Ok, I know this is simply a way for me to procrastinate yet again in getting any real work done....but here I go. Actually I logged on to retrieve some of my previous posts on the books I am reading for my paper so that I could include them in my latest draft, but then I felt the need to write. So, I have been watching American Idol...online. I know many people think reality TV is trash, but I personally get a lot out of it. I love the stories of real people, even if edited for manipulative effect, better than made-up people. And I love singing...so American Idol is great for me. In any case, as I was watching I started thinking about what the show, and certain elements of it, could tell us about American culture. I think this about pretty much everything, since that's my thing. It occurred to me that Paula Abdul is a single women "of a certain age," meaning she's about middle age now, and she is constantly made fun of and demeaned on the show and off. Now, I have seen her do some crazy shit, don't get me wrong. And I saw some of her show, "Hey Paula" (or something like that). So, i know she does some cooky stuff. However...i think a lot of the reason people pick on her is because she is a single, childless, older woman....and as such she is devalued in our culture. First of all, you can't tell me there are not a LOT of stupid men out there doing and saying embarrassing things on TV, but how often do we see them? Except on the Daily Show. Every time Paula says or does anything a little off, it is front page news. Now - a lot of that is because the producers and publicists for AI MAKE SURE it is front page news. They use her to get ratings. However...this "stupid female" trend is all over in the media - think Brooke Hogan, the Miss Teen USA contestant, Sarah Palin...need I say more? You just don't see men's deficient intellects broadcast far and wide the way you do with women. People take such pleasure in women saying "dumb" things. Men, on the other hand, are often seen exercising bad judgement - think Blagojevich and Craig - but rarely blatant silly stupidity. This is NOT because men are never stupid and vacuous....the positioning of females in this light, and near exclusion of men from the same, is deliberate and tells us a lot about people's attitudes and anxieties. If this were Puritan times, Paula Abdul would be exactly the type of woman targeted as a witch...and probably executed. She violates much of what our cultures values in women - motherhood, marriage and homemaking, youth, subltety, and submission in the face of "strong" men. Paula is loud, enthusiastic, brazen, not afraid of her sexuality, strong, even pushy, and tenatious. She is a wild and crazy lady - also driven and ambitious. Some of the things that got Martha Stewart caged while men doing the same or worse than she are never punished. Just some thoughts to chew on about one of the biggest message making artifacts of our present culture, AI, and it's contribution to gender role development.