Summary

In Chapter 14, Caitlin argues that celebrity culture is the best way to judge broad social attitudes towards women. The constant output of newspapers, magazines and the internet allows one to gauge how successfully women are struggling toward equality. The rise of “cougars” (older women who date significantly younger men) but also plastic surgery sends conflicting messages. Caitlin admits that her own instinctive reactions to photos of women in magazines reflects the difficulty of overcoming society’s imposed gender constructs: she’ll denounce a celebrity’s red carpet fashion and hair at the same time she is irked that media judges women based on their appearance.

Caitlin examines the case of an English celebrity named Katie Price, who became famous for topless modeling and stayed famous by continually marketing herself (often via a sexual portrayal...