Why the Tabloids' Presentation of Women is So Harmful

by Ellie Williams-Brown

A few weeks ago, Premier League footballer Wayne Rooney was caught driving while three times over the alcohol limit. To make matters worse, when he was arrested in the early hours, he was driving the car of a woman who was not his wife. It emerged that he had claimed they had decided to “romp”. Infidelity in marriages is not new, and neither is sexism in tabloids, but there is a specific kind that becomes increasingly apparent since the Rooneys became the centre of the media.

Since the incident occurred, the media have been placing pressure upon pressure on the Everton player’s heavily pregnant wife Coleen to stay with him. Social media users have reminded her that “millions of men” have done this and urgently pressed her to help her husband be “better”: it’s her duty.

Headlines of Wayne’s “week of turmoil [taking] a turn for the worse when his wife was spotted out and about without her wedding ring” seem a little ironic. Shouldn’t it be Coleen’s week of turmoil? It was her who had the father of her unborn child nearly cheat on her and “humiliate” her so that she feels, according to media reports, that “the whole world is laughing at her”.

It’s ironic how lightheartedly Rooney’s indiscretions against his pregnant wife are treated, especially by The Sun, which created a ‘hall of shame’ where women who had cheated on their partners could be called out and publicly humiliated.

What’s even worse than this casual brushing away of Rooney’s cheating is how the blame is shifted onto Coleen. Why hadn’t she taken fewer holidays? If she had been at home with the kids, not off with them in Majorca, this never would have happened! Why hadn’t she placed stricter rules on him or offered stronger ultimatums after previous transgressions? Doesn’t she know that Wayne is a “manchild” whose every need and want must be met by her, as he is so reliant and incompetent? Despite how outlandish many of these questions sound, a lot of them have been asked with a serious expectancy that Coleen should answer them.

As Hadley Freeman wrote in the Guardian, “You can all but hear the sigh of pleasure when a saga emerges that can be squashed down into this prefabricated storyline, with all the apparently reassuring conservative ideas about gender and sexuality chucked in as a bonus.”

It’s disheartening when The Sun posts a list of all the holidays Coleen has been on in 2017, and blames her for going away so much. Her critics say she should spend less time abroad, but, even if that is the case, it does still not make her liable for her husband cheating on her, and the blame being pushed onto her.

If Carol McGriffin, former Loose Women panelist and Celebrity Big Brother contestant, is to be believed, “Wayne being a disrespectful t**t isn’t the problem here, it’s Mrs Rooney’s serial forgiveness. He is obviously a child who, unless he’s punished properly for bad behaviour, will keep repeating it. She should know this - she’s a mother of three more much smaller children.”

The stereotype of Wayne, an overgrown child who just can’t keep it in his pants if he tried, and needs his wife - who is more like a mother - to keep him from falling apart is constantly supported and popularised by movies, often romantic-comedies. This idea of Wayne being “the fourth child in the family” excuses his behaviour and makes him seem infallible whereas whatever Coleen does is seen through her husband, and never as an independent action. It’s difficult to see who such a stereotype of masculinity taken to the extreme benefits. Surely it must be sickening and boring to both men and women?

Despite Wayne continually repeating these mistakes and being welcomed back into the family, it is hard to see how he will be forgiven when he says how he can’t be sure “how much of her [Coleen’s] anger is genuine or just hormones because of the pregnancy”, instead of admitting his wrongdoings and making a positive change.

Overall, many men, such as Rooney, will not be held accountable to their actions due to perpetuating stereotypes and ideas that are perpetuated by the media. It’s instances like this that continue ideas that cheating is acceptable and if the women does not help the man afterwards it is even more her fault than it was to begin with. If the tabloids do not make a conscious change in the way they present women, this narrative will continue, as will the harm it inflicts.