carved angel

Salon.com Books | Girls gone wild:

The picture that Levy paints is more than a little grim: raunch culture, which is essentially misogynist, callow, simplistic and ubiquitous, breeds women-hating-women who angle for power with men and propagate more raunch under the deceitful guise of feminist empowerment.

this is a topic i've been meaning to write about for a while, but haven't had the time or inclination. after reading this article, which sohei pointed out to me at lunch, i finally feel inspired to talk about it. is the new female "raunch culture" really a form of women's liberation? are we showing how empowered we've become? or have we been tricked into this behavior by a capitalist society mainly run by men? is "girl power" all about the freedom to run around in skimpy outfits and act as boorish as men have been for ages? it's a bit tricky.

Levy goes further. "In this new formulation of raunch feminism, stripping is as valuable to elevating womankind as gaining an education or supporting rape victims," she writes. "Throwing a party where women grind against each other in their underwear while fully clothed men watch them is suddenly part of the same project as marching on Washington for reproductive rights." This unlikely feat is possible because in 2005, there's no consensus on what feminism, or a feminist, is -- there are S/M feminists, radical lesbian feminists, NOW and Planned Parenthood feminists, even some pro-lifers who call themselves feminists. While the big-tent approach to feminism has created space for everyone, it has also allowed for conservatism, exploitation and commercialism to pollute women's hard-won gains.

i do think, regarding raunch feminism, that commercialism has intruded as it has in almost every other culture, and polluted something that could improve so many lives. as a fat chick, i can tell you, there are a multitude of conflicting ideas on what being a strong woman is about. i'm supposed to be proud of my body, and love it no matter what. but at the same time, i'm constantly inundated with images of women that i could never hope to look like in a million years, and told to look that way or suffer. (frankly, i don't like the stick look, and typically have no desire to look like that.) so, on a daily basis, i'm encouraged to love myself for who i am, then told in the next breath that i could stand to lose 100 lbs. that if i don't wear skimpy clothing, i'm boring, and setting back the women's movement, but if i do wear it, i'm surely disgusting the populace with my unsightly body and, of course, setting back the women's movement. so what's a girl to do? aside from occasionally fantasizing about going on killing sprees, and banging her head on her desk in frustration?

oh, did you want an answer? i certainly don't have one. if you come up with something, though, do let me know.

thanks to the bipolar society i live in, i have some personal thoughts on the matter. this doesn't mean you have to agree with me. but, as of this moment, this is what i think about all of this:

a woman should be proud of her body. this does not have to mean she should become a stripper or dress like a skank. you can be proud of your body without becomming an object for men to drool all over. i can see how some women would equate this attention with having control over a man, or allowing them to be on the same level as a man. but you aren't really on the same level, are you? or better? does a man have to behave this way to get your respect? not typically. so should a woman have to do this? besides, just because a man is ogling you doesn't mean you have his respect. yes, you've reduced him to a slavering idiot, which admittedly can feel good or empowering. but what are you getting out of it? he might spend money on you, or act like like he cares about what you say. but all he really cares about is your body. and once you've had sex with him, chances are you won't be hearing from him -- or getting any money out of him -- again. (just ask a stripper.) i guess if you're okay with someone being primarily focused on your looks, that's your business. but don't fool yourself into thinking it makes you some kind of feminist. any power you have over a man in this way is purely superficial. it's pretty sad if a woman believes that the only way she can level the playing field is by taking her clothes off. unless we prove to men that there's more to us than perfect face, tits, and ass, we're never going to get anywhere. flashing your tits to millions of people in exchange for a free t-shirt doesn't empower you. it makes you into a (really cheap) object. the guys watching girls gone wild don't care about your personality. they don't care about who you are, as a human being. you've just become something for them to jack off to, or joke with their buddies about. to them, you're just another dumb slut, and you're making the rest of us look bad, so cut it out.

and this treachery and sabotage women practice on one another has to stop, too. again, this smacks of yet more victimization at the hands of a capitalist, patriarchal society. why do we do this to each other? fighting over men? always trying to show everyone else up? and the gossip... telling your friends that jane is a slut, then going out to a bar in your undies and drunkenly hitting on her boyfriend? then making out with a bunch of other girls in a sad effort to attract attention and maybe hook up with some other drunken loser? what the fuck, ladies? it makes me wonder about the world we live in when women can only feel good about themselves by getting men to ogle them or by making other women feel like shit. why are we constantly forced to compete with each other, or made to feel that we have no other choice? why do we buy into this? we need to band together and prove that our self esteem goes beyond "winning" a man or fitting into a size 0. enough with the back-stabbing.

we don't need to act like whores or take on men's worst personality traits to get ahead. if things are that way now, it's because we've allowed it to happen. if we refuse to go that route, men will be forced to appreciate us for the same qualities in which they are judged. you should get a job because you're smart, confident, and qualified, not because your outfit enhances your physical assets. yeah, it's our bodies that set us apart from men. we have things they don't, which is part of the mystique that has attracted men to us from time immemorial. but we're not neanderthals anymore. while some of us may be mentally stuck in that period, it's really time we moved on.

so enough of just shrugging and saying, "that's the way it is." it doesn't have to be that way. quit fighting your sisters, and start fighting the society that's trying to make you into an object, and trying to hold you down. don't just accept what the media is selling as the perfect woman. if you happen to be hot, great. and you should be allowed to wear whatever you like. or be anything you want, even if that means being a stripper or porn star. but at least realize why you want to do these things, and be honest about it. if you're dressing to impress men, don't claim it's about "girl power" or something. we already have the right to pretty much wear whatever we want, so it's not like you're taking the fight to the streets when you wear daisy dukes. if you're wearing them because you happen to like them, fine. wear things that make you look good for yourself, not to make men hot or other women jealous. it's not really furthering the cause, otherwise...

or maybe you don't care about feminism at all. if you're a woman, then you're kind of shooting yourself in the foot, as far as that goes. but i'm not going to force it on anyone. just understand that the brand of feminism that's being sold right now is the brainchild of a rich, white, out-of-touch man. sure, there are some female executives taking part in this, too. but, as far as i'm concerned, they're just selling out their own.

we're all in this together, ladies. it's time to put the pasties and knives away, and focus on the real issues facing women. and i'm betting you won't find any answers in cosmo.

Yet as Levy points out, being the exception that proves the rule -- the girl who gets raunch, who laughs at Howard Stern -- just means the rules are still intact. As long as "acting like a man" is valued, acting like a woman will be devalued. And regardless of how you understand gender, being a woman -- having breasts, bleeding once a month -- will be a handicap.