#TimesUp - Can The Red Carpet Be A Harbinger Of Social Change? And Toadmeister’s Titty-Tweets

Hello, you stable geniuses! (Or as the pedants may prefer, genii.) 

The Golden Globes happened on Sunday night in Hollywood and The High Low has many a point to discuss:

Does the #TimesUp movement - where actors wore black dresses on the red carpet, in solidarity with victims of sexual harassment - convey a real and true political message? Can a gown be a harbinger for social change? The New York Times’ T Magazine Fashion Critic, Alexander Fury, provides an eloquent argument in favour. Or, is it mere Hollywood “fakery’ - as actor Rose McGowan denounced it.

Self-deprecating and woke as he was, should Seth Meyers have been the host... or should it have been a woman? 

And what about Natalie Portman, who pointed out that no female directors were nominated for best director? No amount of black gowns can cloak that. 

Either way, Justin Timberlake *perhaps* missed the point. “Damn my wife looks hot! #timesup” the Trousersnake tweeted. 

From Hollywood, to Westminster. Also on this weekend agenda, journalist Toby Young’s resignation from his university regulator role, for the Office for Students - just 8 days in the job - after thousands of Young’s archive ‘titty tweets’ caused 20,000 people to sign a petition arguing for his sacking. 

Is a man, or woman, the sum of their tweets? Should your ability to be do your job dependent on your social media timeline? Possibly not. But when you become more known for a tweet that reads “I had my dick up her arse, mate” than your work in the education sector, we wonder if, possibly, a governmental role isn’t quite for you.

Episode takeaway, kids: the internet never forgets. 

Thank you very much to our sponsors Google Pixel 2 and Treatwell and to Acast, for letting us use your studio.

E-mail [email protected] and tweet us @thehighlowshow. 

Links

Listening

You & Yours - on parity, post Carrie Gracie’s resignation from the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qps9

Sarah Jessica Parker on The Nerdist: https://nerdist.com/nerdist-829-sarah-jessica-parker/ 

Janeane Garofalo on Guys We F****d: https://soundcloud.com/guyswefucked/0173-01042017-janeane-garofalo 

Sandi Toksvig on Table Manners with Jessie Ware: https://www.acast.com/tablemanners/ep7-sanditoksvig

Reading

The Female Persuasion, by Meg Wolitzer https://www.amazon.com/Female-Persuasion-Novel-Meg-Wolitzer/dp/1594488401

Toxic Femininity, by Ginny Hogan for The New Yorker  https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/examples-of-toxic-femininity-in-the-workplace/amp

Belle Gibson: the wellness blogger who fooled the world, by Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano for The Sunday Times magazine  https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/the-sunday-times-magazine/belle-gibson-the-wellness-blogger-who-fooled-the-world-with-a-healthy-eating-scam-hq6dc73cx

Pre-order Things Bright and Beautiful by Anbara Salam:  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.