For this IWD I have one question. Now I know plenty was said about Miley Cyrus and her twerking of 2013 and how girls are sexualised from early on. Plenty of women before her have gone all sexy to show the world that they’ve grown up (Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera come to mind). Whether that’s a good thing or bad thing is a massive debate. Personally I love women’s bodies. Women can be sexy and sensual without coming off trashy; but that’s personal taste I suppose.
What I find curious is that Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines (complete with dodgy lyrics) or Justin Timberlake’s Tunnel Vision, has these bad boys show us they’ve grown up by having scantily clad ladies surround them while they remain fully dressed.
In the case of Timberlake, when you watch the clip, he’s not even in the same room as these nude women.
Hey fellas, how about you show us how you’ve grown up by not using scantily clad women to show us how much of a man you are. Are you nothing without the ladies? Is that how you measure your manhood?
All this says one thing to me, and it’s pretty obvious, ladies our sexuality and sensuality that our bodies are capable of has currency and it is worth A LOT. And I’m not saying you should hide it but just remember that you are powerful and fascinating. Do not forget.
I once did a talk on this very subject.
It all sprang from watching too much pay TV whilst on holidays. It rained a lot.
One day I saw VH1’s Top 20 boy bands. It was hard to watch, but every boy band was dressed in fine suits. The occasional ab but suits were the norm.
A few days later I watched VH1’s Top 20 girl acts. Virtually every woman was half naked and fawning over a (dressed) guy. Lots of skin. It was basically one video shown 20 times. Different songs yet all the videos were variations of sexy.
The contrast couldn’t have been starker.
So how do we go about getting Beyoncé et al to buck the stereotype? Hopefully an article like this will help.
We need to find an additional measurement of what it means and what it looks like to be grown up.
Love & stuff
Mrs M
I think the message here is that sex equals power to young women, and power equals sex to young men.
I dunno that that is bad in and of itself like so many people make out. The point of a species is largely to reproduce, after all.
It’d just be nice if there was a lot more to us.
Personally I’d love to see more scantily clad young men around and about… call me an old perve if you like, but I think it’d be scintillating for young ladies as well as we older ones… and level the playing field somewhat. In real life young women have immense power, but I don’t think I knew that when young and I wish I had done.
Such a good point, Maria. I’m all for women being empowered, but yes men need to step up too.