"I love seeing Lady Gaga's boobs and bum," she says. "I love seeing Katy Perry's boobs and bum. Love it. But that's not what my music is about. I don't make music for eyes. I make music for ears." -Adele
Self-objectification hurts self-esteem, academics, and affects a huge part of a woman's mental aspect. I think the most concerning part about this is how fast it is reaching the younger generations. Teenagers? Okay, maybe,... Any younger? Okay, no, red flag. I think the idea of beauty has become so skewed that young girls are starting to become more concerned about how they look rather than playing and coloring. You see it for movies, burgers, shoes, deodorant, light bulbs, band aids, dust pans.. Apparently, and unfortunately, sex sells. I wouldn't quite consider myself a feminist, but I am all for women's rights and equality. I agree that we should boycott all the products that promote these kind of images, but realistically I don't think that would be possible. The entertainment industry and advertising businesses make so much money off of us that a little girls poor self-esteem is not going to side track them. Remember those "Truth" commercials for smoking and tobacco? I think there should be similar commercials that recognize what these images are really doing to young girls and women.
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Random thought: Judith Lorber's article really made me think of my dad. I remember my dad made me wear turtle necks until I was about 15 and would not allow me to do girly things like paint my nails or pluck my eyebrows. He got so upset when he saw my fingernails were purple."Wash that off!" He would say.
"But there's no nail polish remover.." I would hesitantly reply.
"Use water, I don't care. Throw away that stuff." He would say, freaking out.
I wouldn't go so far to say that my dad was dismissing gender reinforcements. I think he had that "dad thing" going on where he didn't want any of his daughters to dress a certain way or do certain things that would create certain attitudes and beliefs. But I thought it was interesting how different people have different ways of expressing themselves when it comes to gender and the influences it can bring. I'm pretty sure my dad's a feminist!
Here's article called "How to Talk to Little Girls". I loved reading this, and it was kind of like the activity we did in class when we had to replace all the words that were related to gender. Lisa Bloom talks about how the first thing we mention are looks and elements that reinforce gender identity and the negativity that comes long with it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-bloom/how-to-talk-to-little-gir_b_882510.html
P.s.- sorry for the sloppy transitions, I am having major writer's block!
I love Adele's music and her stance on the criticism she is getting about her weight. She doesn't self objectify herself and she seems confident in who she is. Its something we see so little of these days. Girls are bombarded with all of these images of what beauty is and they feel they have to live up to that image. They never feel pretty enough and some even start getting plastic surgery at 12 or 13. At that age girls should be worried about school not about if their nose is too big or that their ears stick out too much. This wouldn't be the case if media didn't place such high values on looks and instead focused on intelligence. I really liked reading your blog. :)
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