AIBU to be shocked at this level of vitriol in an article targeted at one woman by another, even though it's in the Daily Mail?

[Chocolateseashells]

DM article. Linking this reluctantly as it brings more traffic to the site but you need to read it to see how low it sinks.

Disclaimer:
Yes I know AIBU for reading the DM in the first place and I certainly won't be doing so EVER again.

Just idly scanned this yesterday and was shocked that Amanda Platell refers to Fern Britton as having had a "girth the size of an elephant" along with all sorts of other sexist vitriol about being a "comely middle-aged mum" (wasn't aware being either was something about which one should feel shame ).

I know the DM is no friend of women but am I alone in being shocked that a female "writer" would engage in such worthless "journalism" against another female?

I don't know much about Fern Britton except that she's a TV presenter, but AIBU to be shocked that this article was deemed acceptable to be published in 2020?

Tbh, this really isn't about FB. It's more about the fact that it seems you can publish something like this about any woman in these seemingly "enlightened" times and no one bats an eyelid?

I don't think the weight comment is the worst of it Tbh. I'd be more pissed off by the "you should stay in a marriage that used to make you happy" line because she's middle aged, won't find snyoen as hot again and It's unfair on the grown up kids!

Amanda Platell.

Woman with a face like an anteater.

It's what she does.

Gutter journalism. What did you expect?
And it’s not really how Fern Britton is described but how that gutter journo rat is scolding her in a preachy tone like you expect a teacher to scold a naughty little pupil.

Linking this reluctantly as it brings more traffic to the site but you need to read it to see how low it sinks.

Well, I for one am grateful for having been educated about the awfulness of the DM.

I'd never have known otherwise and am glad the scales have fallen from my eyes because of your erudition.

Obviously being sarcastic but you remind me of Mary Whitehouse (you may be too young to remember her. Google is your friend) who watched dirty things on television in the safe knowledge that they wouldn't affect her, but might corrupt lesser beings.

Imo, YABU to assume that posters on MN need to be told the DM is a rag and would be unable to spot its misogyny if you didn't point it out.

And why/how did you read it in the first place?

‘Vitriol targeted at one woman by another’ is the essence of the Daily Mail.

And why/how did you read it in the first place?

Yes, I noticed "idly scanning", but idly scanning what?

I idly scan (read avidly) a free DM just to amuse/shock myself.
Clicking on a computer link isn't "idly scanning".

It's a terrible article! Horribly sexist and mean
I know I shouldn't be shocked that this even got printed, but I am.

There is a really nasty piece about Jesse from Little Mix underneath it as well.

Jesy sorry

What an awful article! It is really quite scathing. That just tells me more about the writer than it does about Fern.

Amanda Platell, is a very good example of a misogynistic female and she always has been, it's her USP

Yeah fair enough LaMarschallin I probably deserve that. I guess I was trying to see if anyone else was shocked at this level of hideousness despite the DM's reputation for misogyny.

And God knows why I was reading it.

Agree with others about the weight comments not being the worst of it.

It’s probably about getting clicks. The more outrageous the things you print are, the more clicks and cash you get. It gets shared with ‘how mean is this!’ and gets a lot of attention on social media. It’s very cynical that this is how the media works now but unfortunately the reality.

I was idly scanning the website (never again). The article was in the main body of the paper when it first appeared.

Rightontheedge I'm glad I am not the only one who is shocked that it was printed.

Nobody as ugly as AP should criticise another woman's looks.

YABVU to be shocked or surprised that the Daily Heil are cunts. Where have you been?

Yes I guess so Sparklesocks. It's a catch 22 isn't it? They benefit if you call it out. So no one calls it out, and the publication of this sort of misogynistic vitriol is normalised.

Where have you been?

Well I haven't been reading the DM on a regular basis ... .

The consensus then that this is standard fair and nothing out of the ordinary?

It's the Fail, so YABU to be surprised. Amanda Platell has previous for being a piece of shit and there's no reason to think she would've improved.

How is that even an article!

have you not read the threads on here about meghan markle.
they are some of the worst online bullying I have seen.

No didn't read MM threads as it happens. I gathered from Mumsnet that they were pretty awful though.

Christ it's so depressing if this is standard fair
How the hell did we get back to this? I don't remember it being this blatant.

Well I haven't been reading the DM on a regular basis ... .

Have you been reading MN on a regular basis? Or columnists like Hadley Freeman or Lucy Mangan?
Those sort of things could have warned you.

It's a nasty little article but, unfortunately, doesn't stand out among loads of other nasty little articles the Mail have done.

The Daily Fail? The Daily Heil?
Never heard those?

Where have you been that this should suddenly shock you?

Still not clear why you were idly scanning the website. Presumably something lead you there.

Amanda Platell is like ronseal, exactly what she says on the tin. A women hating, over opinionated wretch.

I'm sorry.

I realise that your motives in reading and further publicising a nasty, though not atypical, article from the DM isn't the point of this thread.
I accept your motive is to inform people of what a horrible paper it is in case they didn't know.
And it really is.

I'm afraid my immediate reactions on reading your OP were:

1: Is anyone out there still really that unaware of the media?

then

2: Is this just virtue signaling?

then

3: Is this some way the DM have devised to get extra hits?

LaMarschallin I have read Mumsnet comments about the DM so I know what to expect in general. But I guess I was surprised by how much the level of misogyny had ramped up since I last looked at it. I live abroad so only read British papers intermittently and I happened to be in the UK for part of the weekend. Why the Spanish inquisition?