I have been thinking about what we talked about in class the
other day about double standards for women. Ms. King pointed out that even
today society still wants women to have a pure image. Although people don’t
necessarily think that all women still need to be virgins before wed, this
“pure” image is still expected but in a different way. Society still expects women to be more
innocent than men. I’ll again use the example that I used in class the other
day. When Miley and the “blurred lines” guy performed together, Miley got all
the criticism. A guy can always do what ever he wants on stage and is glorified
for his originality and braveness. Whenever a woman does half the things that a
man is acclaimed for, she gets the reputation of being promiscuous and too
explicit. There seems to always be a line for women but not for men. I’m not
supporting Miley’s naked “Wrecking Ball” video, but I do think she deserves the
same response a man would receive. When the Red Hot Chili Peppers came on stage
naked and only with socks on that became their iconic image that everyone
loved. They didn’t receive nearly as much criticism as Miley has and that was
more than a decade ago. Sorry for contributing to the “Miley obsession,” but it
did seem like a good example for a double standard that’s still in our society.
Again, I don’t think that everyone should flaunt his or her sexuality on every
television show and magazine cover, but I do think that men and women deserve
the same expectations and boundaries.
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4 comments:
The double standard really is a double-edged sword for women today; you're either a slut or a virgin. There is no in-between. In today's world, I think women are identified with one or the other, but thanks to the social media it's talked about a lot more. We were actually having the same discussion in my Life Skills class. It's such a difficult topic to discuss because people have so many different opinions. I know in Hamlet, though, pretty much every woman is referred to as a whore.
I agree with you Megan. I would say some of the two most influential women in the music industry would be Rihanna and Beyonce. Both are very in tune with their sexuality and both think that "girls run the world". Some would say that Beyonce is a great role models for girls, but Rihanna isn't. Rihanna's message is to empower women and she does this through her sexuality and by breaking female standards and expectations. This is where her criticism starts and it causes me to question if her "haters" don't like her message or if they don't like the way she portrays her message of female empowerment.
I'm just going to jump in from another side of the argument. A few years ago I read I Am an Emotional Creature by Eve Ensler, and she kind of changed my life. One of the things she wrote that really stuck with me (which I had to look up because I couldn't remember the exact quote) was "We spend $40 billion a year on beauty products. What if we actually took that money, took that time, took that energy, and started actually fixing the world. Women would actually be in power." Honestly, it's like she's speaking directly to the Rihannas and Mileys of the world. People tend to look at them through sexual stereotypes (virgin, whore, ect.) because that's how they portray themselves. I'm not quite clear on how Miley's "Wrecking Ball" video can be seen as a "message" of any kind, other than she maybe she wants us to know she enjoys licking inanimate objects? What really bothers me is how her video broke so many records for its countless views, and yet the video has no value except maybe, and it's seriously questionable, entertainment. Like Eve Ensler said, why not use her popularity to do something that would actually contribute to society or female empowerment in any way, big or small? I mean, the video hardly even has artistic or entertainment value. (Though it does have serious shock value)
What I'm saying is, all Miley did was shock the world with her lack of clothing and suggestive behavior. How are women supposed to stop society from looking at us in terms of sexuality, virgin, whore, ect. when such influential women in the media, such as Miley, essentially objectify themselves? I'm not saying there isn't a double standard when it comes to male vs. female sexuality. As Megan pointed out, there is. What I'm saying is, artist like Rihanna and Miley hardly send a message of "female empowerment" in comparison to actually remarkable women, such as Malala Yousafzai, who, in comparison to Miley's nude colored bodysuits, wears a hijab.
I'm not sure I accurately expressed what I was trying to say. Honestly, I got alarmingly worked up over this topic. BTW, read anything by Eve Ensler. If there was ever a women who could inspire female empowerment through the written word, it's her.
The Miley Cyrus controversy was just an intensified example of the scrutiny that young women face in our society. The standards that are placed on girls are so great and the "perfect balance" between innocence and prowess is impossible to actually reach, leaving everyone to be forced into the stereotypes of "virgin" or "whore. Society likes to categorize people into these different stereotypes. Students are either nerds or slackers. Girls are expected to be the "virgins" but any wrong move becomes scrutinized and places them into the "whore" category since it seems there cannot be any grey area between the two.
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