The fetishisation of the female backside reached royal heights this week with the global worship of Pippa Middleton’s bum.
The frenzied prostration before the bottom of HRH Catherine Middleton’s younger sister and bridesmaid highlights anew the objectification of women deeply entrenched in our culture.
This was in the Daily Mail: Many women admired her dress, but an army of male fans were happily distracted by her shapely rear as the procession went up the aisle.
Philippa Middleton’s backside has its own twitter address and an “anthem of praise” on YouTube. Then there’s the ‘Pippa Middleton Ass Appreciation Society’ Facebook page, which, at time of writing, had 168,781 fans. And no, it’s not in honour of any pet donkeys kept in the royal stables.
Here, the PM arse afficondos really let their love run wild. The FB page, created by Michael Bander, has been described in some media reports as “cheeky”. You see it’s just cheeky to set up a page promoting the 27-year old party planner’s bum as perfect masturbatory material for men.
Here’s some of their comments, so you can see the cheek of these lads for yourself (original spellings and grammar retained).
Steven Glinatsis: “Hell yeah, Saw that arse in the church through that dress and thought….Very nice.”
Andrew Franks: “god i want to make my mark and knock her up”
Álvaro Luna: “I would lyposuction her ass with pleasure.”
Ricardo Wooding: “Pippe very much needs pumping :O)”
Michael John McMahon: “My tongue, pipas bum! Lol!”
Ara Karanui: “you make my pepe go dadooing dooing dooooiiiiing” [a reference to Eminem’s “Ass like that”].
In a reference to blackjack: TJ Rush: “Id hit it like it was eleven against a dealer 16!” (this one may apply to Kate or Pippa, though I don’t think the author is fussy).
Kasper Kahari: “I would like to lick that ass till its covered in my saliva, then jizz on it. sooo sexxy …”
Malcolm Lant: “I’d destroy her or at least bash her back doors in”
Matthew Chambers: “She would need a wheel chair and straw when I’d be finished with it xxbig Matty chambers xxx”
The FB site provides an opportunity for men everywhere to share their sexual fantasies for the young maid of honour. Knock her up, bash her in, cause her injury such that she would not be able to walk . Wrecking and shredding a woman’s anus is a popular porn script.
Merchandise sold through the FB page also enforces the pornification of Pippa’s behind. From male boxers with ‘Pippa ass fan’ down the front, to tees with slogans such as ‘Ass-tocracy’ (get it!), ‘If only Pippa were a stripper’ and - plastered across the image of a women bending over - ‘I’d like to be in the middleton of that!’
All just part of putting women in their place. And even more fun when that woman is sister of a woman who will likely be Queen of England one day (or QILF – Queen I’d like to f**k - as another male fan on Bander’s page described Kate).
Pippa was given porn star treatment without doing anything except walk down the aisle in Westminster Abbey in a fitted white dress, holding the train of her sister’s wedding dress.
And all this is supposed to be accepted as a compliment. Of course there are no ‘Pippa the Wonderfully Supportive Sister Appreciation Societies’ or other pages lauding her gifts and character and other non-body related attributes.
When Karl Stefanovic let all the men present know in his Logie acceptance speech that his wife had “the best arse”, frequent comments were made that if a woman had made the same comments about a man, no one would mind.
But a woman making a comment about a man’s backside does not carry the same weight or intent as the reverse. We don’t hear men being told to “shake that arse”. We do not hear of a man’s backside referred to as ‘booty’.
If a woman does comment on a male bum, she is not usually thinking of doing all the things to it that Pippa’s fans are salivating over. Because of a pornified culture, references to a women’s ‘arse’ are mostly not compliments but have underlying pornographic meanings.
But women are expected to welcome it – thanks to the proliferation and globalisation of pornography, women’s bottoms have a very specific and often nasty meaning, as the Facebook comments attest.
The focus on Pippa Middleton’s backside for assessment and virtual mutual masturbation feeds into the Bangable and Hot or Not genres, in which individuals are rated on whether they are f-able or not.
Women are also encouraged to buy into their objectification and the objectification of each other. I’ve been told women should – and do - welcome sexual messages shouted to them in the street (“HOT ARSE!” “NICE TITS!”) as compliments instead of street harassment.
Putting Pippa’s backside on a virtual platter and offering it up for male gratification and pleasure, is not a compliment or credit to her. It needs to be named as the virtual sexual harassment of Pippa Middleton.
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@AndrewCatsaras Agreed. Kills more people than AIDS. Yet tolerated. Meanwhile: Good Insiders piece again Andrew.
RT @JamieTravers: I'm in Europe and don't care for Eurovision, why is my twitter feed filled with Aussies recounting the bloody thing!?
Ukraine song pinches chord progression from The Verve's Bittersweet Symphony. Fo real #sbseurovision
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