Here are some comments I read in Maclean's magazine on this very topic. Interesting....

http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?c...ce=srch&page=2

(published) Nov 12, 2007 Story: "THE TABS: NO MEN ALLOWED"
JAIME J. WEINMAN | November 2, 2007 |

Is there a double standard in celebrity gossip? If not, why do gossip publications mostly go after women? Even though most of the biggest movie stars are men, when you're leafing through In Touch or Star or the dozens of other celebrity dish sources, you mostly read about the tribulations of living women like Lindsay Lohan, or dead ones like Princess Diana.

Bonnie Fuller, editor of the popular tabloid Star magazine, says they don't yet have "a big male star who's going to have crossover appeal to both sexes." What gives a star the broadest appeal, apparently, is being a woman and being in trouble. Though you'll read about celebrity couples in gossip magazines — Fuller says that Brad Pitt is "integral to the dynamic" of the beloved Brangelina cover stories — you'll rarely read about men getting into trouble. At least not without women like Angelina Jolie or Jennifer Aniston to get them into that trouble.

Of course, sometimes a male star goes so spectacularly wrong that the gossip magazines have no choice but to feature him. But they seem to do it almost grudgingly. When Owen Wilson attempted suicide in August, TMZ.com, which started up in 2005 and almost instantly became the leader in lurid celebrity-stalking sagas, gave remarkably little attention to the story, even though it was one of the first sites to break it in the first place. After reporting on the basic facts of the case, TMZ and its founder and editor, Harvey Levin, started moving on to other subjects, doing very little to investigate the reasons for Wilson's depression. Gawker.com, a site that covers the world of gossip coverage, pointed out how different this was from TMZ's literally 24-hour coverage of Lindsay Lohan and her arrest for cocaine possession. "Why aren't they updating us on his every move?" wrote Doree Shafrir at Gawker.com. "Why haven't they talked to 'friends' and his brothers and anyone who ever took a crap within a 12-mile radius of him?"

Liz Smith, the veteran gossip columnist, pointed out in print that photos of Matthew McConaughey falling down drunk were being treated with indulgence and even amusement, whereas the same photos would have caused a Lindsay Lohan to be "branded an out-of-control tramp." In an interview with Maclean's, Smith adds that there are other male celebrities who aren't getting a rough enough ride from her profession. "When Robert Downey Jr. was arrested for drugs, over and over, and eventually went to jail, his problems did not receive one-tenth of the heat and light that has been rained down on Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie and Britney Spears for their drunk-driving and drug addictions."

Does that mean that men can never become tabloid villains? Yes, they can — but unlike women, they can't become villains for living too hard or too fast; they have to display racism or bigotry to get on the front pages. TMZ managed to wreck Michael Richards' career with one blurry cellphone video. Few people were interested in Mel Gibson's drunk driving, but when he made anti-Semitic comments while being arrested, that was enough to make it a major story.

Emily Gould, a writer for Gawker.com, explains that the tabloids simply reflect the traditional double standards: "A guy who stays out late and parties a lot is a player, and a girl who does the same thing is torn to shreds. Nothing's changed." So while women are still supposed to be clean-living, the tabloids share our boys-will-be-boys attitude to men — although they'll punish an Isaiah Washington for being insensitive or intolerant.Put it all together, and you can see a strange pattern emerging: the purpose of tabloid gossip, it seems, is to punish celebrities for bad behaviour. It's just that the definition of bad behaviour is different for men than for women, and not just in gossip columns.