Jackie McGregor: Bridget Jones returns but young women think she's toxic

Calm down dear, I thought to myself whilst reading the younger generation’s take on Bridge, you weren’t there! You can’t possibly rule that an era shouldn’t have existed purely because things happened in it that you don’t approve of!

We are all products of our generation, heavily influenced by the media, music and novels of our time. My Generation X friends, and I grew up reading magazines like, Jackie, and My Guy. The main topic of these periodicals was boys! Looking back at old issues, the cover lines screamed, ‘101 ways to land a fella’, and ‘Jackie – the best thing for girls – next to boys!’ I devoured them as a teen.

Younger women might finger-wag at how Bridget appeared man mad, but it was hinted heavily to my generation that you were a failure if you didn’t have a boyfriend/husband. Our main aim was to find Mr Right. To get that mister, we had to be slim and attractive, that was the message conveyed through magazines, as they flogged us products to help us obtain this goal.

Today’s young women are incensed about Bridget’s toxic femininity, body image problems and sexual harassment in the workplace. I agree her boss, Daniel Cleaver’s behaviour towards Bridget in the workplace is clearly sexual harassment, but back then, it wasn’t picked up on, which says a lot about the time! Yes, the world thankfully has moved on, but Bridget Jones is of its era and should be viewed as a period piece. Instead, young women complain that Bridget should have been happy with her “authentic self,” instead of being a “fat phobic,” as one writer described her.

It’s how we were then, we calorie counted, read self-improvement books and wore enormous tummy trimming knickers, just like Bridget. Some of the girls I knew were frighteningly obsessed with finding a man, (there were cannibals less man hungry!)

The younger generation have criticised Bridget for not loving her authentic self, yet their generation use lip fillers, have tattooed eyebrows, and post photos of themselves on social media, with all their imperfections filtered out. Kim Kardashian is a modern-day role model, who turned up at the Met Gala Ball this week with a dramatically cinched in waist, which looked agony! Few people really want to be their authentic selves. Individuals are just as self-dissatisfied now as Bridget was in the 90s, many strive to improve themselves, that’s what Bridget was doing too, in her own now seemingly outdated, way.