BRUCE JENNER: who is he?

One of my problems with surfing the net is that I too often slam into Bruce Jenner. And I’m not interested in Bruce Jenner.
The most prominent approach to Jenner “news” is the “how does he look” angle. On the upcoming cover of Vanity Fair, he looks like a photo-shopped human. That’s all I get out of that photo. The cover shot reveals nothing about how he looks. What we see is what he doesn’t look like.
Why do I keep running into stories about him? What are my surfing habits? First, I follow the Golden State Warriors and the Yankees. Next, I follow courtroom stories.  I take a whirl through Huff Post. I read book reviews. Which of my interests has tabbed me as a likely reader of Bruce Jenner stories?  Perhaps it’s merely that he’s everywhere, and his appearance on my screen is a random occurrence.

The second approach to Jenner “news” is to portray what he’s going through as an affront to women and an affront to feminism.   I have trouble believing that Jenner has himself addressed these issues.  Apparently, all Jenner is worried about is that he has what he calls “a woman’s brain.”  What precisely would that be?  Do women think pink thoughts?  Do we solve mathematical problems with our instincts?  Do we cry when we read business reports that concern themselves with housing starts?   Do women write puffy, sentimentalized love stories, leaving the guns and the courtrooms to the big boys?  Of course, these questions ineluctably lead to “What is a man’s brain like?”  Well, Jenner claims he doesn’t have one of those.

Another approach to a Bruce Jenner piece is the “is this a sports story” question.   Maybe it used to be, during the Olympic Gold Medal days.  But now?

I don’t see the appeal in all these stories and photos.  Not even when they involve all the Kardashians and their enormous butts.  (It will maybe be intriguing to see what sort of butt Jenner chooses from the catalog.)

Jenner’s sexual choices, even one so out-sized as a total switch in gender, are, I feel, none of my business.  And I am puzzled that news outlets think they are.

Please, newsers, keep Jenner’s experiences on the Oprah couch.  Until you can find an approach that tells us the human story of this unhappy man (or woman).

THAT would interest me.  For now, though, the story seems trapped by photo-shopped images, Kardashian rears, and promotions for Jenner’s upcoming reality show.   The paradox is that a trapped story is free to make the rounds everywhere, and none of it is especially enlightening or emotionally true.

 

 

 

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