Must just be me . . .
Or is it? It seems as though, as one online columnist put it, the last 50 years never happened. Girl-gifts are hot on intense pink - and the same sexist connotations that were common fifty years ago before the women's movement roared into being. Pink frilly dresses hang on racks in Targe' - suggestive stuff I'd never would have let my two daughters wear when they were small. The girl ,who has taken on the makers of Easy-Bake Ovens, on behalf of her four-year old brother, who wants one for Christmas - after she discovered that the popular toy only comes in pink and purple.
Then I read that folks can rent the Pope Mobile for special occasions such as weddings (the Vatican must be hard-up for cash - no comment why that might be so - that's another rant). And the article writer in the morning paper said that it means renting for good purposes - like "undefiled girls." That's right - undefiled - does that mean virgins only? And girls? I remember at the start of the women's movement, I still considered myself a girl rather than a woman. And that it took a bit of understanding on my part to learn how the word girl was used to keep women as the second class gender. When adult men did not refer to themselves as boys, other than as good-old-boys.
The other night, the PBS options were all fund-raising efforts - God bless them and their continued existence. Other than an occasional evening watching Dancing With the Stars, the only commercial TV we watch is the news. Perusing TV schedules, we decided to watch the annual Victoria's Secret show. After all, it started at 8pm CST, and thus couldn't be too risque - and since it is a world neither of us inhabit, it should be an interesting slice of culture.
Unbelievable! Just one step short of what I'd call porn. Lots of navels and bare skin, and strutting around. One model had only a string up her otherwise naked butt to hold up the little thingy in the front. Commercials deemed too naughty for prime-time TV (thought this was TV we were watching, not something ordered from the nearest sex shop). Justin Bieber singing away among almost naked women (is he moving "up?") And plenty of push-up bras - which we renamed pop-ups in honor of the pop-up ads selling stuff. After all, weren't these bras "selling stuff?"
I couldn't help wondering how many children of both genders were watching?
Don't get me wrong - these were beautiful women. And I don't think I'm a prude. It was the glorification of women as sexual objects that stunned me. All this after 50 years-worth of changing images of woman and enabling them to gain their rightful places as respected and contributing members of society. That women have brains, not just boobs and butts. I will constrain myself from going on and on . . .
We become distressed, at least some of us, about conservative Islamist wars being fought in the Middle East. And horrified at the school girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan being killed over their being educated. But we need to take a serious look at our own culture and see what kind of messages we are sending regarding women.
As the saying goes: point your finger at another and three other fingers point back at you.
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