Martha Stewart is home from spending five months in the big house for lying under oath. Remember, it wasn't the insider trading so much as the sloppy attempt at covering her tracks that landed her in so much grief. Stewart will have to wear an ankle tag and curtail her activities for another few months. Well, she still has her magazine. Earlier in this saga, there were suggestions, rumours, intimations, that her name might be dropped from the masthead; Stewart's name still appears albeit less prominently.

Stewart has a well-documented history of difficult relations with co-workers, employees, and loved ones, and it could be argued that one does not rise to the top being good to people. Nobody wants to be thought of as nice because that is tantamount to being vulnerable and inconsequential. Women in positions of power are still held largely in contempt because it is presumed that they have clawed their way upwards; whether or not it's true (and Oprah Winfrey, for example, seems to have retained, cultivated, her genuine kindness during her ascent to greatness) is irrelevant. We live in a sexist, misogynist society which doesn't trust women.

I used to watch Martha's show years ago and was enormously entertained by her seductive presentations of gardening tricks, extravagant desserts, and better living although none of it was ever going to be replicated at my house. Martha Stewart Living, Restoration Hardware, Lee Valley, and sometimes even IKEA amount to little more than domestic pornography to people like me who rent their dwelling and whose personal decorating style includes unframed posters on the wall held up with tacks. However, 90% of my furnishings and accessories come from IKEA and I have bottle brushes from Lee Valley, evidence that even the most incorrigible are willing to play along. I bought some MS bedsheets which incidentally don't fit all that well on futons.

Posted by Jetta at 11:19 AM PST

Updated: Friday, 4 March 2005 11:26 AM PST

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