It's a man's world.
Interesting article. We were discussing this in class a few months ago.

http://www.nytimes.com/20...ref=slogin

If the author wanted to make even a hint of a valid argument, she should have chosen women that haven't whored themselves out to the media at every opportunity for cash.

Linsday Lohan
Paris Hilton
Britney Spears
Amy Winehouse

Anyone wanna defend the antics of any of them? The only one that gets a hint of a pass is Winehouse, but even she chooses to do crack in public. The contrasting stories about Downey, Wilson, and Ledger were all in private.

Extremely weak argument.

Mars23 said:

You think that those chicks are doing stuff that other guys aren't doing? They all go out and party but the media chooses to follow them around and not the guys and pick their every move apart.

Downey, Ledger and Wilson's struggles are looked at as more private because no one was chasing the shit outta them all the time.

Britney Spears' hospitalization was no different that Wilson's but they absolutely reported his story with a lot more respect than they did with Spears'.

The public has a serious fascination with the whole bad girl persona.

Sure, but who cultivated that persona for profit?

I love how women are so quick to blame men for this shit


Who's tuning into to Entertainment tonight, E!, and buying copies browsing copies of the National Inquirer? Women are hanging themselves---most guys couldnt' give a shit about those skanks.

Mars23 said:

Every celeb cultivates their persona for profit.

Imago said:

For real.

That's so true. It's mostly women trashing other women...I say mostly, cuz we all know that men do it as well, and more than they do it to other men.

JustErin said:

OK, I'll go with that, but how do we than explain why (insert female celebrity here) gets less coverage than (insert male celebrity here).

You could flip her argument and say Brandy killed a guy in a car wreck and got almost no coverage, but Owen Wilson attempted suicide and made the cover of People!


I'm just saying the author's argument is weak and if you wanna make a buck acting the fool, you should be prepared to deal with the consequences.
[Edited 2/27/08 11:51am]

Mars23 said:

Because it's also a white celeb obsessed culture...?

JustErin said:

OK.

Mischa Barton popped for DUI doesn't make a blip, but Robert Downey Jr. is national news.


Sorry, I'm agitated today.

Mars23 said:

Who's Mischa Barton?

People have categorized their celebs into matter of relevance to them - as stupid as that sounds. A-listers will always, always get more press than anyone else.

It's ok, I like you agitated.

JustErin said:

I had to look her up myself. Her claim to fame was being on "The OC", so I guess alot of people know who she is.

That proves my point. If the argument is only about gender and we don't inject other factors into it, the author's argument falls flat.

Mars23 said:

I definitely understand what you're getting at but I do think it's a case of gender when it comes to those A-listers.