<![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs - Jezebel Comments]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs - Jezebel Comments]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @Hooplehead: Word and word. RDJ had so much going for him and people wanted him to get better. If Naomi Watts or some other *genuinely talented* and deserving woman were to fall on hard times, she would be treated very differently from garden-variety attention whores like Britney and Lohan.

hummingpenguin

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> I love how that NYT article was a basic distillation of discussions going on all over blogs for the past few months. Ah, NYT, so cutting edge!

My feeling is this: Britney DOES court the attention, as we all know. Amy Winehouse is out running around looking like hell in a bra at some midnight hour. They are visible. To my knowledge, Heath Ledger was visible only when hanging out with Matilda at some Brooklyn restaurant, or at a premiere, etc. Same with Owen Wilson-maybe the occasional vacation picture. I was pretty young at the time, but I seem to remember Robert Downey Jr. getting a lot of press for his continued f-ups. As for Anna Nicole- Lord only knows what made her story so attractive for so long. I don't take pleasure in seeing the Spearses and the Winehouses of the celebrity-industrial complex continue to fail at getting it together and I find it sickening that some women admit that it makes them feel better about themselves. Luckily, both gals seem to be on the right track... I only hope it lasts.

Varina

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> I have a hard time feeling badly for any of the women that are torn apart on the front of these magazines that put themselves there. They are highly famous celebs that know that they are putting themselves in the public eye and are choosing to live the life they live. There are plenty of famous females that do not put themselves in that position. They are very private and make sure that privacy is respected. Obviously Britney Spears is the perfect example. She continually makes a spectacle of her self and everything about her life by making sure that she is in the public eye constantly. I cannot feel sorry for someone like that. I don't know if it is fair that she is being treated so harshly when it comes to her children but.....if she would choose to stay home more than what she does I am sure that her exposure would die down, and the negative side of that exsposure would probably lighten also. But they do say that these stars are addicted to the frenzy of the paps and the attention that goes with it, even if it isn't the most positive. Bad attention is better than no attention basically. It is a sad state of affairs to watch a celebrity spin totally out of control with that viscous cycle and not be able to get them to see what is so wrong with their behaviour. I am sure for most of them it is and always will be a love /hate relationship that will follow them for most of their careers.

ickylicky501

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> I don't buy tabloid/gossip magazines any more because the way they treat women and people in general sickens me, and I think I'm going to stop buying "Womens" magazines all together because I'm sick of being told how bad I am in every way and what products I should buy to make up for it.

Neodymium

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @Hooplehead: I agree wholeheartedly with everything you just said.

Trixie from Toronto

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @MsDirector: The reason females weren't everywhere in the movie is because it wasn't about woman. Its a movie adapted from a novel, which dissects the effect of "evil" on three separate men in post Vietnam America. I am not sure what the hell that has to do with gossip mags yapping about Britney and Lohan each week.

If you want to see an excellent female filled movie, rent Fried Green Tomatoes.

ArtfulSlingerBARACKED THE VOTE

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @TruculentandUnreliable: Also, you know who I blame for this shit, right?

Dammit, I'm always the last in on inside jokes (is this one)? Say "Bush."

That and I'm not a huge fan of Cormac either...only read book reviews of him (some of them say his books are over-rated....at best), but I still want to see "No Country." He writes dude-lit (good, glorified, girls-can-read-it dude-lit, but still....it seems to be more guy-fare).

That said---as for "There Will Be Blood", Paul Thomas Anderson (who made "Boogie Nights", which had sizable--if not leading-- female characters with some really heartrending and/or shocking parts) based it on Upton Sinclair's "Oil!" I think it was only loosely based, but maybe its Upton's fault too?

There doesn't always have due to be a strong female character for a movie to fly with me, especially considering I love Paul Franklin Dano, Daniel Day-Lewis is crazy like a (mesmerizingly handsome) Oscar-commanding fox, and sometimes the most intense movies work best with a few key characters and actors. (I love a movie with a fantastic, varied ensemble cast though....like Goodfellas or Boogie Nights or Little Miss Sunshine...)

Seems most of the tension is between Daniel and Paul....the way "Million Dollar Baby" (nice movie, but not as great as I thought it'd be) was basically about the dynamic between the two main characters + Morgan Freeman.

Where would you fit a female role in? One character is a pissant little evangelist and the other is a man who evolves into an embittered misanthrope who abandons the only family he's got.

That and Juno's male characters (with the exception of Juno's dad) were mostly sweet/stupid or creepy/stupid. Is that preferable (serious question....they DO still have major roles)?

marie123

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @lalaland13: crap. that's missing a "because."

romasun

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> I believe that women get thrill in ripping each other apart as a result of their own internalized misogyny, sexism, gynophobia and heterosexism. We don't go after our oppressors, we go after others who are just as oppressed or more oppressed than us. Seems to be the law of the land. The old "I've had to suffer and damit so will you!" attitude which seems pandemic and appears to begin early on often times with the mother / daughter relationship. An extreme example would be clitoradectomy. But in our country it appears more psychological.

sparklytoesfairydustbutt

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @romasun: Really? He said that? Good grief. I didn't take many creative writing classes, but the ones I did, the professors made sure sure to say no, not quite. It's good to get out of your comfort zone.

I love the "he claimed he's not a woman." Scandal! Put that on the cover, US Weekly. Haha. Picturing an Oprah Show titled "Male Authors: Do They Really Have Va-jay-jays?"

lalaland13

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @romasun: I think it just means that Cormac McCarthy is kind of a tool.

ruth_less

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @jenndavo: He's explaining the concept of oil drainage - that oil can be sucked up by neighboring derricks, even if a particular plot of land has not been drilled. It is one of the most off-putting moments in the film, which I thought was amazing. It's effed up, but brilliant.

As far as Cormac McCarthy's lack of female characters, in his Oprah interview, he claimed he's not a woman, and it felt presumptuous to try to write women. I don't know how I feel about that - does that mean women who write male characters are writing out of their league?

romasun

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @BritneyCanadaWhore:
Re Old Country What about Carla Jean, Llewelyn's wife?

IamnotStarJones

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> I think the analysis is an oversimplification. If you really want to get an equivalent male example of the Winehouse/Spears/Lohan "I'm a disturbed trainwreck and I don't care who knows it" you would really have to go all the way back to Robert Downey, Jr. I don't remember him having a particularly easy time in the press. Lots of chatter about his apparent deathwish, how he was uninsurable, would never work in this town again, what a waste of all that talent, etc. Fairly reminiscent of the treatment Lohan got-in the beginning. But Downey went to rehab many times and was public about the fact that he had a severe problem and *wanted* help, unlike the ladies referenced above. Yes, these women have been ravaged in the press, but they also courted the press heavily when it suited their purposes.

And the argument about the Oscars seems like disingenuous cherrypicking. Sure, there were some lady-centered films that didn't get any Oscar love. And some male-centered ones, too. But there's a lot to celebrate this year. Atonement got almost as many nods as No Country for Old Men and There Will be Blood. Cate Blanchett was nominated in two categories, then you have Julie Christie and Sarah Polley nominated for Away from Her, Tilda Swinton in Michael Clayton, Ellen Page and Diablo Cody for Juno, Marion Cotillard in La Vie En Rose, Amy Ryan in Gone Baby Gone, the amazing (and girl-centered) Persepolis...two men's movies getting top honors does not a shutout at the box office make.

Hooplehead

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @InternSharon: But not really. I meant to go off on being pissed about those magazines binding women to their only highlighted troubles being those that involve men.

InternSharon

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> Identity politics.

InternSharon

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> While I agree with almost everything mentioned in the New York Times piece, one thing that isn't discussed that should be is this: many of these female starlets -- mostly Lilo, Hilton and Spears -- have courted the attention. They tipped off the paps and some of them still do, they posed nude for magazines as recently as just a couple of weeks ago, they WANT the attention and they give easy access to the media and to the paps and so, when they go off the rails, the media and the paps are right there to document it all.

Owen Wilson, Heath Ledger? Not so much.

Trixie from Toronto

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> I don't buy that thing about it not being a fair comparison because Heath was dead! WTF about Anna Nicole??? They exploited the HELL out of her postmortem!

glamzonhobbitfeet

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> This almost seems like US Weekly = Mean Girls = high school all over again. It never ends.

lalaland13

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @jenndavo: Britney is photographed frequently because she sells so many covers because women love to see other women fuck up.

Sorry if someone else already said this...I'm at work and shouldn't be reading this!

This editor is completely right. I used to read popsugar and the comments are all from self-triumphant women who are getting a kick out of watching other women who don't have their shit together. It's really disgusting.

goldengirl11

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @TeenageGangDeb: well, the so what is that heath is dead and showing a video of him sitting on someone's couch while a person next to him snorts cocaine that is being filmed through a residential window, from 3 years ago is completely irrelevant. period. and yeah, i'm sure heath had similar evenings as amy did, but still, she didn't just die, and the person that was filming her video in question was actually INSIDE her apartment, not filming through the blinds of a living room window. and it was recent. and once again, she's not dead. there's no reason to show a outdated video of someone who recently died doing drugs. there just isn't. at least amy's video woke her ass up.

and regarding the britney pregnancy test incident, she clearly spoke to the paps and commented to them about the test. while it isn't their business otherwise, when she goes to the store and makes it their business, it changes things a little. no one ever said they need to hire errand runners for their drug store needs, but you obviously did not get the full story in this incidence. and britney has quite the history of letting the paps know where she is going to be as well.

virginiawoolf

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @lalaland13: haha I sympathize with your bad feelings toward Paul Thomas Anderson re: Fiona Apple and have had them myself. Then I get really confused because Boogie Nights and Punch-Drunk Love are two of my favorite movies. I vaguely felt like my parents were getting a divorce.

rocknrollunicorn

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @jenndavo: Besides, all the paps were following Britney, so no one was around to notice Kirsten or Eva.

NefariousNewt

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @lalaland13: I don't know; I have an extremely low tolerance for pretentiousness, and I liked it. I think Daniel Day-Lewis MAKES that movie, though.

TruculentandUnreliable

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @Her_royal_Highness: It's hard to reconcile that with the outpouring of support after Hurricane Katrina or 9/11. But then maybe it's because those people are really "just like us" as opposed to celebrities, who are out there in the public eye every day and live lives most of us can't conceive of.

NefariousNewt

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @jenndavo: I can't, really. Except to say that you find it kind of funny in a disturbing way, and then you're just disturbed.

Daniel Day-Lewis is fucking brilliant, though.

TruculentandUnreliable

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> What interested me about the NY Times story is that 70 percent of US readers are female compared to 90 percent for People. Why the discrepancy, I wonder? Does US attract more gay men readers with the fashion police and such? It does seem to delight more in being trashy, whereas People at least will sometimes pretend to be classy and take the high road. Hmm.

I wish they would do some polling and find out people don't give a crap about Lauren Conrad and her new breasts, or Spencer talking about "everyday is Valentine's Day." Or Jessica Simpson! Please stop talking about her! Please stop showing pics of her and Romo and stabbing the Cowboys fan in me in the heart. I do not want her associated with that team!

Sorry. Got carried away. It is rather interesting that there's a culture of people who are famous for being in the tabs, though.

Not sure if I want to see There Will Be Blood. I figure I would have seen it by now if I wanted to see it in theaters. For one, it looks long. For two, it looks potentially pretentious. And three, I am secretly probably still a little upset at Paul Thomas Anderson because I think, but don't really know, that he treated my Fiona Apple bad. Don't mess with Fiona.

lalaland13

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> Business is business. Maybe she's a feminist when she's off the clock? No room for caring in the offices of Us Weekly!

sequined

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @TruculentandUnreliable: Can y'all explain the context of the milkshake quote, by the way? I hear a lot about it, but I haven't seen the movie yet.

jenndavo

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @hammerimissu: They didn't have that Britney-esque collapse, though. They seemed to recognize the fact that, hey, there's a problem here, and they got some help. No story to chase there (thank goodness).

jenndavo

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @BritneyCanadaWhore: I KNOW! I kept expecting something to happen, and I was confused about Daniel Day-Lewis's character, and I think more than anything, I was disturbed by my reaction/feelings about the movie, if that makes any sense.

TruculentandUnreliable

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @ruth_less: hahaha. at that point in the movie i was thinking to myself, "what the fuck am i watching and where did this movie go?"

alecksander

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> Everyone has been pretty quiet on Kristen Dunst's and Eva Mendaz's rehabs.

hammerimissu

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @TruculentandUnreliable: I was on edge the entire time, I think because of the soundtrack. It'd be all clickety-clickety-clickety-click-click-c... and he'd be like, walking calmly across a field and nothing would happen. I just didn't know how to feel.

BritneyCanadaWhore

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @rocknrollunicorn: I know I'm getting old, because this weekend as I walked through my neighborhood, which is seemingly swimming in idiotic undergrads these days, I actually uttered the phrase "Youth is wasted on the young."

AmazonRedheadedUberVixen

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> Heath died, Amy didn't -- so what? I'm sure Heath had his own Amy Winehouse-esque benders before the actual overdose that no one knew about because the paps kept their distance from him. As for Britney v. Owen, I have to admit it's hard to pull a comparison there. I'll say this: When Owen tried to kill himself, at least there weren't HELICOPTERS involved.

I find the whole "women want to read about other women's troubles" argument WEEEEEEAK. How do they know this? Did they poll women to find this out?

And I'm sorry, but I don't consider going to Rite Aid to buy a pregnancy test an obvious ploy for attention. If you call the paps beforehand to tell them where to find you? Yes. If they're just hanging out or following you as you go about your bidness? No. Famous people can't go to drug stores? They have to pay someone else to do it for them? That's fucked up.

TeenageGangDeb

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @ruth_less: Ha ha!!!

TruculentandUnreliable

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> i defently dont believe everything i see or read in thoes magazines either. like the cover with scarlette jo-however you spell her name, where they are trying to figure out if she got sergery on her face. You can tell that she didnt, and that she just got a better make-up person.

andsoitgoes

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @BritneyCanadaWhore: Well, you know women, always nattering on. Taking valuable screen time away from men screaming about milkshakes and such.

ruth_less

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @AthertonMerriweather: Seriously! Who is going to be the "ballsy" one to start that trend?
Come on Brad, nothing says "giving back" like a gratuitous man crotch shot.

BlueEyedBitchface

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @BritneyCanadaWhore: RIGHT, I know...it's like, there was just Mary, and she maybe said a SENTENCE in the entire movie.

God, that movie disturbed the shit out of me.

TruculentandUnreliable

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @BritneyCanadaWhore: Yeah - women are just accessories to the men in a good number of movies. But women are still interested in stories about men (while men aren't interested in women's stories).

SarahMC

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @marie123: I've only read two Cormac McCarthy books, and both of them lacked any strong female characters. Maybe he has some women in his other books...I don't know. It really turned me off to reading him. Though I still do like The Road a lot.

Also, you know who I blame for this shit, right?

TruculentandUnreliable

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> Actually, Britney was intially genius with her manipulation of the media to give herself lots of press. Her mistake was taking it to the extreme, now we are tired of it, and have turned the channel. I expect the next time I will really see her again is when she signs up for the next "Surreal Life", or some other really bad reality show(on VH1 or Oxygen) with the likes of Gary Coleman, Chyna, or the epitome of a fool, FLAVOR FLAV!!

angryblackgurl

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @ruth_less: @virginiawoolf: @marie123: @MsDirector: My bad dudes, I was totally talking about There Will Be Blood and put No Country by mistake. All Blood had was the momentary appearance of some female family members, who didn't have speaking parts.

BritneyCanadaWhore

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @AthertonMerriweather: LOL...love the male crotch shot suggestion! They're always so damn proud of their little packages.

AGreenEyeDevil

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> Neither is acceptable, neither is good, but sexism is more OK than racism. The former has eons of tradition, and the latter is no longer seen as acceptable. Human history has had few (yet shiny and fascinating, occasionally fabulous) examples of females in charge - or even partially in charge - and not getting shit heaped on them OR killed. And for whatever stupid reason, because we have to cut down the tallest blade of our own girlgrass, we have to probe every little movement in some sister's downfall.
Ain't right: don't hate the player, hate the game.

jezebelacious

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> Britney vs, Owen, NO COMPARISON. You cannot even TELL me that Britney's ongoing antics don't warrant more attention than Owen Wilson's single suicide attempt. The day Owen is beating a pap's SUV with a a golf umbrella, switching bikinis with strippers, and telling reporters to "Suck it snort it lick it fuck it," then call me, we can talk about it.

tallyhoe

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @BritneyCanadaWhore: What about Josh Brolin's wife in the movie?

Don't blame the Coens....blame Cormac McCarthy,who wrote the book that the movie is based on.

That picture of Michelle and every picture taken by a stalkerazzi that they probably caught because they were skulking in that persons bushes, peeping through their windows,practically on top of the celeb and their child, etc etc...make me hate myself, simply for looking. There is a difference between that poor woman or a child being stampeded by paps following his/her parents and a sympathetic-but-mostly-repulsive... camera whore like Britney.

I read that article yesterday (from the NYT)...nothing enlightening or honest in the mealy-mouthed shit excuses offered.

marie123

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @Her_royal_Highness: Yes, but it's because she's fictional. Who cares what a fictional character does? We can accept her, because she's not really threatening, because she doesn't exist. Real women who act like Samantha Jones are vilified. Look at all the bad coverage Lilo got when she was seen getting it on with multiple men in a short span of time.

@BritneyCanadaWhore: Yes there was. Kelly Macdonald's character, Josh Brolin's girlfriend. Not a huge player in the plot and not a particularly strong character, but she was there. But I do get your point about it being an overwhelmingly male movie and that making for a strange viewing experience - I mostly bring this up because I LURVE Kelly Macdonald and I want her to get her due.

MsDirector

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> amy winehouse didnt die from her crack smoking.

second. i love thoes magazines. i read them all the time except i refuse to buy one if it has a cover like 'celeb celulite shocker' anything that picks apart people and thier bodies i wont buy. cause thats whats making half of the girls in the country have an eating disorder.

look at nicole richie. she totally got all skinny and scary looking becuase the media would always compare her to paris and how stick like she was.

andsoitgoes

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @Political Party Girl: The gym is the best place for crappy magazine reading. All the latest issues for free and you can read the whole thing. I'll usually grab a Newsweek too, but I doubt I'm fooling anyone.

AthertonMerriweather

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @BritneyCanadaWhore: firt of all, maker's mark...yum.

and while not main roles, what about tommy lee jones' or josh brolin's wife?

virginiawoolf

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @BritneyCanadaWhore: Well, No Country had the wives of Tommy Lee Jones' and Josh Brolin's characters, and the mother-in-law of Brolin's ... I was more struck by the almost total absence of women in There Will Be Blood. In fact, about an hour into it, I was thinking, "Okay, I'm watching a movie ABOUT OIL ... and there are like .4 women in it ... and I'm wildly entertained by it. What in fuck is happening?"

If anything I was happy that No Country toned down the interminable male-romantic caterwauling of the novel.

ruth_less

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> I cannot read these magazines or even watch more than a few minutes of Extra without rolling my eyes and clucking like an old lady. If I go longer, I start to feel nauseous. It just makes me feel really, really perverted, and not at all in the good way that I like. I think I'm getting old.

rocknrollunicorn

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @jenndavo: Exactly! Grocery stores, the doctor's office, hair salons... that's where I do my crappy magazine reading.

Political Party Girl

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> I agree with this to an extent, but it's also true that Heath Ledger had his fair share of sensationalist covers (I can't remember which, but one put the fact that he was a doting father in ironic-seeming quotation marks) and that nominated right alongside "No Country for Old Men" is "Juno," which is one of the strongest women-centric films I have ever seen. So....

videogoddess

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> Because that's what we've always done. What?

lurkystars

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @NefariousNewt: yes. seeing others suffer gives us some sort of gratification. Its sick but true.

Her_royal_Highness

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> I remember when I saw No Country my friends and I were taken aback that there was literally not one single female role. Not one. And I mean, that's cool I guess, whatever - it just made for a bit of a weird movie.

@JessicaLovejoy: Sure they did - "The girls have gone wild!"

BritneyCanadaWhore

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @Political Party Girl: Ha ha, I'm the same way! The BF needles me, "C'mon, just put it in the cart," and I refuse. I'll read that shit, but I won't pay for it.

jenndavo

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> Well, not to mention Heath Ledger was DEAD and the video that was released was from 3 years ago and was taken by someone spying into the window of the apartment he was in. It was completely irrelevant. He wasn't driving around LA in his underwear and going to Rite Aid to show the paps he was purchasing a pregnancy test. While I agree the gossip mags have taken it way too far, sometimes it just seems like Britney, LiLo, etc. aren't doing much to avoid the attention, mental illness or not.

virginiawoolf

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> I really, really hate to sound like I'm defending Janice Min and her ilk here -- because I really do not mean to be -- but Heath Ledger had just died from a drug overdose; Amy Winehouse is alive (at least at press time). And Britney Spears is significantly more famous than Owen Wilson ... although the argument also could be made that her fame, at least of late, is very much related to her ubiquity in tabloids. I completely agree with the sentiment here; it's just that these examples don't strike me as parallel.

ruth_less

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @SarahMC: That's why I flip through it while I'm in line then put it back. But then I always feel guilty like I'm stealing or something. Just not guilty enough to actually pay for it.

Political Party Girl

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> Sensationalism sells. Look at evening news. Look at Fox News. Or CNN. I think it's a general trend of ordinary people wanting to see other people suffering so they can feel better about themselves -- "Hey look, it doesn't just happen to me!".

NefariousNewt

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> I was just raging about the exploitation of women by gossip rags at the grocery store this weekend after seeing that US Weakly cover shot of Michelle.

I guess it's just me, Ms. Min, but that type of exploitation turns me off and ensures that I will NEVER purchase any of these publications - especially yours.

AmazonRedheadedUberVixen

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> @JessicaLovejoy: How about Samantha Jones from SATC? True she IS a fictional character...but I have not met anyone that says a single bad thing about her.

Her_royal_Highness

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> Some of the blame lies with the stars like Britney who seek out the attention and actually call the paparazzi to come take their picture.
If male celebrities started getting out of cars giving us crotch shots, you better believe I'd start buying tabloids.

AthertonMerriweather

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> I'm happy read about anyone's misfortune, my schadenfreude is non-gender specific.

beastybeatsy

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> Two points here: Heath actually died, Amy did not; Britney is photographed by paps constantly, while Owen is not. The coverage imbalance is reasonable, though the overall AMOUNT of coverage is not.

jenndavo

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> I used to subscribe to US magazine because I enjoyed the 20 minute escape it gave me. But I didn't renew when it recently expired because I started to feel guilty about feeding the paparazzi frenzy. I admit it's hard to look away from all the covers in the grocery store but at some point you gotta decide not to participate in the feeding frenzy.

SarahMC

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> I don't want to read any of this shit, regardless of who they put on the cover.

blackbirdfly

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> Why do we mock women for their trainwreck lives and laud men for their talent while shrugging off their indiscretions?

Because no one ever came up with a female equivalent for "Boys will be boys."

Jessica Hussein Lovejoy: BRB, getting Rahm'ed

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> For the first time in 10 years, I didn't renew my subscription to People because I was so offended at their Britney covers.

BAngieB

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> I want someone named Ken Sunshine to be my agent. Just because when Sunshine calls you, it MUST be good news!

Sorry, back to the real topic...

BlondeGrlz is having a BlondeBoyz!

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Us</i> Editor Claims Women Want Covers That Exploit Female Celebs]]> Well, to be fair, if Britney had just tried to commit suicide once and wasn't driving around all night every night and losing custody of her kids and being confined to a mental hospital more than once...

She may not have so many covers. It's hard to compare her treatment to that of Owen Wilson who had one incident, although quite severe.

Pinkosaurus

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