Why were real women’s brave, brilliant acts this year not considered newsworthy?
Unless you’re one of those boring folks who has something else to do with their day other than sit on Twitter for eight hours, you’ll be aware of “panda-gate” — the fact that the BBC has selected, as one of its twelve “Faces of the Year – Women”, a giant panda called Sweetie from Edinburgh zoo, who is noteworthy for being… well, a panda. Which, even for the most reclusive of zookeepers, is not the same as being a woman.
As a feminist, I of course had my sense of humour gland removed as part of an initiation ritual involving naked dancing and wobbly cups of menstrual blood, but I have at least tried to understand the hilarious joke the BBC is making here. It is, in fact, traditional for Auntie’s magazine to select at least one animal or cartoon character as a “face of the year”. Previous years’ notables have included Peppa Pig, Marge Simpson and a giant carp. But really, a panda? That has to be doubly insulting.
The thing about pandas is that they’re the most useless evolutionary dead end ever to be preserved, at great expense, in the name of sentiment and nationalist flim-flammery. They’re cowardly. They hate sex. They have to be encouraged to breed using artful tricks and deceptions, which is just embarrassing for everyone, including the panda. They have one of the most impractical, least nourishing diets on earth. They have about the worst camouflage of any animal, and they spend most of their time sleeping, on the ground, in the open. Sometimes, it’s just best to let nature take its course. Particularly when there are at least seven billion humans on the planet, many of whom could do with a bit more concern for their future well-being, and at least half of whom have more qualifications to be a “woman” face of the year than Sweetie the panda, delightfully fluffy as she no doubt is.
It isn’t just the panda that’s insulting, though. Let’s compare the rest of the line-up. Newsworthy male feats in 2011 include, apparently, being a politician (3), being a police officer, being a soldier (3), being an Oscar-winning screenwriter, being an athlete, being a revolutionary martyr, being a fascist mass-murderer who definitely shouldn’t have any more sodding publicity, and being shot by the Metropolitan police. To be considered a newsworthy woman in 2011, meanwhile, you have to make an allegation of rape, be a pop star, go on a date with a pop star, get married to a royal, be the sister of someone who got married to a royal, be a royal and get married to someone who isn’t a royal, or be a panda called Sweetie.
At times like this, it behoves us to consider not just whether a given list conforms to our ideals of how and on what basis women should be celebrated, but whether life itself conforms to our ideals. When Twitter attempted to rectify the situation with the hashtag #realwomenoftheyear, the feed was immediately swamped with more pop stars, more famous wives, brides and girlfriends. There have, of course, been a great deal of women who have done brave, brilliant, newsworthy things this year. Female politicians, artists, film-makers, leaders and heroes. Female activists, journalists, foreign correspondents, writers, actors and pioneers. But the papers have remained far more interested in Pippa Middleton’s arse. That should tell us as much about how sexism works in cultural production as it does about the BBC.
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