'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except Lewis Hamilton’s fragile masculinity.
“Boys don’t wear princess dresses,” the ex-boyfriend of the radiant Nicole Scherzinger broadcast to his 5.7 million-strong Insta fanbase, deriding his princess-dress-wearing nephew. “I’m so sad right now,” he added. Well so are we all, Lewis. So are we all.
While the star, who has worn a ton of hideous clothes that nobody ever called him out for, quickly apologised, what must be stressed here is how severely even one comment of this nature can imprint itself on a child’s future behaviour, thought patterns and self-esteem.
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As a child dress-wearer (who grew up to be an adult dress-wearer), I still struggle to release myself from comments about the clash between my masculine body and my feminine everything else. It’s time for adults to rethink their gendered expectations and recognise that if you can learn to use an iPhone, you can learn to get over a boy wearing a dress. It’s exhausting. Perhaps Lewis could turn that "apology" into a donation to one of the amazing charities that support gender questioning and transgender children. Actions speak louder than words, after all.
A better Christmas present was the arrival of Doctor Who’s first female Doctor in the show’s five-decade history. Jodie Whittaker, who now plays the 13th Doctor, met our screens at the end of this year’s Christmas special and the internet squawked with glee. It’s testament to the power of representation that even in 2017, seeing someone like you play a character you always wished you could be can be incredibly moving, and important to how you see your potential.
Speaking of representation, the LA Times landed itself in hot water this week as it revealed its cover for its entertainment magazine The Envelope. Applauding the female actors “shifting the focus” this 2017, we were presented with a role-call of upstanding diversity: Jessica Chastain, Kate Winslet, Annette Bening, Diane Kruger, Margot Robbie, Saoirse Ronan. Spot a theme? That’s right — a roster of all white women credited with changing the game, and shifting the focus. Fans were confused and outraged that both the cover stars themselves and those who had cast them had been so colour-blind that they couldn’t find even one woman of colour shifting said focus. Much like Hamilton’s tone-deaf comments, it’s a weird mix of boring and upsetting that we still have to have these conversations.
In Kardashian-Jenner news, everyone is still on the hunt for Kylie. She wasn’t in Kim’s 25-day Khristmas Kard, she was barely spotted at Kris’ Khristmas (K)Eve party, and fans are losing it after one of the world’s most traceable celebs has seemingly gone off the radar. But following suit is sister Kendall, who has announced that in 2018 she won’t be updating her apps or her website, via an update on her website (lol). Searching for more authenticity in 2018, the supermodel is pulling back from the public eye in order to hopefully find it. Fans (well, me) are tentative, however — when you’ve made your entire fortune out of asking people to follow you, what does it mean to reject the followers who put you where you are? Only time, and her follower count, will tell.
And from old obsessions to new. Meghan Markle stepped out in another beige coat this week, alongside a far more excitingly Miu Miu-clad sister-in-law-to-be Kate Middleton, for the royals' Christmas service at Sandringham on the 25th. In a truly radical queer protest, this is the first time a prince’s partner has ever attended the service out of wedlock. Finally some tradition-bucking from the family at the helm of the racist British Empire, a stance which demonic Princess Michael of Kent and her racist brooch have still not left behind. Here’s hoping Meghan will keep on bucking the bleak traditions of yesteryear.
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