Today's post comes from my Thursday brain, which was intercepted by an article I read on Billboard yesterday morning, and that was whirring all day. My Friday brain hopes, I'll be able to do this topic justice and you'll find it interesting.
This morning, I clicked onto the Billboard website while I waited to get started with work. I was scrolling through the headlines, when one grabbed my attention. It read, 'Harry Styles Career Highlights (So Far), From Taylor Swift to SNL'. I wouldn't normally read an article about Harry Styles, I wouldn't normally read anything about any member of One Direction to be perfectly honest, but I couldn't help but read this particular one. I had an idea that the mention of Taylor Swift would be to do with their relationship but I hoped not. I clicked it partly to see if I was right, and partly because I wanted to find out why else she was mentioned if I was wrong.
As it happens, I was right. Harry Styles and Taylor Swift's relationship is classed by Billboard magazine as one of Harry's career highlights. If that wasn't bad enough, the next highlight of Harry's career is that there were rumours last year that he was dating Kendall Jenner.
In case you were wondering, other highlights are actual career highlights - his first Battle of the Bands win, securing his place in One Direction, launching his solo career. You can read the whole article here if you'd like to.
I must say, I was so very disappointed when I read the article, not least because I'm now running out of music magazines that I actually like - NME is off the list, find out why here. Of course that wasn't the main reason I was disappointed. I was disappointed because normally, traditional media outlets like newspapers, are the places I find this kind of sexism and while it still hurts my heart to see, I have sadly come to understand that that is their game. However, magazines like Billboard are supposed to be, I should think, more progressive, more aware of the voices of a wide range of people. Alas, no. Apparently, there are only a handful of media outlets that are not sexist, and I would therefore suggest against equality in other areas. That is ultimately what it boils down to - being against equality. Sexism, racism, homophobia and other such destructive societal viewpoints are evidence of someone being against equality.
There is a long standing view in society, that I would argue is diminishing as the years go on, that women are prizes, and winning over a woman is the same as winning an award. From the day dot, right up to the recently coined trophy wives, our patriarchal societies have propagated a belief that kissing girls, or having a girlfriend, or getting married are achievements for those of the male gender.
It is of course highly ironic that one of Harry Styles' career achievements, as written by Billboard, is his relationship with Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift, who is constantly torn down by the media for her romances, and has been since her career launched as a teenager. I have never heard, and can guarantee I will never hear, any of Taylor's relationships being described as a career achievements. When the relationships are discussed with Taylor in mind, they are failures, they are mistakes, they are yet another example of Taylor being something bad, like a jinx or a bore or a woman obsessed. This only emphasises the feminist issues surrounding this article. Why are their photographically documented matching necklaces and walks through Central Park the height of romance, and a win for Harry, when for Taylor they are signs that they were taking things to fast, and yet another relationship that she couldn't make work.
Then of course is the never confirmed romance with Kendall Jenner. I can see why people were interested in it at the time - one the most successful models in the world, from a highly influential family, potentially finding love with a hugely successful boy band member who also starred on a reality show. However, they never confirmed this romance, no matter how desperately some fans hoped they would. If it wasn't already awful that Billboard class one of Harry's relationships as an achievement, they also class his mere association with another beautiful girl to be one too, as if, even though it didn't quite match up, it was still a win that he managed to get close enough for the speculation to arise.
I obviously don't know the ins and outs of these relationships, and neither does the media, despite what they might like to think. However, the very notion if what may have been highly meaningful relationships being reduced to a success is, I think, rather hurtful, whether one takes into account the feminist issues that go along with it or not.
But of course, this behaviour is learnt from as early as school - the boys kiss multiple girls and are praised by their friends, but the girls get called names for similar behaviour. Males are not targeted in this aspect of life in the same way females are, and that is just how it is. Of course, males aren't free from scrutiny and criticism in this area, but I'd argue it is to a lesser extent than for their female counterparts.
Not only is this article destructive in its presentation of women, it also takes away from Harry Styles' actual career achievements. I'm not a One Direction fan, but even I don't mind saying that the band has been hugely popular, and that its members have achieved great things. According to Nick Gatfield, the chairman and chief executive of Sony Music Entertainment UK, One Direction represented a $50 million business empire by June 2012, just two years after their formation. Their solo careers are already flourishing - Harry's debut solo single was only released a few days ago and has already been viewed by millions of people. In the same way that Taylor and Kendall are talented and successful in their own right, Harry is too. I'm sure he has plenty of actual career achievements that could have been listed rather than the women he has been involved with.
That Billboard article is negative overall for everyone involved. If it had been an article documenting Harry Styles' life in the public eye in all aspects, or it had been, despite my dislike of such articles, about his relationship history, I think I could have understood the inclusion of Taylor Swift and Kendall Jenner. Standing the way it does now, the article is problematic in relation to the feminist cause, it reflects badly on Harry Styles (who I imagine knew nothing of the creation of this article before its publication) and it makes Billboard look foolish and insensitive to the causes that people
are involved with and want to stand up for.
Our perceptions are coloured by what we read and hear, and to put an article like this out there is to suggest that speaking of women as though they are prizes is acceptable - it is not.
Our perceptions are coloured by what we read and hear, and to put an article like this out there is to suggest that speaking of women as though they are prizes is acceptable - it is not.
This kind of content, no matter where it comes from, is destructive. Whether it is in a magazine, a newspaper, of out of the mouth of someone you know, don't be afraid to call it out for what it is, in this case sexism. Make your voice heard, and involve yourself in the on going battle for equality. Pull no punches and let everyone know, whether they are as influential as Billboard, or as unheard of as your next-door neighbour, that equality is important, and the way we communicate is one of the first and easiest steps we should take to get there.
And that brings this post to an end. I hope you enjoyed it.
Want to discuss this or similar issues with me? Drop a comment below and start a debate. I'd love to hear from you.
I'm off to the cinema this evening to watch new episodes of Peter Kay's Car Share as part of a Comic Relief event - you can find tickets for your local VUE cinema here if you want to see those and help a great cause, too.
Thank you for reading.
Have a fabulous day!
GingerSnaps xxx
