Woman is Naked, People are Idiots, Title is Lazy
This is the latest piece of spurious gossip to take the internet by storm, and this angry rant is my reaction (second third draft, because LJ delights in crashing and not saving any of what I've written).
First of all, let's take the fact that, so far, this has only been reported in Digital Spy, The Sun and The Daily Mail. Until it's reported by a reputable news source, I'm not prepared to believe a word of it, quite frankly, particularly as this supposedly happened two and a half months ago, and the source is an anonymous witness who lives in a hotel.
Let's leave aside for the moment the issue that a man stood by and allowed a naked woman to have a panic attack outside his door, despite her pleas for help. After all, he did alert security, and the sort of person who lives in a hotel probably doesn't want to get drawn into the kind of thing that usually involves the police (we're talking American police, after all).
No, let's instead focus on our old friends, the individuals who comment on the Digital Spy report via Facebook. Here's a choice selection:
"Cant like this enough."
"tsk, there's never a time machine when you need one...."
"God I wish I'd been there"
"Top quote Quagmire - Dear diary, Jackpot! lol"
"Who would want to see her fish finger?"
"she's got sexy legs and sexy bottom and she is sexy everywere.she is a very sexy actress that's what I can say."
"Why didn't he let her in? I would've broken my wrist I would've opened the door so fast, and probably sprained my other wrist later ;-)."
"ohhhh uurrnnn mmm"
Now, in the interests of fair journalism, a concept unfamiliar to The Daily Mail, there are some comments that adhere to basic human decency, and even criticise their fellow Facebookers' depravity. Similarly, in the Digital Spy forum thread on this story, most people at least managed to present themselves as vaguely civilised, although there was the usual demand for the non-existent photos of the non-existent event, and also this:
"I always knew she was a dirty skank!
"
Oh, did you? Oh, good, I was hoping someone would come forward to enlighten us all with the mighty truth that all those crazy women who let themselves get into this kind of extreme vulnerability are "dirty skanks." Oh, to hell with it. You all know what I'm getting at: a naked woman desperately trying to cover herself while scared and almost insensible? If I saw that, I'd instantly assume: rape. But hey, it's all right, because if someone gets raped, it's their own silly fault for being such a dirty skank.
So, in a way, it doesn't really matter if the story actually took place or not. That's not the point anymore. The point is that this is clear evidence that the cult of celebrity that surrounds female stars like Karen Gillan has catapulted these women into being the nation's collective sex doll/ sexual fantasy, and, apparently, into a position where they're simply not considered to be real people with real feelings. A story documenting one of these stars' nakedness, regardless of the context, becomes a hair trigger for armies of otherwise ordinary people to suddenly start making demeaning and objectifying remarks about naked women, and, in particular, and somewhat terrifyingly, the defenceless and insensible.
Look. This is too bloody important to let lie. Even as we, as a civilisation, grow slowly closer to getting rid of sexism on official and organised levels, the average idiot on the street is exposed to over-hyped celebrities, and believes that, owing to the fact that these people are exposed to millions of viewers everyday, they have somehow become fair game, that it's acceptable to talk about them in a way that they would probably never dream of treating other women. Is it unacceptable behaviour to find someone you've never met attractive? Well, no, obviously not. Is it unacceptable behaviour to have fantasies about these people. Well, I used to think it was slightly odd, but never a breach of ethical behaviour. Now, given this glimpse of the kind of conduct it seems to lead to in some people, I'm not so sure.
But then again, maybe it's just their fault for taking this kind of work in the first place. They were asking for it right from the start, wanting to become actors and make something of their lives. Oh, those crazy drama students. Those dirty skanks.