One of the big problems I had with the way the media covered the story on Governor Spitzer was the portrayal of the 22 year old prostitute as an object that spices up the story. I was very disappointed with the Times even writing about her. It seemed to me that they completely violated her privacy and gave her no options about choosing whether to become a public figure in an eye's blink. She went from unknown aspiring singer, working as a prostitute to get by to being on the cover page of the NY Times and we all know that they get millions of clicks everyday.
On a similar note, I came across this article about (sex) entertainers being viewed and treated as objects by clients and menagers.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
When women stop being seen as real people
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I'm not sure I can agree with the point that Ashley Alexandra Dupre's privacy was violated. She put everything regarding her life on the web. The stories and pictures of her were taken almost entirely from her myspace page. Now, although we don't like to think of social network pages this way - they are open for all the world to see. She was saying "hey everyone - look at me!" We all are (at least those of us on myspace, faceboook, etc.)
There should be no expectation that placing something on the web makes it private. This woman was a part of a major american political scandal. Of course people are going to want to know more. And if she's putting her story all over myspace, of course people are going to check it out. Why wouldn't they?
No, she didn't choose to enter the public discourse as Spitzer's prostitute. But she was Spitzer's prostitute, and that is a big deal. And maybe 5 or 6 years ago all we would have heard from her was "no comment." But once she put her life on the web, it was public information that was fairly reported by the press.
As you mentioned she was all over the web, but she portrayed herself as an aspiring singer, not as an aspiring prostitute. If you google her today, she is in fact Spitzer's prostitute and not Alexandra the singer. While I understand the whole free speech spiel, in this case this 22 year old's rights were violated. She can no more control who she is or who she wants to be because she will be for life Spitzer's prostitute.
Post a Comment