This week, Russell Brand tweeted a picture of himself holding a No More Page 3 T-shirt, captioned – “And finally, through the love of a good woman, teenage, sexist me was slain”. The Internet subsequently exploded with celebration, condemnation and utter disbelief that Brand’s new change of heart could be taken seriously. The flood of uncertainty mirrors my own personal indecision; on one hand believing that it’s a positive thing for someone to decide that they want to change for the better, yet feeling dubious that this is some kind of feather in the cap for feminism.
Firstly there’s the ‘love of a good woman’ diatribe in the tweet: that in itself seems a wee bit – well – sexist, doesn’t it? What is it about this particular woman that sets her apart from his mum, or his nan, or his ex-wife Katy Perry? The phrase sits uncomfortably; as if Jemima Khan’s virtues as a perfect specimen have suddenly opened Brand’s eyes to the problems with gender equality in the world around him, a revelation that he’s been incapable of reaching on his own.
It’s not like Brand’s even the first comedian to come out in support of No More Page 3. When Bridget Christie collected her prize at the Fosters Comedy Awards during the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe she actually wore the shirt, but the internet didn’t reverberate in quite the same way as it did for Russell Brand tweeting a picture of him simply holding one up. Which is a little ironic really given that – unlike Brand’s own material – Christie’s comedy is largely built on what it means to be a feminist.
In fact, the backlash of replies after yesterday’s Tweet all point to the many times Brand’s done something altogether not feminist: the jokes about Georgina Sachs’ sexual proclivities during that infamous phone call to her grandfather, for example, or the prank call to a rape hotline. Then there's the fact that Brand’s notorious womanizing is a cornerstone of his recognizability; his persona as a long-haired, silly lothario getting embroiled in saucy ‘shenanigans’, doesn’t exactly sit alongside his sudden revelation that institutionalized misogyny is a Bad Thing.
Yet, herein lies the paradox: people are complex. Just as Brand holding up Jemima Khan as a female Jesus figure responsible for his salvation from the Throes of Sexism feels flimsily two-dimensional, invalidating his right to support No More Page 3 simply because of who he is veers dangerously close to the same mode of behaviour. Brand isn’t stupid; contributions to drug law debates – including giving evidence to the Commons home affairs select committee back in 2012 – suggest that he is not incapable of examining facts and personal experience to form an opinion. His method of reaching a conclusion may be questionable, but this doesn’t mean the conclusion itself isn’t a worthy one.
Russell Brand’s support will hardly hurt No More Page 3 – for a man who’s built a career on being a womanizer, a public declaration in support of a particular feminist campaign has and will continue to garner a flurry of media attention. Inevitably, the Tweet from Brand (who won the Sun’s ‘Shagger of the Year’ Award three years running between 2006 – 2008) must have ground some gears with Dinsmore and co; when a man previously celebrated by the paper for his sexist behaviour allies himself to a campaign against it, it becomes much harder for those on the other side of the debate to dismiss No More Page 3 as a silly project run by boring feminists.
And admittedly, perhaps that’s part of the problem. It’s remarkable to see how easily support has been lent to Brand’s about-turn, yet for many women, declaring themselves a feminist means having to justify their opinions from a barrage of criticism. No More Page 3’s Twitter feed often responds to trolls and abuse alongside promoting the aims of the campaign. There’s an immense frustration that comes with trying to explain that feminism is about working towards a society that offers gender equality for everyone, and not a closed, exclusive club.
But by refusing to accept the ability or right of somebody previously lauded for misogyny to change their views, we run the risk of making it just that. A dose of skepticism might be healthy, but deciding that Brand’s apparent change of heart is bogus runs the risk of sending out a clear message that feminism doesn’t believe that people have the capability to change their behaviour. And if people can’t change, then how can society?
Brand’s support for the No More Page 3 campaign should by no means grant him a blank slate for actions in days gone by. But maybe we can hope that it’s the start of a learning process in which he forms his own understanding of what being a feminist really is, and how it translates from a T-shirt slogan into everyday life. Part of this is surely whether, alongside his stance against the Sun’s sexism, Brand publicly acknowledges his own past conduct too – after all, part of standing up against sexism is recognizing it in your own behaviour and not just calling others out.
I’m not convinced we’ll be seeing the release of Booky Wook 3: How I Smashed the Patriarchy anytime soon, but ‘once a misogynist, always a misogynist’ seems as dismissive and presumptive a way of viewing the situation as celebrating somebody as a hero of feminism purely because they’ve held up a T-shirt. Perhaps the answer is not to jump to heap praise on or condemn one Twitter photo, but to leave the ball in Russell Brand’s court, and to wait and see whether his new-found support translates into actions rather than simply words.
Isabel Dixon
@isabel_dixon
Pictured from top: Russell Brand, Bridget Christie
You can read more about and sign the No More Page 3 petition here.
Bridget Christie's award-winning hour of feminist comedy, A Bic For Her, runs at the Soho Theatre until March. Read more about it here.
What do you think of Russell Brand’s show of public support for No More Page 3? Let us know in the comments below.
