Two steps forward, ten steps back..

Is anyone here familiar with the ‘Katie Price’/‘Jordan’ phenomenon? Jordan, the infamous British glamour-model and popular television personality, has just published her fourth autobiography. Jordan is quite the prolific writer, and has so far managed to produce not only her four autobiographical books, but also an additional five fictitious novels; ‘Angel’, ‘Angel Uncovered’, ‘Sapphire’, ‘Paradise’ and ‘Crystal’. And the worst news? They have all gone straight to the top of the bestseller lists.

I don’t think that I’m making a huge leap here by assuming that Jordan doesn’t write these books herself. I remember when ‘writing a book’ actually used to mean writing a book. When I read about Jordan’s latest literary achievement, the words ‘writing a book’ usually refer to her signing the ghost-writer a check! It’s such a shame, not only that Jordan (who is clearly an astute businesswoman) has founded her business empire based upon photographs of her surgically-enhanced attributes, but also that her ‘novels’ appear to be quite so popular. Who buys these titles, I wonder?

While Jordan’s popularity was originally directly attributable to the male fans of her glamour modeling photos, she now appears to have a huge female fan base. In a recent article in London’s ‘The Evening Standard’ newspaper, Journalist Rosamund Urwin spoke of the growing popularity of Glamour Modeling as a popular career choice for young girls. Urwin questioned the assumption that Jordan had ‘played men at their own game and won’, as if, by founding a successful business empire based upon her enlarged breasts, she had somehow triumphed over the male population. Urwin also made note of the fact that Jordan’s empire has recently expanded to include a baby clothing line, a series of children’s books and other memorabilia targeted at young women and children. The Jordan marketing machine, which appears to popularize the glamour modeling phenomenon, shows no apparent sign of slowing down.

Jordan’s fans seem to view a career in glamour modeling as something to aim towards, and the model herself as a successful role model. I used to worry that people weren”t reading any more, now I’m worrying what it is that they’re reading about.  I’m certainly not expecting for The Female Eunuch to experience a surge in sales any time soon…..