Feminism in the 21st Century
Today I was reading through Geek Dad, a blog I follow, even though I don't have kids. In his top 10 lessons learned from this year's Super Bowl ads, he chose this as number ten:
10. Danica Patrick, despite making a career out of being a woman in what has traditionally been a men-only sport (or activity, depending on your feelings about auto racing), and despite having won a 2008 Kids’ Choice Award and thus obviously being a role model for some kids, has no problem appearing in commercials, airing during an event watched by thousands of kids, in which women are treated like nothing more than sex objects.
Read More here
I've heard a lot of this all week. Frankly, it's starting to get on my nerves.
GoDaddy has put on a lot of commercials with some big-breasted woman who seems to only be there to bounce her goods around. However, the ads this past Sunday were something different. The women who wanted to be the GoDaddy girls were seemingly successful career ladies. one a masseuse, in a pretty ritzy setting, and the other a host on a television talk show. Sure, after asking if they can be GoDaddy girls, they rip off their shirts, revealing.....a GoDaddy tank. Then it cuts and prompts you to go to the website to see the rest. What I saw were successful women, who also wanted to be sexy.
A NYDailyNews.com columnist even goes so far as to claim the commercial featuring the masseuses engages in, "a flirtatious will-they-or-won't-they porn riff that many would identify as cheap lipstick lesbianism, meant to appeal not to other chicks, but to dudes." Frankly I didn't see it, and if it was there, I don't care. What's wrong with a little lipstick lesbianism, and I know a few women that would appeal to. Also does it somehow make it worse that it appeals to men as opposed to other women? If two women strip to their thongs and flirt but the ad is in the middle of a Lifetime television movie, are they something other than sex objects?
Here is the point, I'm tired of the outrage every time there is a sexy woman on the television, being sexy. I'm tired of the idea that a woman can either be smart or be sexy, never both, and that if she chooses to be sexy she's letting down our entire gender. Truth is, most women want to be sexy and smart. Not only that, most women are.
I grew up in the eighties. I was spoon fed the idea of feminism as female males. To be a strong and successful woman, a girl had to wear a female version of the male suit...the less one looked like a woman in it, the better. So we have a brave new world of women who get to have amazing careers, but only if they look like men. And believe me, I'm grateful for those women. Those women forged trails so clear, I can dance down them. I will forever be grateful to them for this gift. I know what they have done....but that doesn't mean it was all perfect.
What I want to teach the next generation of girls is that they can be smart, achieve anything they want, and on top of that have enough self-esteem to be sexy and silly....without destroying everything else. It's out there in many of our TV shows and movies today, but in real life, we haven't caught up to that yet.
Here's the thing, guys get to have a career, shoot for the stars, and no one gets all worked up if they flaunt their sexy and silly...except the girls and boys drooling over them. Had there been any hint of "will-they-or-won't-they porn riff" between two boys, meant to appeal to gals, not guys, in the middle of the Oscars, we would laud it as forward thinking and brave.
And frankly I think it would be...and good for business.
So what do we have here, two commercials starring Danica Patrick, a gorgeous woman who also happens to be one of the most skilled race car drivers on the planet; Where you get to see, at most, her shoulders. Two commercials where other seemingly successful women want to be gorgeous GoDaddy spokesladies. In their exuberance, They rip off their shirts to reveal.......a tank top. Sexy? Yes. As revealing of the human body as most other ads with scantily clad women? No.
So can we please stop now? Please, stop beating up on women who are brilliantly successful in their chosen career, be it sports, politics, or anything else, for the sin of being beautiful and feminine, even if they choose to flaunt their beauty. Especially if they can do it without stripping down to their underwear. If Ms. Patrick is guilty of anything, it's making those commercials more tasteful than they once were.
10. Danica Patrick, despite making a career out of being a woman in what has traditionally been a men-only sport (or activity, depending on your feelings about auto racing), and despite having won a 2008 Kids’ Choice Award and thus obviously being a role model for some kids, has no problem appearing in commercials, airing during an event watched by thousands of kids, in which women are treated like nothing more than sex objects.
Read More here
I've heard a lot of this all week. Frankly, it's starting to get on my nerves.
GoDaddy has put on a lot of commercials with some big-breasted woman who seems to only be there to bounce her goods around. However, the ads this past Sunday were something different. The women who wanted to be the GoDaddy girls were seemingly successful career ladies. one a masseuse, in a pretty ritzy setting, and the other a host on a television talk show. Sure, after asking if they can be GoDaddy girls, they rip off their shirts, revealing.....a GoDaddy tank. Then it cuts and prompts you to go to the website to see the rest. What I saw were successful women, who also wanted to be sexy.
A NYDailyNews.com columnist even goes so far as to claim the commercial featuring the masseuses engages in, "a flirtatious will-they-or-won't-they porn riff that many would identify as cheap lipstick lesbianism, meant to appeal not to other chicks, but to dudes." Frankly I didn't see it, and if it was there, I don't care. What's wrong with a little lipstick lesbianism, and I know a few women that would appeal to. Also does it somehow make it worse that it appeals to men as opposed to other women? If two women strip to their thongs and flirt but the ad is in the middle of a Lifetime television movie, are they something other than sex objects?
Here is the point, I'm tired of the outrage every time there is a sexy woman on the television, being sexy. I'm tired of the idea that a woman can either be smart or be sexy, never both, and that if she chooses to be sexy she's letting down our entire gender. Truth is, most women want to be sexy and smart. Not only that, most women are.
I grew up in the eighties. I was spoon fed the idea of feminism as female males. To be a strong and successful woman, a girl had to wear a female version of the male suit...the less one looked like a woman in it, the better. So we have a brave new world of women who get to have amazing careers, but only if they look like men. And believe me, I'm grateful for those women. Those women forged trails so clear, I can dance down them. I will forever be grateful to them for this gift. I know what they have done....but that doesn't mean it was all perfect.
What I want to teach the next generation of girls is that they can be smart, achieve anything they want, and on top of that have enough self-esteem to be sexy and silly....without destroying everything else. It's out there in many of our TV shows and movies today, but in real life, we haven't caught up to that yet.
Here's the thing, guys get to have a career, shoot for the stars, and no one gets all worked up if they flaunt their sexy and silly...except the girls and boys drooling over them. Had there been any hint of "will-they-or-won't-they porn riff" between two boys, meant to appeal to gals, not guys, in the middle of the Oscars, we would laud it as forward thinking and brave.
And frankly I think it would be...and good for business.
So what do we have here, two commercials starring Danica Patrick, a gorgeous woman who also happens to be one of the most skilled race car drivers on the planet; Where you get to see, at most, her shoulders. Two commercials where other seemingly successful women want to be gorgeous GoDaddy spokesladies. In their exuberance, They rip off their shirts to reveal.......a tank top. Sexy? Yes. As revealing of the human body as most other ads with scantily clad women? No.
So can we please stop now? Please, stop beating up on women who are brilliantly successful in their chosen career, be it sports, politics, or anything else, for the sin of being beautiful and feminine, even if they choose to flaunt their beauty. Especially if they can do it without stripping down to their underwear. If Ms. Patrick is guilty of anything, it's making those commercials more tasteful than they once were.