Dangerous Jobs For Girls, Dubious Fetishism For Women, and Sheer Blinding Hatred…

I see there’s a programme on T.V next week called ‘Dangerous Jobs For Girls’ and, to be fair, I have no intention of watching it, but, having seen the adverts for it and read some blurb on it in listings mags, I can’t help but feel a sense of deja vu. Surely we’ve seen this kind of programme several times before? Wouldn’t it be slightly more challenging and slightly more interesting to do a programme about female dominated professions for a change, and perhaps examine why certain jobs in certain sectors are so female dominated? rather than do a programme about girls taking on the boys in big macho professions? how about why men aren’t catering assistants, or why men do so few MRI scans in hospitals? or how the role of secretary has become a female dominated profession, and how the switch from male clerks to female secretaries saw a corresponding dip in wages and diminishing respect for that profession, and why this happened?

On a different note, and at the risk of coming over all Glenda Slagg, ‘Saving Britney Spears’ is another documentary that’s on this week, and will apparently focus on the various people who seem to be enjoying her breakdown far too much. Possibly interesting, but surely, by its sheer existence, it will encourage what it appears to be challenging? In a similar Glenda Slagg vein, when will the press possibly stop running pointless Amy Winehouse stories? Isn’t it telling that two of the most talked about women in pop at the moment are being talked about almost entirely in their capacity to not remain in control of their lives? would they be as interesting if they were fully in control of their lives and their careers, and are we fetishising this notion of the damaged pop star, yet again? It’s the whole grown women as children thing, and I for one am sick of it.

Another sickening thing: cyber nationalism, intelligent piece about the phenomena of hate groups online here. Depresssing reading, but oh so telling in oh so many ways.