Oz Dating

Lately the idea of sexually assertive older women ("cougars") actively pursuing younger men has become very popular in the media. There have been countless reports on this phenomenon, and even a popular comedy series starring Courtney Cox. Sadly, a recent study has shown the trend to be something of a myth.

It's not surprising. Often ideas promoted by Hollywood are found to be largely false. Think of the successful American cop shows and the many cliches, conventions and stereotypes they rely on. One thing that real law enforcement officers must find consistently laughable is the speed with which fictional detectives solve crimes and apprehend the criminals.

Sure, there's more than a grain of truth in these shows, but that becomes heavily distorted by the need to tell a compelling story and be entertaining. I think the same could be said of the cougar phenomenon.

There have been several big international dating sites that have entered the lucrative Australian market. They have caused little controversy. But that has all changed with a TV campaign for Ashley Madison, a site catering to affair seekers.

One perennial complaint of feminists is that the media often fixates on aspect of the lives of prominent and powerful women that they simply would consider covering if they were men. That's probably not so true now. However, evey now and then it is definitely valid, particularly in the case of young and attractive women.

Take the case of Hajnal Ban. She is a Queensland politician who is now in the news simply because there are rumors that she's in a relationship with another politician.

Australian celebrity Naomi Robson is a very controversial figure. While she was working in TV she was involved in a number of incidents that generated a lot of ill-well towards her from others in the media.

Now, she's resurrecting her career on the web. But the controversy continues to follow her.

It makes you wonder why people hate her so much. There must be many other female TV  personalities who are easily as difficult to work with, vain and morally questionable. But their bad behaviour goes "under the radar", even though they are well known.

I think it's something to do with her particular kind of physical beauty, and slightly regal air. She stands out like a sore thumb among most female celebrities, who are usually wholesome and fresh "girl next door" types.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how her web chat show goes. It does seem to be a canny move considering the growth of the internet. No one else seems to be doing anything similar, so she may well end up dominating the market.

Several months ago Jodi Gordon made headlines by allegedly going on a cocaine bender with a bikie named Mark Judge. He is now in the news again, being one of the nominees for Cleo's Bachelor of the Year title.

Not surprisingly, the selection has caused some controversy. But it certainly reveals how the media works. Once you've hit the headlines for any reason - but particularly if it's through intimate association with an existing celebrity - then you qualify as a celebrity yourself!

If Mark Judge doesn't already have an agent, he should get one

Barely a week goes past without there being another celebrity sex tape scandal. This week, it's Lindsay Lohan, who's deeply concerned that some alleged footage of her nude with an anonymous man may soon hit the internet.

While this alleged footage me have been taken without her knowledge, celebrity sex tapes are often made by the celebrities themselves. It seems a remarkably stupid thing to do given the risks of them being made public. (That is, unless they make them in the secret hope that this does actually happen! Which I suspect is actually the case a lot of the time.)

Becoming a celebrity must be like signing a pact with the devil. You get huge rewards but end up losing your soul. And your relationships are almost certain to become completely crazy and tumultuous.

Take the case of Jordan (aka Katie Price). She's had a bitter and highly publicized breakup with fellow celeb Peter Andre. And the relationship she subsequently entered is mess as well.

Her latest bizarre act: To reunite with this guy, a cage fighter called Alex Reid, because she's worried he might divulge intimate details of their sex life to the media.

Originally she thought there was no risk of this occurring, since he'd signed an agreement promising never to do so. But it turns out this is not valid, because he signed it as his cross-dressing alter ego!

It's so bizarre you just couldn't make this stuff up.

Things keep getting worse for Tiger Woods. As well as other lovers being identified, some of his highly embarrassing text messages and e-mails to them have been published in tabloids. So now he's offering his wife tens of millions of dollars to stay in the marriage.

I think that if he feels he has to do that, the marriage is probably finished anyway. It just reduces it to a financial arrangement. (Although I suppose that when you are that successful; that much of a "brand" pretty much everything you do is assessed in financial terms more than in any other way!)