One of the main features of being unemployed is the large proportion of your day that is filled with daytime telly. Some of it is good- who doesn’t want to watch rich cretins trying to buy a house on a limited budget or Phillip Schofield interview a transgendered murderer? Whilst these shows are usually given a bad name, they certainly fit under the ‘entertainment’ umbrella. Some daytime telly, however, simply drives me mad.
It isn’t surprising that at half past twelve every day; many people switch off their televisions. Yes, I’m talking about Loose Women. For those who aren’t aware of this programme, where have you been? Ultimately, it is an hour-long soapbox for opinionated and misinformed women, sandwiched between half-hearted interviews with old eighties pop stars and cast members of The Only Way is Essex. Reminiscent of a middle class coffee morning, these women like to discuss anything from benefit cheats to weight loss, putting their own spin on issues that they clearly know nothing about.
A few weeks ago, I watched an episode for which their chosen topic was about the importance of marriage. One of the women, the occasionally sensible Lisa Maxwell, is unmarried with children and has been with her partner for fifteen years. Cue: the other panellists harping on about why she should tie the knot as swiftly as possible. Janet Street Porter is very much concerned about the sanctity of marriage. Shouldn’t children be bought up in a solid relationship consisting of man and woman? She says, forgetting her own four divorces. It isn’t long before Carol Vorderman pipes up about the legal ramifications of not being married. It seems to have slipped her mind she has also been divorced twice. Do I sense a pattern here? Of Course, it wasn’t too long until Andrea McLean and Denise Welch’s faces were splashed all over the gossip magazines with their stories of divorce too. It’s the new getting married, don’t you know?! Any excuse for a party.
The point is, the Loose Women give feminism a bad name. I’m all for sisterhood and waving your arms in the air shouting about how free you are, but these women seem to want to attack anyone and anything with male genitalia. Utterly shameless about airing their dirty linen in public, they feel the need to share everything about their male partners- from cheap innuendos about their sex life to how much body hair they have. Perhaps it’s time to shove five men on a panel show so they can talk about the women in their lives with such disregard? Somehow, I think there would be uproar.
