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Those gossip magazines, they seem to cover female celebrities a lot more than their male counterparts, noticed the Times. And in their defense, magazine editors bravely blamed their readers. "If Britney weren't a mother, this story wouldn't be getting a fraction of attention it's getting," said People's managing editor. The Times also gathered from him that "women are fascinated by the challenges facing a young mother." Women, said Fox News reporter Roger Friedman, are "more emotional and open;" US Weekly EIC Janice Min pointed out that female readers are "more sympathetic," in the Times's words, toward "young men in crisis." So gossip magazines are harsher on women because female readers sympathize more with women, and because female readers sympathize with men.

The other explanations were, well, the real-sounding ones: Psychologists pointed out a double standard that focuses on men's careers vs. women's personalities; George Clooney's publicist said that some certain movie stars keep clean by demanding privacy. And TMZ's managing editor pointed out that since Nicole Richie cleaned up, "everyone's cheering for her," or at least calling her nearly normal.