By Meredith O’Donnell
The deterioration of morals in the world of entertainment publicly propels the concept of women as sex objects. Frequently, the only way a female performer, whether she is an actress or a musician, can promote herself is by awakening an arousal in the male population.
As the girls of society notice this, they then start to emulate the provocative icons in order to achieve the approval of men as well.
The examples are obvious: Madonna’s controversial onstage costumes and stunts which steadily have kept her discussed, Britney’s 1998 Rolling Stones Magazine cover which featured the 17 year old half naked in her bedroom, after which she experienced her first burst of fame, and the enormously popular 2001 plotline of Friends which displayed Jennifer Aniston and Winona Rider lip-locked.
That’s fine, of course, for those who find that satisfying and do it for their own pleasure; however, the show’s executives admitted that the motive behind the script was to boost ratings.
“We expect a lot of men who don’t usually see the show to tune in and watch Jennifer and Winona in action,” declared one greedy boss.
Luckily, there are encouraging representations of the feminine species in the public eye. For instance, the endearing Mandy Moore who enjoyed success as a sweet songstress and film star. Unfortunately, compared to the aforementioned artists and sitcom, it can be argued that Miss Moore’s splash in society has been decidedly mild.
Then there was Jessica Simpson whose virginity was her signature. She waited until marriage before granting Nick Lachey the gift she had preserved for him.
A few forgettable albums and a reality TV series later, she is wildly famous and financially prosperous-did any one catch the MTV special on Nick’s 30th birthday? The celebrity-scaled bash, surrounded by famous friends and MTV cameras, featured his wife popping out of a cake in a garter belt and bustier.
For a moment it wasn’t clear if it was sex kitten Pam Anderson or Jessica, former advocate of purity and Christian values.
Maybe because culture precludes the opportunity, a man’s career is seldom made by degrading himself. Profit has been dismal for male strip clubs and nude magazines, probably because women aren’t as superficial and as readily excitable.
Sure, the rock band of the late 1990s Blink 182 made music videos which showed the self-proclaimed “immature” trio running around stark naked, and Saturday Night Live funnyman Will Ferrell’s bare butt streaked across the screen in 2003’s Old School, but these antics are clearly for comedic purposes and not for career-defining ones.
On the contrary, instead of dehumanizing themselves, some men have built their fortunes on the perplexing willingness of girls to lend themselves to that, such as Playboy founder Hugh Heffner and shock-jock Howard Stern.
Many female figures secure the media’s focus by crossing a scandalous line. This diminishes the ethical standard of America in general and, more importantly, like everything in public view, it has a detrimental affect on young, impressionable minds.
It seems as though these alluring role models dedicate their lives to becoming what men consider attractive, and those images are thrust into our consciousness daily through the media, putting pressure on middle school and high school girls to live up to those standards of seduction.
It brings to mind a disturbing scene from the Lifetime movie She’s Too Young in which a seasoned high school freshman advises her naïve friend on how to become in-demand with the older, coveted guys, “You do it, or he’ll find a girl who will,” she said.
The 14-year-old was faced with this ultimatum, and surrendered.
Lately, there are plenty of girls who abandon self respect, class, and dignity for the approval of men. Not only does this send a troubling message to girls, but guys as well who develop ideas about what a woman should be, and the level she should be willing to sink to in order to please him.
The most frightening revelation is the haunting question, what will happen next? There’s only so much you can take off, only so much you can insinuate with hand gestures using your finger and your mouth, combined with lewd dance moves and sultry lyrics, such as Spears’ “I’m A Slave 4 U” and Christina Aguilara’s “Dirrty.”
But, as long as eager men will respond, desperate women who are out of ideas will comply, and each will find herself in the vexing position of needing to outdo the ones before her in order to make the biggest impression, turning camera lenses and attention towards her.
How much further can it go? If everybody does it (and certainly anybody could) how is it special? Hopefully it will reverse itself and instead of needing to be different and make headlines by doing vulgar things, maybe one day you will be different if you don’t do those things.
If this occurs, it would be the first positive influence to result from the disheartening culture we’re in now.
But we say we’re empowered. We are no longer supposed to walk down the aisle draped in white, contrasting with the double-standard that men were never expected to.
We are free to party without the fear of an unfavorable reputation, thong-flashing is in fashion and lap dancing classes are being taught for the average woman.
Oh, how we’ve escaped from the chains of oppression and extracted ourselves from the dominating masculine thumb. But how many men complain?
Devoting ourselves to pleasing the general masses of men only benefits them-we are not prevailing in any sort of radical feminist movement.
Because Britney and Madonna founded their careers on sex, they continually spiral downwards in their shameless efforts to appeal to men. (Image courtesy www.starsontop.com)