I couldn't have written this 5 years ago

calling out a gotcha humiliation stunt; let's call it handbag-gate

What I’m about to share here is something that has occurred much of my career but that I’ve mostly been too afraid to call out directly. However, my age and the times we straddle see me taking a more courageous and responsible approach today.

So on Thursday at 5.18pm I received an email from a newspaper gossip columnist.

Hi Sarah,

We are running a story in (NAME OF GOSSIP COLUMN IN NEWSPAPER) tomorrow on your recent Private Parts podcast interview, in which you state that you have never owned a handbag, to this day.

We have numerous images of you carrying handbags at events, shopping and riding your bike.

Would you like to comment?

Regards,

(NAME OF GOSSIP COLUMNIST)

Private Parts is a podcast hosted by the whip-smart former British reality TV star Jamie Laing (a male Abbie Chatfield with less vagina talk). I agreed to Jamie’s request to go on the pod while I was in London in July. I was asked to talk about anxiety, the sale of I Quit Sugar and donation of funds to charity and my “minimalist way of living”. It was fun and Jamie is a seriously good human and host. In the course of our chat, I do vaguely recall discussing that I had never owned a handbag.

OK, so I decided to reply to the gossip columnist’s email. I asked that I see said images in order to comment (I run them in a tick, below).

Tedious, mitochondrial-wasting stuff, I know. What would you call it?!… A gotcha humiliation stunt?

But you often have to mind-map these kind of scenarios carefully. Sure, if you say nothing you are able to take a higher moral ground. Silence says, “I do not dignify your ridiculous enquiry with a response”. But this approach can bite off noses despite faces because these gossip columnists can then run what they like in the absence of a comment from you. This is also why gossip columnists like to send their emails at 5:18pm. It gives victims mere minutes to reply before the print deadline for the following day’s paper. “Oh well, we gave you the opportunity to comment…”.

On the other hand, if you do respond you run the risk of doth protesting too much. Especially as a lady.