More Important Things In Life Than Clothes

So stop bitching that you hate Trinny and Susannah and their makeover shows.

Tell me about the more important stuff instead.

That aside, I actually like T & S. They make me laugh. But not so for some as this article shows.

Apparently T & S's makeover shows teach us how to play by the rules of the game that oppresses us. Okay. . . . . . sorry, you lost me there. Maybe I'm just a dumb brunette.

Make up is an random thing for me, it's for a sense of occasion, playing at dress up, when I can be arsed to bother about it. I suppose I wear feminine clothes some times, but I prefer to think of them as my clothes. Actually, what counts as feminine clothing ? Is it just skirts and dresses or are we talking anything that suggests a female form underneath ? In which case all my clothes should be included 'cause I don't own a ghost outfit.

I don't really get the "perfect (real) women are not flawed" argument, or the protests against it. I am really perfect and I'm perfectly flawed. It's the flaws that make it interesting. I don't know about you but Barbie dolls were dull. Identikit dolls, variation only found in hair, eye and lipstick colour. Dull, dull, dull people. So very dull.

Perfect beauty does exist, there is just no standard form of it. Beauty is, to be cheesy about it, in the eye of the beholder. Boyfriend thinks I am beautiful, possibly the most beautiful woman in the world. My best friends husband thinks she is the most beautiful woman in the world. We don't look anything alike.

No one has ever actually tried to tell me that my womanhood is dependent on fashion and make up and all that other guff, but if they did I'd have to think of a witty reply that wouldn't suffer from a five minute laughter filled delay. That could be tricky.

The first article has a follow up, a little afterthought.

An interesting view is brought up here. T & S, it seems, refuse to accept that some women just really don't care about things as superficial as looks, because there are more important things in life. Fine, I can go with that. Some people aren't bothered. I would suggest, however, that arguing that T & S refuse to accept this point of view based on any participant of their makeover shows protests is useless. If any of the women truly didn't give a mad monkeys uncle about a T & S makeover or, in the case of one show, £2000 to spend on clothes, they would refuse to appear on the show. Maybe my logic is flawed but it seems to me that if you agree to appear on a makeover show then . . . . . you do indeed care about how you look, and would like to change it and perhaps feel like you could do with some assistance. Personally I'd tell them to take a hike.

There is a slightly more disturbing point in this little afterthought. To quote;

"It occurs to me that I have fallen once again into the trap of misdirected anger. Trinny and Susannah are, after all, also a product of the society that pushes the anti-women values I outline below, and as such should probably not be blamed quite so vehemently for their actions.

It’s always a difficult one, this: if we took that argument to its logical conclusion it would mean rapists weren’t to blame for their actions because they were brought up in a society that more or less condones, or at least ignores, male rape of women. I of course believe that rapists must be held accountable for their actions. So where is the line? Where do we place the blame for xyz?"

So even if I thought the author had a valid of view in the first place I would by now think she was a raving loon. Actually I do think she is a raving loon. At which point in time does the makeover show become comparable to rape ? A makeover show maybe entirely objectionable to some but as far as I know there is no legislation against it and it is not a criminal offence.

Rape is a crime. The system for prosecution of accused rapists may not be as effective as we would like but it's hard to argue that a society condones, or even just ignores something that it legislated against and is a crime.