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Original poster

'A female with a record like this ...represents all that is rotten in society nowadays'

85 replies

JaneS · 22/01/2011 13:28

That's the comment from the judge who sentenced the girl in this article.

It's appalling, isn't it? I can't be the only one of us to think he should never have said that?

www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jan/22/poster-girl-booze-britain-interview

OP posts:
Original poster
JaneS · 22/01/2011 13:53

onimo - that's not what I was getting at. Her record is terrible and I wouldn't want to excuse it at all. But I thought there was a real unpleasantness behind the judge's desire to present one woman as a symbol of 'all' that is rotten in society.

It ridiculous.

What about all the horrific violent crimes that are committed? Are they somehow not symbolic of anything wrong?

sakura - thanks!

OP posts:
ISNT · 22/01/2011 13:51

The article says that this young woman is famous but it's the first I've read of her.

I find it sad that the tabloids and apparently the judge have taken a very black and white view of this young woman when obviously life is more complicated than that.

A very interesting article I though.

And no of course the judge shouldn't have said that. Apparently one young women liking a drink rather too much is much worse than a young man doing the same - and obviously so much worse than all the rape, murder, gang related violence etc etc etc for chrissakes.

FlamingoBingo · 22/01/2011 13:49

The point is, onimolap, is that he's decided to say that a female who behaves like this is what is wrong with society, when, as we all know, plenty of men behave like this too.

sakura · 22/01/2011 13:49

That's irrelevant to this thread onimolap

sakura · 22/01/2011 13:48

yes, it sounds the same. IT's as though they were freed up to drink, visit prositutes, shaft their business partner/customers... because they'd ticked the morality box by having wives who'd got it covered- or females in general could uphold the moral standards of society
Not much has changed TBH

"What should I be reading?"
'Sexual Politics' - it's an electrifying read.

onimolap · 22/01/2011 13:48

Assaults on the police? 40 arrests? 29 convictions? 2 prison sentences?

This isn't someone who is being castigated for tiny discrepancies.

FlamingoBingo · 22/01/2011 13:47
Sad

As if men haven't been behaving like this for time immemorial! Why didn't he say 'a person with a record like this'?

Original poster
JaneS · 22/01/2011 13:43

Ooh, that's interesting. I'm not familiar with Kate Millet, what should I be reading?

I'd argue it goes a lot further back than the Victorians, too. In medieval times, women were supposed to pray for their men - they were the conduit to God and so were meant to be immersed in religious morality, whereas their men didn't have to be so pious (they had wives for that). It might be the same thing, mightn't it?

I wasn't just shocked at the double standard: it was the way the judge could look at this one girl, and see her as a symbol of 'all that is rotten in society nowadays'. It makes me so angry.

OP posts:
sakura · 22/01/2011 13:39

to clarify: they felt that somebody should uphold society's moral standards, but they couldn't be bothered to do it themselves, so they pushed that "role" onto women. We see the remnants of this today.

sakura · 22/01/2011 13:38

I like Kate Millet's take on the moral double standard for males and females.
She puts forward a convincing analysis that during the Victorian era, for example, women were forcd into the role of "moral guardians" for the family, and for society, all because:

"men felt that somebody should be doing it but felt it was too tedious for them to do it themselves" (or words to that effect)

So men get to do whatever the hell they like and aren't punished that much, whereas women are punished disproportionately for the tiniest discrepancies. Society expects more of women, as though they "should know better" and yet when it comes to making law and policies women "aren't fit" to know what's best for society

Angry
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