Anyone who writes regularly has a tendency to over-use certain words. Whether you're a journalist, a novelist, a social media influencer or even just an avid WhatsApp user, you have probably noticed that you favour specific vocabulary, with certain adjectives or adverbs in particular cropping up frequently. For me, it's 'obsessed'. I found myself using the word so regularly in articles - 'Lady Gaga just dropped a new album and we are obsessed'; 'Christine Quinn dyed her hair and we couldn't be more obsessed'; 'Phoebe Waller-Bridge sneezed and I am OBSESSED' - that I had to introduce a personal weekly limit, which I broke on Tuesday morning. But there's one word that seems to dominate headlines and captions in tabloid media, and it's a word that you rarely hear used in real life. You know what it is. 'Flaunt.'
Websites like Mail Online have long been mocked across social media for the consistent use of the word 'flaunt' when describing a person engaging in an unremarkable activity. This person is always, always a woman. Jennifer Aniston, for example, popped out to the shops in the summer of 2019. The resulting Mail Online headline? 'Jennifer Aniston flaunts sensational figure wearing blue leggings and a pink tank top to run errands in LA.' Just yesterday, Rita Ora posted an image on Instagram. The Daily Star's bulletin? 'Rita Ora flaunts toned pins in sexy minidress amid Lewis Capaldi recording session.' Even Nigella Lawson - not an actress, nor a singer, but a cook! - can't escape. In 2017, she appeared on the promo trail for her show The Taste. The Mirror loved it: 'Nigella Lawson flaunts her curves in clinging red wrap dress.' The options are endless. Google these women - or most women in the public eye bar The Queen, Mary Beard or Mary Berry - and you'll find reams of similar headlines to wade through.
So what is it about? 'Flaunt' is defined as a verb meaning to 'display (something) ostentatiously, especially in order to provoke envy or admiration or to show defiance.' But who decides on whether or not the display in question is ostentatious? Must a specific gradient of cleavage be shown in order to warrant such a description? Must a navel be exposed for more than ten to fifteen seconds in order to be considered to have been flaunted? Can on flaunt an ankle? A calf? Or do we require a hint of kneecap?
The answer, really, is that 'flaunt' is the perfect word to use when you have nothing else to say. Journalists, particularly online ones, often have article quotas - one piece per 45 minutes, then three minutes to breathe - and sometimes have to create an entire story around nothing but a paparazzi picture. Faced with an image of Keira Knightley leaving Whole Foods with a carton of Oat Milk, journalists face a choice. Be factual, and write the headline 'Keira Knightley leaves Whole Foods with a carton of Oat Milk', or be sensationalist, and choose 'Keira Knightley flaunts her delicate wrists while shopping in North London.' It is obvious which one will catch the attention of social media users and those scrolling through the homepages and sidebars of Britain's most popular websites.
But it's also more than a lack of imagination (it has to be said, 'flaunt' has few synonyms, so options when describing an uneventful event really are limited). The word 'flaunt' can also be incredibly loaded. Look at Rebel Wilson. She's been doing an awful lot of flaunting lately. Today, she's been flaunting while eating ice cream in a 'plunging' black dress ('flaunting' and 'plunging' often go hand in hand). Mail Online says she flaunted yesterday too. Also, on October 10th. October 5th. September 27th. She must be exhausted.
Before September, Rebel flaunted a 'trim figure' in December of 2019, and before that she flaunted a 'slimmer figure' in 2016 after losing 15kg. It's clear that Rebel Wilson is only described as 'flaunting' when it is in relation to weight loss, as if posting images of herself online is innately ostentatious only when she is thin. She looked great before. There are many photos of her on red carpets and at award ceremonies. But she wasn't flaunting when she weighed more. Curious.
Or, perhaps, look at the Duchess of Sussex and the Duchess of Cambridge, who are constantly portrayed in the media as in opposition. This week, Meghan wore a Ruth Bader Ginsburg t-shirt - 'Meghan flaunts latest political statement', said The Daily Express. In September, she appeared on a video call that offered a brief glimpse at her new California home - 'Meghan flaunts new £11m Hollywood home', said The Daily Star. Meghan has 'flaunted her baby bump' many times, and was of course criticised for cradling it too much for good measure.
Kate, meanwhile, is treated very differently. She, too, has been noted as 'flaunting' her baby bump, as if she has lifted her dress and waved her bare stomach in the faces of Chelsea pensioners. But beyond that, the description seems less loaded. She has 'flaunted' a new hairdo and, according to Vanity Fair, 'tiny, pregnancy-proof legs.' Kate is being labelled as a flaunter in the way that Nigella et al are: to mark a minor change, or because it's an easy word to choose when there's little else to say. But Meghan gets handed the term when there is a message the title wishes to portray: that she is a show-off or a try-hard. When Meghan wore a new piece of jewellery, she 'flaunted an incredible ring at the Trooping of the Colour', subtly implying that the choice of accessory did not befit a solemn occasion, perhaps suggesting that Meghan had set out to draw focus. When Kate wore a new piece of jewellery, she 'flaunt[ed] a necklace with heartwarming engraving.' It would not be overreaching, I think, to argue that when Meghan flaunts, it's bad, but when Kate flaunts, it's good.
In Mel Brooks' classic musical The Producers, Swedish bombshell Ulla performs When You've Got It, Flaunt It, a rousing call to action to women who refuse to be shamed for being beautiful, who decline to cover up, who find success by showing off their assets. The use of 'flaunt' in tabloid headlines aims - however subtly, and perhaps even unintentionally - to mock women for daring to possess confidence, beauty, charm or sexuality. In recent years, the world has woken up to the word's strangeness. But it's not going anywhere. So, perhaps, all we can do is accept that its rise stems from misogyny, envy and, above all else, a simple lack of creativity. Strip the word of all meaning and get on with your lives. It's just another F word.
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