• Culture
    Culture
    Filipino actors Bridgerton

    Get to know the Filipino actors in ‘Bridgerton’

    pura luka vega chappell roan church

    Matched her freak! Pura Luka Vega performs Chappell Roan’s ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ at ‘Church’

    AI and deepfake porn is a form of sexual assault—and we need to talk about it

    AI and deepfake porn is a form of sexual assault—and we need to talk about it

    • Women
    • Queer
    • Politics
    • Environment
    • Food
  • Style
    Style
    Pond's serums

    These night serums are your new solutions for radiant, glowing skin

    5 original Filipino fragrance brands to check out

    5 original Filipino fragrance brands to check out

    Here’s where you can get unique, one-off accessories—designed by you

    • Fashion
    • Beauty
    • Space
    • Shopping
  • Entertainment
    Entertainment
    Filipino actors Bridgerton

    Get to know the Filipino actors in ‘Bridgerton’

    pura luka vega chappell roan church

    Matched her freak! Pura Luka Vega performs Chappell Roan’s ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ at ‘Church’

    charlie’s angels totally spies!

    Our favorite onscreen spies, from Austin Powers to ‘Totally Spies!’

    • Celebrities
    • TV & Movies
    • Music
  • Life+Money
    Life+Money
    Single woman adopts baby

    Forming a family: When a single woman adopts a baby

    painting of baby

    A mother-to-be’s survival guide

    Navigating a friend breakup that has no bad blood

    It’s no one’s fault: When a friendship naturally runs its course

    • Career & Money
    • Parenting & Relationships
    • Sex & Health
    • Astrology
    • Travel
  • Inquirer.net
  • Lifestyle
Reading
We Need to Talk About How We Talk About Isabel Preysler
ShareTweet
In CelebritiesCultureFeminismPreen
2 min read

We Need to Talk About How We Talk About Isabel Preysler

By Chryssa Celestinoon July 6, 2015
Share

Isabel Preysler Mario Vargas Lllosa Preen

Look at that ¡HOLA! cover. Nobel prize-winning author Mario Vargas Llosa looks longingly at the woman before him, whom we’ll recognize as former Filipino journalist and model Isabel Preysler a.k.a. the woman we wish we’d look like when we’re 60.

Photo courtesy of Hola! magazine
Photo courtesy of Hola! magazine

Naturally, it’s a cover worth the Mediterranean buzz. The still-married Peruvian writer is now in a relationship with Enrique Iglesias’ mother and economist Miguel Boyer’s widow—how juicily scandalous. But is this romance really worth all the sexist blows?

The other woman 

Let’s start with how the story spread. The news broke after reports of them hanging out in Madrid and flirting in events. The dinners were taken as “friendship [that] narrowed and strengthened.”

When the news reached our seas, Isabel Preysler assumed the single label of the socialite who stole this noble man’s heart. I don’t know about you, but there’s something disturbing about dubbing Spain’s queen of ageless glamor as simply that.

The dictionary might give an alluring meaning to it, but ‘socialite’ carries connotations of a materialistic woman who’s fashionably present in all social events, and marries society’s most loaded bachelor for the time being.

To reduce Isabel, who once shared an award for her philanthropic work alongside Yoko Ono, into a pretty face in this love story is problematic. Before acknowledging her beauty and her deeds, she just had to be shamed in context. How dare she date when she should be mourning over her husband’s death last year?

Modern norms are still medieval 

You see, the question should be: How dare we talk about the woman’s fall, as if her sin was hers alone? Is it even a sin to begin with?

It’s like we’re living in the early ages of Britney Spears and Kevin Federline, and Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt all over again: the woman gets the blame and the mistress name, when the spotlight should’ve been on the man (who’s just that ‘other’ guy), too. Even when poor Princess Diana (whose royal husband cheated on her, by the way) and James Hewitt had an affair, more critical eyes were on the former because a) it was indecent for a woman of her status, and b) it was a damaging act prompted by selfishness.

If we’re all about norms here, it’s time we update them.

Truth of the matter 

As in the curious case of Kristen Stewart and Rupert Sanders, Isabel begets the bias for ditching social courtesy as we completely forget that Mario is his own home’s wrecker. ICYMI: He was no victim. He was a consenting (married!) adult in a romance that is, you know, a two-sided thing.

The thing with messy love triangles that involve married men is that all respect is lost for the supposedly seductive female sex. Isabel’s silence is considered wise, only because we thought it fit for somebody who stooped this low. For a socialite like her, it was a disgraceful move.

Except, it wasn’t. We applaud Isabel for winging through this controversy, and for giving the finger to those who thought it was a shallow, lustful affair. For all we know, she was single and ready before this. Who are we to approve and disapprove, anyway?

Art by Dorothy Guya

Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
Share 0

Action Required!

We embed Facebook Comments plugin to allow you to leave comment at our website using your Facebook account. It may collects your IP address, your web browser User Agent, store and retrieve cookies on your browser, embed additional tracking, and monitor your interaction with the commenting interface, including correlating your Facebook account with whatever action you take within the interface (such as “liking” someone’s comment, replying to other comments), if you are logged into Facebook. For more information about how this data may be used, please see Facebook’s data privacy policy: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update.

Accept    Decline

Tags
divorceKristen StewartPrincess DianaSpain

Subscribe to our newsletter

Stay in the loop


By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

ShareTweetEmailShare
Chryssa Celestino

Peek This

Pond's serums

These night serums are your new solutions for radiant, glowing skin

Filipino actors Bridgerton

Get to know the Filipino actors in ‘Bridgerton’

pura luka vega chappell roan church

Matched her freak! Pura Luka Vega performs Chappell Roan’s ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ at ‘Church’

AI and deepfake porn is a form of sexual assault—and we need to talk about it

AI and deepfake porn is a form of sexual assault—and we need to talk about it

Preen.ph © 2020. Hinge Inquirer Publications, Inc.
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • HOME
  • ARCHIVES
  • ABOUT US
  • CONTACT US
  • ADVERTISE WITH US
Previous
Beauty Vloggers for Every Profile
Next
Burt’s Bees Founder Passes Away at 80
  • Culture
    • Women
    • Queer
    • Politics
    • Environment
    • Food
  • Style
    • Fashion
    • Beauty
    • Space
    • Shopping
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrities
    • TV & Movies
    • Music
  • Life+Money
    • Career & Money
    • Parenting & Relationships
    • Sex & Health
    • Astrology
    • Travel
  • Inquirer.net
  • Lifestyle
  • Subscribe
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Search
Start typing to see results or hit ESC to close
fashion fashion news music Culture News movies
See all results

Subscribe to our newsletter

Stay in the loop


By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.