Trolls targeting Kate and Meghan
Ifound myself buried in the pages of a women’s mag last week. That’s not entirely unusual. But Mum had left this one at mine for an article on ‘new evidence’ surrounding Princess Diana’s death.
I’m a royalist, boohoo. Anyone who followed Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan’s visit to our shores last year and the ensuing hashtags on what Meghan wore will know something of their impact.
I was pleased to see images of healthy looking bikini bodies in this magazine, ones where women had tummies without accompanying captions about a ‘baby bumps’.
This week I picked up a newspaper and noticed an article titled ‘Love and Hate, Social Media War Over Duchesses’.
The article talked about trolls targeting the duchesses, and particularly Meghan.
The former Suits actress has attracted a legion of fans but also haters who view her as a rival to Kate. My guess is the ‘rivalry’ is simply because they’re two women living in the realms of the same royal household.
Reportedly palace staff are tied up several hours a week managing vile comments directed at the two young duchesses, with the majority also sexist. When I read that in Meghan’s case many were also racist, I wanted to cry.
There are always going to be idiots in the world but the idiots are getting smarter.
Trolls are tweeting abuse just moments after an article runs, with a trending hashtag #megxit, uniting haters who wish to see her gone.
You will struggle to find vitriol to such an extent on the males of the royal family, not that I would encourage that.
But this is hatred of women, by men. And by women.
The personal attacks are aimed at the heart of what it is to be a woman. Or more accurately, the expectations culture puts on women, the idea that your value is linked with your appearance.
It’s a trap that despite best efforts, I at times fall into.
I wore braces in my early teens to align some overcrowding teeth. Within 10 years my teeth had moved again. Not significantly, but enough for me to notice when I turn my head and smile in a certain light.
I’m loathe to wear braces again; more to the point I’m loathe to fork out thousands more dollars for them.
Still, I went for an assessment to discover my options should I decide to better my smile for the future. One piece of information I wasn’t prepared for was to do with my lower jaw not growing quite as much as anticipated, meaning there is only so much that can be done to align my teeth. Jaw surgery was not recommended for me, but the fact my jaw was mentioned at all was a surprise.
Now I was noticing other people’s jaws and whether they were of a good strength.
Later I came across an old family photo. I noticed my Dad’s jaw, the rounded shape of his handsome face and how I had inherited a bit of that. The fact it had fleetingly crossed my mind that I might like to change mine, saddened me.
I got to thinking though, is straightening my teeth that much less of a change than surgically altering my jaw structure? What is it now to have a boob job?A facelift?
I dread a time when cosmetic surgery becomes the norm. I can’t imagine living under that kind of pressure by a culture that expects us to wipe any trace of perceived imperfection.
Especially when the definition of beauty changes from decade to decade. Where our mothers plucked their eyebrows thin and my generation buys brow pencils to fill theirs in thick. I wonder if in this Instagramming culture, whether we’re already there? In this age where surgical enhancements are increasingly available, we need to be certain we have our motivations right.