Gossip or Gospel: Are Women the Real Victims of the Celebrity Culture?

Dubbed 'Katona's car-crash' television interview, the former Atomic Kitten singer appeared on ITV's flagship daytime programme with Philip Schofield and Fern Britton last Wednesday. Confused, distracted and slurring her words, the -at times incoherent- Katona claimed that any adverse effects in her demeanour or behaviour were caused by her taking prescribed antidepressants.

Aggressively denying Fern Britton's claim that, since going into rehab for drug addiction, Katona may have resorted to alcoholism and "supplanted one addiction for another". Katona foresaw that this would "blow up into a big huge thing now" and made no bones about expressing it.

She, of course, was completely correct. Whatever the reason for her inability to appear cogent and controlled, certain portions of the media dived on the fact that this was 'train-wreck' viewing. Slapped on Youtube minutes after the programme aired live on Wednesday morning, the videos already have received over a million and a half viewings. What's more, the vitriol with which people comment on the clips is almost unbelievably harsh.

The outpouring of scorn and derision in material published both in print and on online, according to Kirsty Fairclough, lecturer at Salford University, is a result of the 'bitching culture' that has become rife in the British press. Especially boisterous, it would seem, are publications like Heat Magazine and Closer that are aimed predominantly at women and are shot through with a feeling of severe cynicism and voyeuristic features.

The rise of this new era of 'post-feminism', Fairclough states, has come about because women, who have supposedly achieved social equality with men, now find themselves in competition with other women.

"Take gossip blogs." Fairclough writes, "You can watch Britney Spears' downfall in almost real time. And the market for this kind of coverage really shows there is a real paradox within society today. Women are routinely condemned for behaviour that men would not be - and are being condemned by other women."

Citing similarly destructive behaviour from Pete Doherty and Russell Brand, Caroline Davies and Amelia Hill from the Guardian claimed yesterday that: "Male stars receive less criticism." They continue, "While [Brand] has admitted problems in the past with drugs and alcohol he receives favourable press. Yet Katona's drug problems have provoked savage condemnation."

These assertions may well be true, but whatever the furore surrounding sexism in the media, shouldn't we first look at the inherent belligerence of the press in general? That is to say, why did ITV producers and Kerry Katona's management think it suitable to broadcast her in that state in the first place?

Obvious from her speech and demeanour within the first few minutes of the interview, why wasn't she stopped the second she got into the studio and told not to go in front of the cameras? Everyone must have been able to see what it would 'look' like, so the reluctance to pull her from the show has to be geared around the fact that certain people were keenly aware that this would make 'great' television.

The backlash may have been intensified by the fact that Katona is a woman, a mother of four and was once crowned queen of ITV's I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!. At the heart of the matter however, is surely the decision to broadcast anyone like that in the first place. Before the media is sexist or biased in anyway, it is clear that it has enormous capacity for cruelty.

What's more, if the media does employ double standards for men and women then it must run both ways. Or is it the case that the press are inherently misogynistic? It's certainly hard to see the praise heaped on Katona in the early part of her career as coming from an institution that demonises women. The 'triumphing over adversity' articles, the countless 'Parent of the Year Awards' are not tags so freely associated with or handed out to male celebrities.

Where there would seem to be a genuine bias however is between the media's fondness for cruelty or kindness. Until that inequity is addressed should it matter whether those on the receiving end are male or female?

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Samantha is a London theatre fanatic and regular West End theatregoer. She writes and researches some of the biggest London shows you can view examples of her work here Buddy Holly: The Buddy Holly Story and Show and Stay.

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