The Australian Women’s Weekly has trumped every other women’s magazine cover by featuring Turia Pitt as it’s cover star. 26-year-old Pitt was running a marathon three years ago when she was caught in a bushfire and was left with scars over 65 per cent of her body. Pitt said: “I feel humbled, For me it sends the message that confidence equals beauty.”
Pitt has had over 100 operations, and she spent over two years in hospital. She even lost all the fingers on one of her hands. It is a brave move from Women’s Weekly but it shouldn’t have to be. There should be more diversity in race, age and disability in our media.
The poster for Before I Go To Sleep doesn’t do equality any favours however, showing Colin Firth and Mark Strong with wrinkles, looking handsome but looking their age, while Nicole Kidman’s face looks like it has been sandblasted. It seems that women are still not allowed to age in Hollywood, but men are. Firth and Strong look great and are allowed to age, but for Kidman you get the feeling it would be the end of her career. Kidman is 47, Firth is 53 and Strong is 50. I mean, god forbid a 47-year-old woman looks like a 47-year-old woman.
It is not Kidman’s fault of course. She is just a product of her environment. But I can’t help feeling that actresses who nip and tuck everything are perpetrating the problem. I think it is time we made a stand. What do you think?