« "Feminine" design? | Main | Fiorina: "the end of the beginning" »
July 13, 2004
The Brit fixation on Belle de Jour
The Guardian has announced this year's MediaGuardian 100, "the definitive guide to the most powerful movers and shakers in one of the UK's most vibrant industries." Candidates were judged using three criteria: "cultural influence, economic clout and political power". Declaring that this "wasn't such a good year for women," The Guardian includes belle de jour, an anonymous weblogger, in its new media top 10 (free registration required, tipoff from Boothwoman).
Yes, belle de jour, keeper of the "diary of a London call girl" clearly has more cultural influence, economic clout and political power in the British new media sphere than any other woman (with the single exception of Meg Whitman, US chief executive of eBay). What was Tessa Jowell thinking when she took the position of Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport? Why is Liz Cleaver wasting her energies as Controller of Learning and Interactive at the BBC? I realise that The Guardian is just trying to show that they're with it, and belle de jour is a more titillating entry than last year's 'A blogger', but they really need to get over it.
The Guardian wants to know if it got it right and invites you to send an alternative top 10 from your sector. Who are the women with the most influence on the UK's new media sector?
Posted by Foe at 06:01 AM in Media | Permalink
Comments
I think there's another aspect to the Belle de Jour thing - the strange double standards over the 'mysterious call girl' thing.
Much of the debate around the blog is to do with the fakery / truth question; is Belle an established writer masquerading to tell us stories? Is she a bloke? Of course, she can't possibly be who she says she is...
The sad thing about the debate is the implicit assumption that no woman intelligent enough to string together an entertaining sentence would ever work in the sex trade: or, 'prostitutes are to dumb to type'.
I'm sure that most people here can pen a counter-argument to that one in their sleep.
Posted by: Kim at Aug 10, 2004 7:56:15 AM
Why not drop the whole Belle de jour charade and nominate the weblog's author, Lisa Hilton, instead. She has the qualifications in her own right and merits the recognition of having kept the entire British literary and media establishment engrossed in and obsessed with her output for nearly a year. Now she has pocketed the book deal she can come out of the closet with honour.
Posted by: Rob at Aug 16, 2004 3:52:43 PM
