Katie Price as seen on Twitter
Surfing through the online newspapers this week I came across yet another story regarding Katie Price (aka Jordon) and was amused to see that she actually has an account on Twitter, so decided to explore. I was stunned to see that this woman has over 340 thousand followers – quite remarkable – especially when reading her latest ‘tweet’:
“thanks to everyone who went an got my book its number 1 again for the forth week”
Make of that what you will, I am saying nothing… OK, credit to her ghost author.
The current day fascination and obsession with looks and image saddens me. I really do believe this is a result of the fragmentation of the community in today’s society. People just don’t take the time, or have the time to get to know one another and understand what influences, morals and beliefs make each person what they are; judging a book by its cover is so much easier and faster than actually taking the time to read a chapter or two.
Intrigued, I decided to put out a request on Twitter asking people to nominate the women in society that they most admire or have been inspired by. This was one of my spontaneous mini research tweets to give me an insight into the people I follow, and also spare me from working on my accounts.
Rosa Parks - Arrested for Fighting for Civil Rights.
People obviously gave this some thought, forwarding the names of iconic women such as Benazir Bhutto, Germaine Greer, Rosa Parks, Lori Piestewa, Lady Diana, Margaret Thatcher and Dame Edna. Comediennes also rated very highly, including the wonderful Victoria Wood and Shappi Khorsandi. Then came actresses Joanna Lumley, Meryl Streep and Emma Thompson, followed by inspirational and fascinating artists, writers and chefs… The list was long and the names mentioned were of women who have shown strength, talent, compassion, tenacity, determination and bravery.
However, to my surprise and amazement a gift actually fell on my lap… One person included Katie Price as an inspiration on account of her business acumen. It is quite easy to scorn Katie, she is someone who I would label as creating a ‘back door’ career, augmenting her body to unnatural proportions, enabling her to get ahead in the world of glamour modelling. On the back of this she has transformed herself into a brand, earning a vast fortune from her own product range and of course, the constant media fascination.
Now, if my nieces decided to forego their education in favour of plastic surgery and flaunting their bodies for all to see, I would be traumatised and apalled. However, if they showed the level of grit, determination and tenacity evident in Ms Price I would be overjoyed and proud.
Everyone has their strengths, weaknesses, attributes and failings; sometimes it’s just a question of digging a little deeper to find out what they are.
Although, can we deem KP as a modern day female icon? I seriously hope not. In my opinion she is not worthy to be grouped with the aforementioned women who have struggled against adversity to make the world a better place, or have brought joy and inspiration to many. Ms Price has looked after number one and has milked every opportunity to earn money and build herself a mini empire within the sordid world of glamour – hats off to her for that, although at what price Katie?
A big thank you to all on Twitter who posted a response. I suppose I should do my accounts now…
Eating Out In Essex