Don’t mention The ‘F’ Word. As dirty words go, ‘Feminism’ is one best spoken in hushed tones; it’s ugly, unfashionable, and poorly groomed. So thank goodness for women like Miriam O’Reilly, who are still willing to take a stand and make their voice heard, at the risk of being labelled a Bra Burner.
While O’Reilly won her tribunal against the BBC for ageism, she lost the same case earlier for sexism. It is a serious miscarriage of justice that agrees a television presenter’s career is cut short because she is older than her rivals, but fails to acknowledge that her gender dealt the fatal blow. Her colleague John Craven, 68, managed to hold onto his job, while O’Reilly and her female co-hosts Michaela Strachan and Juliet Morris (aged 53, 42, 52, respectively) did not make the cut after the show moved to a prime time slot.
In court O’Reilly told of how she was warned by bosses that it may be “time for Botox,” and she ought to be “careful with those wrinkles when high definition comes in.” Craven, I strongly suspect, was told no such thing. If widely available high definition telly means that pretty but painfully inexperienced presenters like ex-Apprentice candidate Kate Walsh remain on our screens, while practised broadcasters like O’Reilly or Moira Stewart are sidelined, then I’ll be on the side of the luddites, thanks.
The delightful Nick Ross made his feelings clear in an article thoughtfully entitled “Oh do stop whining, girls” published in (surprise surprise) The Daily Mail. After claiming that he’d lost his own job due to age, but then admitting that he’d left the BBC of his own accord, Ross embarked upon an almost unbelievably offensive diatribe against women. His sweeping generalisations about men being attracted to younger women while women are attracted to older men (his example is 82-year-old Bruce Forsythe – really?) are ignorant and ill-informed. He also claims that being attractive is a crucial element of being a female television presenter; apparently we’d all rather “look at youthful female flesh than count the wrinkles.”
I completely appreciate that certain aspects of the television industry have a specific and crucial ‘look’; T4 presenters of both genders, for example, ought to be young, cutting-edge hipsters in order to relate to their audience. But Countryfile? Is this really a programme whose viewers expect a flesh-fest? Ought it be a parade of lithe beauties, or a factual entertainment show presented by informed and experienced presenters?
According to Ross, Angela Rippon, Moira Stewart and Joan Bakewell all have their looks to thank for their career success; if they weren’t so “pleasing to the eye” they would never have “made it.” Ross’ comments are appallingly misogynistic; why should it be demanded of women that they fulfil a certain cultural idea of attractiveness in order to become a television presenter, while men may enjoy greater success without the same expectation?
Men, it seems, make it if they’re good. Women, on the other hand, make it if they’re attractive. Oh, do stop writing, Nick. It’s not Nick Ross, however, who can make a difference to the way women in television are treated. It is the producers who do the hiring and firing, but they claim to be bending to the whim of the viewer. It seems it is we, the audience, who ought to make our feelings clear.