Bethan Jenkins AC/AM Blog

I’ve just been watching Gok Whan’s new show on channel 4- ‘Miss Naked Beauty’. Its an attempt to encourage feminism by stealth according to the makers, in an age when most young women consider feminism to be a dirty word.

The aim of the show is to strip women bare (quite literally it seems) and make them believe in themselves for who they are, not for how they look. Now this is where the idea for the programme falls apart- the fact that they are making such a point of the womens appearances is a reflection of the superficial portrayal of women that we see in the press everyday. How is this show going to make women feel more confident in their everyday lives? I am not convinced it even goes part of the way to address these issues.

From what I’ve seen of the first show, it also seems very patronizing (and most of us women experience this from our colleagues every day!) You have the sob stories a la the X factor- the woman who used to be ten sizes bigger than she is now, the single mother, the larger woman..its all so predictable and boring. It does not enthuse me to want to watch at all, and just reminds me of how the media in the Uk are desperately emulating the dross that’s on US television shows.

I don’t know what the eternal answer is to encourage a surge in feminist thinking in Wales or in Britain at large, but I know that programmes like this are not the answer. I want to watch programmes where I am inspired by women in what they do in their everyday lives- in their campaigning,their experiences, in their work- not about what they look like, or how the women involved can’t possibly imagine leaving the house without make-up- perish the thought!

Perhaps we should all read a bit more of Germaine Greer’s work, and we’d all be raving feminists without the need to even switch the telly on.. Now that’s a scary thought…