Nothing less than perfect: female celebrity, ageing and hyper-scrutiny in the gossip industry

Abstract

From Perez Hilton to Lainey Lui, the figure of the gossip blogger no longer exists solely on the periphery of celebrity culture. The ‘bitchy’ personas that celebrity gossip bloggers espouse are now firmly embedded within mainstream media. Gossip blogs regularly feature posts that scrutinise female celebrities in terms of how well, or not, they age. Much of this scrutiny is centred on narratives of cosmetic surgery. This article will examine such narratives and discuss the ways in which the construction of the ageing female celebrity and the state of endless transformation that is so revered in neo-liberal and post-feminist cultures operates in the gossip industry, suggesting that the notion of continual self-maintenance through consumption has become a necessity in a society that rewards continual corporeal change.

Keywords:

• celebrity
• ageing
• post-feminism
• gossip industry
• blogging
• cosmetic surgery

Acknowledgements

Images are reprinted with permission from famousplastic.com and Perezhilton.com.