There was a bit of a kerfuffle when that all too eager chatterbox Megyn Kelly pestered our 79 year old Jane Fonda about - yes - her obvious facial "improvements". To be sure, Jane looks terrific, there were true masters (have you noticed that the plastic surgeons are mostly men?) at work on her iconic Fonda-face. And, obviously, she wants a different face than her "natural" one. She grew up in the limelight and the tendency to keep things kinda unchanged is a given among the famous females.
Now comes the good part, and I hope it sets off a copycat-fever in other women. Jane beamed a lazer-gaze from her very blue eyes right into Megyn's bland face and snapped,
"Do we really want to talk about this now?"
YES! Finally, someone is putting a visible barrier to silly, actually demeaning, intrusions. Sure, Jane Fonda wasn't sitting in the studio because she has nothing better to do and wanted to spent quality time with a woman she definitely has little love for - considering her own liberal political ideas. And being a very intelligent and engaged woman she would probably have gladly answered questions about the world, her grand children and all. She has a very lovely movie out. With old pal, Robert Redford, who was sitting next to her, silently, and who also has a lot done to his equally iconic face. So they really match in their slightly tightened cheekbones. Now, would anybody ask Bob whether he wants to talk about plastic surgery? Of course not. Out of respect, out of accepting his privacy, out of admiration for his achievements and manly weight.
And that's my entire point! Here's the HUGE problem that's as old as womankind.
Women are expected to talk, to gossip, to chatter, to "share", to spill the beans, to confess! Supposedly it's their "nature". It is "unfeminine" to keep information to yourself, or what? There it is again. The mixed messages...on one hand, as a woman, you are expected to keep an aura of mystery around you, on the other hand, you are expected to strip mentally naked and be transparent and visible, for everybody to see and be gaped at, thus becoming actually rather uninteresting and therefore invisible.
Behind all that demand for confessions isn't an overwhelming appetite for "the truth" or positive curiosity - mind you - it's a simple issue of value and importance. Expecting from women to reveal all of her secrets, means to demand it all. To give her whole life over to the public so she can be judged and taken apart, thus having taken away her importance.
What I really would have loved is to listen in on the conversation Jane and Bob had after they left the studio after the interview. As for you, Miz Megyn, maybe you yourself could open your chatter box and reveal details of YOUR not too well done nose job? And why do you dye your hair so blond? At least then it's even Steven.
