Categories: musings
Date: 13 September 2007 17:11:22
Richard posted this on Connexions recently, and, as usual this kind of thing gets me angry. Not so much, as you might expect, at the people who produce these 'lads mags', or even the unimaginative and plain ignorant men who buy them, although both groups are not high on my list of favourites. No, the real problem I have with this is with the women who allow it to happen. And its not even just in magazines and 'news' papers like these, but in every corner of our lives. Singers, actors, generic 'celebrities', they all participate, voluntarily flaunting themselves to sell that next single or raise those ratings.
The justification for a lot of this, as Richard mentioned, is that it promotes the empowerment of women. This never fails to remind me of the catch phrase of a certain all girl singing group of the 90's; "girl power" was yelled from the stage as they begged you to "tell me what you want, what you really really want". Empowerment of women? In the shortest skirts and heaviest eyeliner? In flaunting your 'assets' in our faces in the hope of increasing record sales? In the need to be sexy, regardless of age or inclination, if you want to get ahead? This is making women stronger we're told, it shows they can be dominant, and can't be walked over. If you say so. To me, it says that no matter how talented, intelligent, courageous or strong-minded she is, at the end of the day, a woman is first and foremost a body, and that that is her most important asset.
Now don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with being pretty, and every woman loves to be considered attractive, but there's so much more to it than that. A woman's power lies in her character, her mind, and her strengths and abilities, in the same way as any man. And I'd rather a daughter of mine grew up with that definition of 'girl power' than any other.