Thursday, April 8, 2010

The Era of the Mistress

 
 

Sent to you by moya via Google Reader:

 
 

via The Thirty Mile Woman by cocacy on 4/5/10

Its official, we're in the era of the mistress, the other woman (or women depending on the celebrity). Right now Jesse James and Tiger Woods are tag-teaming for the position of America's number 1 douche bag husband but even more salacious than the actions of the husbands are the mistresses' time in the spotlight. New York Magazine's Lisa Taddeo published a piece on Rachel Uchitel, one of Tiger's many women. And one by one, the mistresses are getting their 15 minutes. Vanity Fair has a photo spread and accompanying article on Tiger's mistresses, most prominently featuring Uchitel. Oprah Winfrey will soon be sitting down with Rielle Hunter, John Edwards' mistress. Eliot Spitzer's favorite call girl Ashley Dupree got her own sex column at the New York Post.  And I'm sure Jesse James' Michelle McGee is negotiating a wide variety of offers right about now. But what preciously does this cultural moment that not only shames cheating husbands and publicly draws out their infidelity but launches various careers and accompanying notoriety (complete with photo spreads in mags such as Vanity Fair) mean for the mistress. I'm sure as an expected counterpart to this unfortunate cultural trend is the rise in fear about the mistress. I see a larger piece forming in my head on this very idea — why exactly is the mistress having her moment at this particular time, at this particular cultural moment?



 
 

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1 comment:

Kjen said...

I think it has to do with the number of outlets there are for news. Some 'publication' i.e. blog, e-zine, will say that they have a platform for almost anyone to speak.

I would like to think that the public shaming is a move to equality for men and women, but its not quite there yet. The man in these stories are generally portrayed as generally upstanding good boys who got carried away by the candy store(too many opportunities), whereas their mistresses are seen as skany, low-self-esteem, low moral, and overall pathetic peeps.