It's amazing the kind of things you see on Live at the Apollo... one of them was a comedic debate on gender politics regarding Maggie Thatcher and Madonna
The point raised by the comedian (whose name I cannot recall), was that Madonna showed that women could be sexy into their 40s and 50s, yet Margaret Thatcher climbed to the top of the most male dominated profession 'without ever having to shake her ass', as he put it.
Although it was a bit of comedic banter, I remember watching and thinking that there was a real debate behind this. From a feminist point of view, I would definitely have to agree that Margaret Thatcher is the most rational role model, and for exactly the reason he said. Thatcher was the longest serving Prime Minister in the UK in the 20th Century, and not once did she have to objectify herself and the rest of the female population to do so. This, though some may disagree, is exactly what Madonna has done. In making herself a mere object of sexual desire for men, she gave the same image to all women, condemning them if they refused to comply with her new image and change themselves.
Madonna openly encouraged all of this. Whatever happened to natural beauty, and each person being both unique and beautiful? She released a book, entitled Sex, which consisted completely of sexually explicit photos of her i.e. pornography, and alongside it released an album called Erotica. How is it that women actually respect her for all of this? It wasn't until I actually sat down and reflected upon this debate that I realised Madonna is not role model material.
Whilst it is important to both men and women to retain good and healthy lifestyles no matter what age, I think that Madonna's sexual provocation has denegrated both men and women. It suggests that all men desire is sex, and that all women care about is their appearances. What a shallow world we live in if this is the case, though it isn't!
This post is probably a tad biased - I love Madonna's music and films, I won't deny it. But the mistake of idolising her life is one which needs to be rectified. I don't necessarily like Margaret Thatcher, in fact, she made many more people angry than Madonna ever did, but that is to be expected when you're Prime Minister.
Margaret Thatcher run the country, overcame a 'winter of discontent', and no matter what your political views are, I believe that she deserves the utmost respect as a role model to young girls. As a child she lived in a flat in Lincolnshire, and her father owned 2 grocery shops. She wasn't fed with a silver spoon, and she certainly had to work for the position she was given. It is my belief that she fully deserved her time as Prime Minister, and that she is the true role model of the 80s and 90s, not Madonna.
Please let me know what you think in the comments!
