I never see a guy reading People or The Enquirer or any of the other gossip magazines. I don’t know any guys who watch The View. But the women I’m around talk about celebrities and their marriages, divorces, children, and so on. Why do they care if Angelina Jolie adopted a kid, or J-Lo is sleeping with whomever it is she’s sleeping with? I don’t get it.
Yes, I know you’re a woman you don’t fit the OP; and how dare I paint with such a broad brush? I’m talking generalities here; not specifics.
Studies have shown that gossiping is an evolutionary advantage. It’s how we learn how not to act and how to fit into society. It’s easily googleable, but, you know, I’m lazy.
I don’t care much, but when I do decide to care, I care a lot. So FWIW, here’s my take…
Women have this complex where they feel they have to compare themselves to other women. We immediately notice whose breasts are larger/smaller than ours, who is astoundingly fat/thin after having a baby, and whose hair just looks wonderful/hideous. With celebrities, it makes us feel better about ourselves to see that someone who the whole world thinks is sexy, is having a very unsexy moment. For one brief, shining moment, we can say “Aha! I might be fat, Miss Spears, but at least I don’t have a shaved head!” and such.
Same principle applies to divorces, affairs, and other nonphysical events. “Angelina Jolie may be every guy’s fantasy, but at least I’m not tonguing my brother!”
YMMV, blah-de-blah. 
Edit: After googling, the truth was revealed. I was wrong. Sorry.
I know guys who read People and watch those celeb gossip shows all that stuff. And they are pretty macho dudes too.
It’s so refreshing to have my ignorance fought by such an honest, clear description. Thank you freekalette!
Yeah the Entertainment Weekly is my husband’s subscription. I think it’s dumber than dirt but he loves it.
I agree, I think gossip serves a purpose in human society. Nowadays most of us don’t know our neighbors well enough to gossip about them, so we turn to celebrities instead. Gossip is about the relationship between people, essentially. That’s why women tend to like it more than men do.
Celeb gossip is an easy topic to talk about with other people. You have to put in effort to come up with coherent and well-thought out political views, but if you bring up Brangelina, everyone can join the conversation with an opinion and none of those opinions are necessarily wrong. So following celeb news give you an easy way to bond and connect with others. I think sports serve the same purpose for many men.
Plus a lot of us enjoy the fantasy of how glamorous celebrities’ lives are. It’s fun to learn more about how they live and imagine ourselves living their life. It’s also fun, as noted above :), to enjoy the schadenfreude of discovering that in spite of their money/fame they have problems too and nobody’s life is perfect.
I make no apologies for enjoying some of the celeb gossip out there. I dislike Paris Hilton, the View, and all of the crazy idiots involved in Scientology - but I do enjoy reading about stuff like Angelina adopting kids and who’s together/breaking up, etc. Not everything people enjoy has to be cerebral and sophisticated.
My completely unsupportable theory is that it’s all about Motherhood.
Many women can’t settle for being moms to only their own family. They have to be moms to the whole freakin’ world. And so they have to know EVERYTHING about everyone, to allow for a proper diagnosis of their problems and prescriptions to fix everything.
I have a co-worker, a lovely woman, smart as a whip, who keeps up with what celebrities’ babies wear.
Don’t get too smug, there, pal- studies show that men gossip at least as much as women do. It really has nothing to do with mothering if you read the data.
Why do men follow professional sports with such fanaticism they’ll skip a day of work to go to a game, or spend thousands on a ticket to the SuperBowl, etc., etc.?
Same stuff different gender.
I’ve wondered that myself.
I agree that it serves a similar role to following sports. I don’t care for much of either celebrity gossip or sports, but when I’m in an office that requires one of them for small talk, I’ll follow a little bit of the relevant chatter.
Here’s the armchair theory that popped up first:
I see it as a biological thing, paralleled in different ways in the animal kingdom. I’ll use horses as they are the most familiar to me group dynamic-wise, but wolves, primates, and others have similar structures.
In horses, the mare is in charge of the herd. Leadmare is precisely that–she is Big Momma, and she ain’t taking nobody’s crap. (Elephants are like this, too.) As lead mare, she decides when and where the herd eats and drinks, and keeps everyone in line. That obnoxious colt that just realized he has testicles will get quite the stern “talking to” by lead mare when he starts acting bigger and more macho than fits his britches. She disciplines the family and maintains order.
This means everyone’s interactions are her business. If the roan is giving the grey crap, she will know about it and their uppence will be coming. Mares that aren’t lead are either trying to undercut the mare on their way up, or seeking her approval (my mares are one of each–the one who is constantly challenging me to be the leader, and the one who wants to always be in my favor).
Contrast that to the stallion, who is guiding the herd to whatever the destination may be, and protecting them from danger. He is the overseer, the fighter, the guide, but doesn’t get involved in the daily nitty-gritty. The stallion without a herd–again, like in many other species–hangs out in bachelor bands, teasing and play-fighting while also bonding, and searches for the herd of mares whose stallion he thinks he can take.
So…perhaps biologically females are geared toward the interactions with others (the gossipy stuff included), and the males toward conquering and moving on (sports–the ultimate bachelor band, heh!).
Again, this is all knee-jerk. I may or may not be talking out of my ass.
BTW, I like the occasional People to read certain stories, but I can’t stand all the articles about weddings and babies and such. Just doesn’t hold my interest. I’m more interested in the truly dramatic–the hometown hero, the kidnap victim speaks, etc. Of course, for a while, Britney Spears was in the “truly dramatic” category as well.
I came by to mention this, too. Not only sports, but every other trivia (quoting movies, knowing everything about their favorite movies, series, actors, etc.).
My guess is people in general like (different) types of random trivia, and seek it out.
Women compare breast size? Bwuh?
I’ve heard of some sad women who feel inadequate because they feel “lacking” in that department, but I’ve never heard of any woman saying, “gosh–Cheryl’s a 40DD and I’m only a 34B. No wonder she gets dates.”
I thought it was guys who compare penis size (scoping out other guys on the QT)–but that’s probably a myth as well.
No idea re celeb gossip except for the theory that it’s easier to talk about situational ethics and the pain/joy in life one step removed.
I buy the Academy Awards issue of People every year–it’s fun to see the horrid fashions and the great ones, too. For the rest of it–meh. My husband is much more interested in this stuff than I am–especially the newest hot young thang. :rolleyes:
Gee, I guess the whole “breast augmentation” thing is a myth too.
I was houseboy in a sorority when I was in college (over 30 years ago now) and am here to observe that a group of women in Berkeley back in the 70’s did in fact compare breast sizes. I’m pretty sure they weren’t unusual.
I added a little something to the title.
Probably cause they are safe to gossip about. You dont know your neighbor , (s)he might be an axe murderer. Your co-workers can have your butt hauled into HR, and family …Bwaaaah.
So that leaves the celebs leading lives that others might want to lead , dating people they only dream about dating and sometimes they disapoint.
Declan