In Defence of Martha Stewart

Like many others, I watched the Martha Stewart documentary on Netflix this weekend and to be completely honest, I did not go in with high expectations.

I didn’t know much about Stewart or her lore, I just thought it would be a cosy, easy watch for a Sunday evening. Oh, how wrong I was.

‘Martha’ was two hours of scandal, sassiness and savage commentary on women in business. The documentary detailed how Stewart built up her billion-dollar business from the ground, her insider trading scandal and subsequent arrest, her downfall and her eventual climb back up in public graces.

Filled with cutting quips from the home-maker extraordinaire, the documentary was a true warts-and-all look into the lifestyle mogul, however what I took away wasn’t her deadpan humour or astonishment at her success, it was a frustration at how differently we profile female celebrities versus their male counterpart.

 

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Quotes were read out throughout the show slamming Stewart as difficult, ruthless, mean, savage – the list is endless. A huge focus of the show was on her personality, there was commentary on how she wasn’t a warm mother (admittedly this came from Stewart herself) and how she can be impatient and sharp with her staff.

She is criticised as being a control freak, but multiple times throughout the documentary it is stated (by others, not by Stewart) that anything Stewart is in control over succeeds, it is when the power is out of her hands that things tend to fail so it is understandable why she wants things done a certain way.

‘Cold’ is a term that is often used to describe her and countless other women in the public eye. I have never heard a man being described as cold. The term truly feels like such a feminine-based critique – women are expected to be always warm and one wrong interaction can leave you labelled an icy bitch for life.

I can’t think of a man who’s known for being a bitch and I can think of two reasons why – firstly, there is simply no direct male equivalent of a bitch, which is mind blowing in itself, and secondly, male personalities are simply not discussed at the same rate women’s are.

There are so many public women who have had their personality dragged through the mud – Mariah Carey is almost more famous for being a diva than for her singing, Victoria Beckham became known for her moody pout, Anna Wintour had a whole film which called her out for being a ‘devil.’

 

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When I try to think of a man who has public lore about his private personality, I genuinely cannot think of one. Celebrity men are criticised for their acting ability or their dating habits perhaps (Leonardo DiCaprio, here’s looking at you) but I can’t think of many men who are widely disliked because they’re allegedly not a nice person.

It is undeniable that Martha Stewart is an extremely successful woman. She built up a multimedia company from her catering company, was the only woman in her firm on Wall Street and became the first female self-made billionaire. She made billions out of ‘what we all can do; she can just do it better’ to paraphrase from her documentary.

Stewart, who started her career as a model, also did all this while looking beautiful. “Perfectly perfect” summed her up. Until it didn’t. And then the wolves descended.

When Stewart was arrested on charges for insider trading (the documentary states she was not guilty of insider trading for the record, she was instead found guilty of lying to federal investigators), the media and public alike relished the opportunity to tear down this perfectly successful woman.

It’s a case we’ve seen multiple times in popular culture, when someone gets too successful, we must be there to tear them down. Except it seems to happen considerably more to women than it does men. Taylor Swift is regularly criticised for the environmental impact of her private jets, or her honest lyrics about fellow famous men.

Back in the early ’00s Jessica Simpson went from being pop culture’s darling to public humiliation when she was photographed looking slightly heavier than usual. Sinead O’Connor went from performing at the Grammys to public exile when she spoke up about the Catholic Church’s child abuse scandals.

Men are cancelled too, of course, but it tends to be for a much more legitimate reason i.e. Diddy’s recent trafficking and assault allegations.

If there was a man who had built his career from model to stockbroker to caterer to author to business owner to billionaire, I can guarantee we would not be discussing how he speaks to those around him.

Of course, it goes without saying that employers should be polite to their employees, but I have never heard of any successful man who was more famous for his demeanour as a manager than his work.

Martha Stewart may or may not be a nice person, but that is not really the point. The point is that personality is yet another aspect of life where women face scrutiny whilst men simply don’t.

When seeking career advice, I am often reminded to be nice and polite. My male friends are told to be authoritative and determined. My male friends will often be the first to speak up in a disagreement whereas myself and my female friends tend to stay quieter, not wanting to come across as rude. My stepdad is happy to send cold food back in a restaurant while my mam hides in embarrassment from coming across as difficult.

From speaking out on social issues to being too honest to simply wanting things done a certain way, women are constantly held at a much higher standard than men and criticised much more harshly.

‘Martha’ is proof that society loves to see a successful woman crumble and the documentary was a stark reminder that not only do women have much higher to climb than men, we also have much further to fall.

Words by Ciara Moran