strawberry daiquiris may prevent cancer - wah-hey or what?

9:08 pm  
Blogger Pants said...

To be fair - the Mail did say that strawberry daiquiris may prevent cancer - wah-hey or what?

9:08 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

oh dear i hate Elvis, love xbox and grew up reading the daily mail. i guess a date's out of the question Troni?

5:20 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

oh dear Troni. i hate elvis, love computer games and grew up with the daily mail...

5:20 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

SHE would love women in general, Ruth Picket and Lucinda Williams in particular, italian neorealist films and disdain misogynist boring men

1:08 am  

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