Of course there are still people blaming Kate for the intrusion rather than the cynical, salacious gutter press. They say she shouldn't be doing anything to encourage the voyeuristic media, and sunbathing topless was foolish and naive.
So once again the victim is being blamed for the actions of her predators. She has no right to enjoy her private life as she pleases, but the media have every right to stalk her and prey on her and flash titillating photos of her breasts across the world whenever they feel like it.
Apart from the ruthless invasion of privacy, I'm always struck by the utter hypocrisy of these little escapades. It's fine to publish photos of a celebrity's breasts, but if someone wanted to publish pictures of a newspaper editor's breasts, or her naked body, would she consent eagerly? Like hell she would. She would be racing to the courts just like Kate.
And then people say that when it comes to privacy, celebs are different. They're fair game because they court publicity in the first place and because they're always in the public eye. I totally disagree. Why does being a celeb mean your right to privacy can be instantly demolished? It's simply an excuse for poking your telephoto lenses into someone else's backyard and photographically raping them.
I'm rooting for Kate. Take them to the cleaners, honey. Sue them for everything they've got. Give them a good legal slap in the face. The prurient bastards.
Pic: not a picture of the royal breasts
I really felt for Sienna Miller during the Leveson inquiry when she described being chased by a pack of men [photographers] down the street late one night.
ReplyDeleteQuite frankly if I was chased by a pack of men in such a way I would have been terrified.
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Scarlet: And what happened to Sienna is tame compared to what happens to other celebs. She has sued several newspapers to prevent constant intrusions, and she's currently suing News International over phone-hacking. She's my pro-privacy heroine!
ReplyDeleteYes, I can just imagine a woman's terror and vulnerability, being chased by a pack of men. I'd be petrified.
I am entirely with you on this. The extent to which media goes to push matter to sell their stuff is getting out of hand. In India, television crew have been seen to urge vandalism and brutal behaviour to get stories and the public is having none of that any more and some of those responsible have been sacked.
ReplyDeleteNick I am with you on this. BUT and it is a big but, those who buy the newspapers and magazines are condoning (by their actions) the work of the sleazy reporters, photographers and editors.
ReplyDeleteI am particularly repelled by the ongoing terror of the child Suri Cruise who leaps into her mother's arms in the face of such onslaughts and then her parents get criticised for babying the child by carrying her.
ReplyDeleteThey are the scum of the earth and also responsible for Kate's mother-in-law's death.
You go Kate.
And everyone else stop buying this shyte.
XO
WWW
Ramana: Vandalism and brutal behaviour are media commonplaces here as well. Hopefully the Leveson Inquiry might have changed things for the better - but not much.
ReplyDeleteGrannymar: Indeed, the public buy the newspapers and magazines that publish this stuff. But I still think the ultimate responsibility lies with the toerags who publish it.
www: Yes, hardly surprising she jumped into her mother's arms. The Daily Mail has a picture of Suri biting her nails. What do the hell do they expect if she's being pursued by a gang of paparazzi?
ReplyDeleteI only wish that there was tit for tat. (No pun intended...) I wish that one of those vile photographers would go home, find people all over his lawn, going through his trash and peeping in his windows. And then when he emerged from his shower with his shortcomings all naked and pristine, that someone would jump out from behind a door and take a photo of him and publish it for everyone at his workplace, his church, his neighborhood to see.
ReplyDeleteAnother Nick has written a fascinating book - Nick Davies, "Flat Earth News".(http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/feb/03/society) Some of the stories there can make your hair stand up!
ReplyDeleteMaria: Oh yes, I love your images! If only they were faced with exactly that, if only the boot was on the other foot for a change. That would wipe the perverted smirks off their faces.
ReplyDeleteRamana: The media will stop at nothing NOTHING to get a good juicy muck-raking circulation-boosting story. Some of them are truly the scum of the earth. I bet I've heard all those stories and more!
Nick, let me ask you and your commentators one question: "How many of you do now know what those royal breasts look like? Have you oogled, googled and youtubed them?" Well, I don't and I haven't. Yes, really. If I want breast I either look in the mirror or go out on the high street where they let it all hang out. But then I am a woman, so breast is not exactly that titillating to me.
ReplyDeleteI most certainly do not condone the invasion of privacy by the press, indeed anyone else. However, I do think Kate very naive indeed. We live in the age of the long lens. What did she expect? And, in fairness, let's not forget one thing: The English press declined any offer of those photos for publication.
And that there is little love lost between the French and the English is a well established historical fact. The French must have danced for joy on the editor's desk. But then, Sweethearts, do you remember all those English newspaper columns given over to dissecting Mitterand's and Sarkozy's love lives (among others)? We can't have it both ways.
As an aside, Nick, and maybe you'd like to pass this on to Kate: I have never seen the attraction or the need to walk around topless in public or the "privacy" of your own back garden. What's the point? A bikini is small enough as it is - hardly hiding any secrets. And - other than that - breasts' skin is so delicate why offer it on a platter to the sun - or should I have said The Sun?
U
to answer ursula: i am a woman but i love boobs!
ReplyDeletei dont care about kates though.
I don't care about Kate's boobs either, haven't seen them or looked for them..
ReplyDeleteI feel sorry for Alison Jackson [artist]... a whole portfolio of work made worthless in the click of a long lens...
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Ursula: No I certainly haven't looked for the breast photos, you know I'm not like that. I don't understand who on earth would be interested and why. If I want breasts I have them right here in the bedroom, lol. And yes, women find their breasts totally banal, they're generally mystified by men's slavering obsession with them.
ReplyDeleteYes, Kate was naive but why should she have to allow for salacious photographers hiding in the bushes with telephoto lenses? It's stalking pure and simple. The English press were more cautious only because there's a new code of media practice they've signed up to.
Kylie: I'm glad you love your boobs, honey! I love them too, ha ha. And as I said to Ursula, to women they're so banal why the fuck would they want to look at Kate's?
ReplyDeleteScarlet: I don't know anything about Alison Jackson, you're ahead of me here. I just don't read enough celeb mags, ha ha.
I'm really sad this morning. I just heard that my blogmate Susan (Heart in San Francisco) has lost her husband Flip to Alzheimers at an absurdly young age. I'd been following his gradual decline for a couple of years. I was crying for about half an hour. It's so unbelievably tragic.
ReplyDeleteI for one googled the royal breasts. They turned out to be breasts.
ReplyDeleteAnd Nick, that is very very sad, that death...
Leah: Oh so even women are that curious! And they turned out to be breasts, lol!
ReplyDeleteno, i love breasts, period. not mine specifically
ReplyDeleteI googled shamelessly, yes. And I'd do it again.
ReplyDeleteAlison Jackson.
ReplyDeleteA case of life imitating art.
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Are they just breasts? Does she have a head? If not... could they actually be blancmanges cleverly disguised?
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Oh there was a head attached to the breasts. :-)
ReplyDeleteAnd Nick, I don't think breasts are banal...
Scarlet: "It was nae so much a breast as it was...a blancmange..."
ReplyDeleteKylie, I too do like breasts. Who wouldn't, given their roundness. How sensual they are. And, after all, most of us were nurtured by them (or at least I hope so) and later clasped to our mothers' bosoms when looking for comfort.
ReplyDeleteHowever, unlike the dead honest Leah, I wouldn't go out of my way to see another woman naked. Now we know what Prince William is privy to. So?
I suppose what I am trying to say: We make choices in life. And with each one you'll have to live with the fall out. I am sure Kate and her brother-in-law, Harry, have plenty of notes to compare. Like him she should have just shrugged it off. Now it's been blown out of all proportion. Fact is the world and it's boobs now knows what Kate's cup size is. And no going to court will change that. Kylie, and Scarlet may wish to answer this as well: Do you think that, when the time comes, Kate will be breastfeeding in public? (Insert undignified snort of mine.)
Nick, how so very funny. I wrote on the subject on my blog but decided not to vent my own spleen on the story because I knew, I just knew, that you'd write on it. As indeed, the next day, you did. Makes me smile. However, I am still tempted to put yet another spin on it. If I can be arsed (to mention another part of our anatomy).
U
Kylie: They are rather delightful. I quite fancy a couple myself.
ReplyDeleteLeah: You're obviously insatiably curious. More curious than me in this case.
Scarlet: Still not with you. How is Alison connected with the Kate's boobs business?
Hey yes, they're probably blancmanges. With a couple of carefully-chosen raisins.
I don't know if Kate will breastfeed in public... but it will give Alison Jackson something to work on now that her portfolio has been usurped by the press :-)
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Sorry, Nick... I am probably alone in my own little bubble.
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Leah: Banal is the wrong word. More like unsensational.
ReplyDeleteToilet break?
ReplyDeleteTo be honest I heard about all this kerfuffle on the radio first when I was working [I don't work on a pc]... and then I forgot about it. The thing is that... I really wasn't bothered or interested enough to look it up when I did get on the pc.
However, I did look up a news story about a girl who was brutally murdered not far from here. That bothered me.
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Ursula: I was going to ignore the whole thing, but you know how worked up I get about the media's relentless invasion of privacy. In the end I couldn't keep quiet.
ReplyDeleteScarlet: That's okay, I like looking inside your bubble. It's all good.
Scarlet: A girl brutally murdered is a genuine story, unlike the Kate palaver. It happens all too often and it's sickening.
ReplyDeleteWell... no... statistically the murdering thing probably doesn't happen too often in Devon/Somerset/this part of the world etc.
ReplyDeleteI am also bothered about world events etc... but they seriously make the fairy lights in my head pop.
Anyhow.... I seem to have taken up more time in your comment box than I have my own...
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ursula!
ReplyDeleteas a new doula and breastfeeding advocate and so on i would be hoping there will be public nursing from kate but somehow i think it highly unlikely!
and i like your commentary on breasts! i wasnt nurtured by them for long but i loved nursing my own kids and i am rather fascinated by the idea that we can re-lactate and i could, if necessary breastfeed again, say my grandchildren or an orphan....i know it wont happen, society doesnt work that way, but it is physically possible and what a joy it would be!
Scarlet: Well no, it's not so common in any particular area but across the country as a whole there are too many attacks on young girls.
ReplyDeleteKylie: Breastfeeding your grandchildren? What a great idea. But you're right, there'd probably be a lot of silly prejudice against it.
boobs in a private garden should remain private
ReplyDeleteboobs on a public beach are fair game
Yes, fair enough. That would be my definition too.
ReplyDeleteI have breasts available all the time, so this subject interests me very little. But I do think people ought to be allowed privacy on their own property. But I disagree with Ursula about a bikini top being the little enough that there's no need for naked - anyone who's gone skinny dipping knows that no clothing can be a lovely bit of freedom. (Not that I'd ever wander about in public naked, of course)
ReplyDeleteAgent: Indeed, breasts available all the time! Exactly, people should have privacy on their own property. Why is that even in dispute? Are we all supposed to welcome the paparazzi tramping all over our property in the name of "press freedom"?
ReplyDeleteShe is free to do what she wants, but I'm not sure how she can be surprised by what happened.
ReplyDeleteBijoux: Probably not surprised, but pretty angry that the media are secretly stalking her and not respecting her privacy.
ReplyDeleteSecret Agent Woman: Yes, skinny dipping. We did that in the dark (max the moon light). There is no hiding any longer and that's a fact.
ReplyDeleteI root for the back of my skirt when I set foot out of the house just to make sure it's not tucked into my knickers. I will tell perfect strangers that their zipper isn't up or their tights are laddered. After all you never know who will snap you with their little gadget and consequently youtube you, to the hilarity of all - and please take note - including those who defend "the right to privacy". There is no right. There is only a lot wrong.
It's a storm in the A cup of Royal China. Which reminds me: Do celebs and Royalty ever go to a nudist beach? Now there is a challenge (for the paparazzi).
Yes, prisoners of fame. No further comment.
U
Ursula: That's very public-spirited of you, reminding people of their wardrobe malfunctions....
ReplyDeleteIn case you're wondering, I never snap anyone. I don't own a camera or a smartphone and I never take photos. Just not my thing.
A storm in an A cup indeed.
Reminds me of a comment on the (recently) late tabloid editor Derek Jameson's approach to the pages under his direction: "all the nudes fit to print and all the news printed to fit."
ReplyDeletePaul: Yes, that sums up the approach of most tabloid journalists, I guess.
ReplyDelete