Musogyny: The Daily Fail

Everyone knows it’s a man’s world out there (thanks James Brown), but there is none more so than the big bad world of music. From Miley’s twerking to Sinead’s slut shaming, these last months have seen an upward trajectory in the debate around gender issues within music. 

Ever found yourself browsing through the noxious digital rag that is The Daily Mail website on a five minutes break from your workload? Don’t worry, it unfortunately happens to the best of us on occasion.  In fact, according to statistics from 2012, the online platform is the most read news site in the world, overtaking the New York Times with its 45.3m unique hits per month. You could say you are in good company with those numbers.

Many of us have a love hate relationship with its clickable sidebar of shame, despite our awareness of its less than responsible journalism. Nonetheless it has successfully built a strong empire feeding our innate nosiness and desire for up to date news about this strange cult we call celebrity. Normally a click on a credible breaking news story (they are normally quicker off the mark than the BBC after all) will inevitably mean a hundred thumbnail pictures will beckon you off into the bitchy side of the internet with it’s coy brain numbing release.

It’s sad a fact though that lurking behind the flashbulb images, there is an inherent streak of misogyny in its reporting that has been creatively exposed via a twitter storm. And rightfully so, have you seen some of the stories they produce about the worlds most famous female popstars, musicians and actresses?

Last week I clocked up the most amount of twitter action I have ever been on the end of and it wasn’t my not-so hilarious take on Avril Lavigne’s new video that brought in the retweets. Instead, it was a calling of bullshit on a Daily Mail headline regarding poor TV personality Susanna Reid that read; “It’s like buying a Ferrari and keeping it in the garage. Twitter storm after Susanna Reid hides her famous legs behind a desk on ITV’s new morning show – before she finally takes a seat on the sofa.” [Link]

As someone who trained as a journalist (believe it or not they do degrees in it), I was incensed at how this was a) written and b) an editor didn’t think it inappropriate to publicise the public’s moronic misogynist tweets and promptly forward it to the wonderful people at The Vagenda. Having just written a book called ‘The Vagenda: A Zero Tolerance Guide To The Media’, which is out now, on the bad things the media makes women think, they really are the experts and encouraged people to send in their photoshopped versions of the dreaded sidebar for both enjoyment and education.

Whilst slagging off the Daily Mail headlines isn’t a new concept, people have been criticising it’s damaging effect on female’s body images and the like for years, it is empowering to see that feminists are finally pushing back with their tongue in their cheeks. Letting a headlines critique themselves on our behalf, here are the best musical ones from the bunch:

Words: Sarah Joy