25 Jun 2013
Some kind of fairness, perhaps even equality.
And then we have a month like June, and I wonder what on earth just happened. I watch arguments I thought we’d won years ago rear up as though for the first time. Abuse and misogyny strut around publicly as though they have nothing to fear. And I just cannot believe we aren’t done with this shit yet.
First up was Conservative MP Anne McIntosh, who recently said that training female doctors who will go on to have children and work part-time puts a “tremendous burden” on the health service. She explained herself endlessly afterwards but it was hard to believe her and besides which the headlines were written and the damage was done. Way to go, sister.
Then there was Charles Saatchi, photographed at a restaurant arguing with his wife, the chef and author Nigella Lawson. He grabbed her by the throat several times as she appeared increasingly frightened and tearful. No one intervened. No one called the police. Saatchi gave an interview the next day in which he claimed his actions were the result of a “playful tiff”. Violence, followed by an explanation that seeks not to deny the violence but to render it acceptable. And then a statement that tells us more than he meant to: that he dictates terms in his family and all must obey. His wife and children had since left the family home, he said, because he had told her to leave (in order to avoid the press). Told her. Not suggested or asked or discussed. Told. He has since been cautioned by the police for assaulting his wife, which he now admits is what happened. There’s no corresponding apology for attempting to excuse the assault.
And just when I think we’ve had enough misogyny for one month I read “Vice” magazine, who have run a “fashion” feature on female writers who have committed suicide. Each photograph re-enacts the moment of the writer’s death, with a caption stating her name, date of birth, and date and cause of death. This is followed by the all important description of the outfit in question (“Christian Siriano coat, vintage dress”). Not a word, I note, about the great body of work these women have produced. Suicide as a fashion statement; it’s disgusting and disrespectful and trivialising to the point of absurd. We need many things in this world, but women whose last moments are rewritten to include cute shoes? Give me strength. At the date of writing, Vice removed the feature from their website and replaced it was a pathetic attempt at justification on the grounds that they are always “unconventional”; the apology that followed somehow unconvincing given the clear lack of remorse.
