It’s been a few days of surprises. First that Amanda Wakeley’s and my little piece in The Times mag, about our YouTube show Friday Night Fashion, got a front page mention. It made me lol to be sharing real estate with Keanu. Life goal unlocked. Secondly, a friend of mine showed me this, on the Instagram account @cheerupluv
First thing to say: I wrote this piece for the magazine about Amanda and me, but not the headline. It is almost unheard of for the writer to be the one who actually writes the headlines. That falls to sub editors and then the editors. It always surprises me how many people don’t know this. And so, some people were angry with me. They’ve been sliding into my DMs all week to lecture me about my internalised misogyny. And when I’ve responded that I don’t write the headlines, I’ve still got it in the neck. Some people think that it reflects badly on my character to willingly write for publications that would tarnish my work so. To which I say, my mortgage provider does not accept holier-than-thou-integrity as a currency.
Of course I understand why people find the headline reductive - as if women are still being assessed by whether or not men want to shag them. But I also understand, inside and out, the editing game.
