There's a discussion going on at the Modesty Zone blog about an article in the NY Times on the increasing popularity of the term "slut" amongst girls today. According to the article:
"Beyond the word itself, cultivating an exhibitionistic, slutty appearance — donning the trappings of promiscuity as opposed to actually being promiscuous — has been a growing influence on fashion and popular culture for a decade.....Ariel Levy, the author of Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture, said a girl in California told her that she and her friends compete to see who can look “the skankiest.”
Lovely. The editor of Seventeen magazine points out that our popular culture is sending very mixed messages to girls today (actually, she called them "complicated" messages): Dress like a hotty, but be a virgin. Or else you'll be called a slut! According to Leora Tanenbaum, the author of Slut! Growing Up Female with a Bad Reputation, "Being labeled a slut is still painful and humiliating (to teens), despite pop culture’s semi-embrace of the term."
They do it (call each other sluts), Ms. Tanenbaum said, because of their confusion over the contradictory messages they receive about their sexuality and how to conduct themselves....“Girls wouldn’t feel the need to do this if we had one sexual standard,” she said. “It’s because we have the double standard that this phenomenon occurs.”
Horse feathers! Number one, teen girls have always called each other sluts, it's a generic insult, I heard it all the time in junior high school in the early 70's. Nothing new there. Number two, There's a double standard because there's an enormous difference in biology between men and women, with the menfolk making millions of sperm cells every day and the ladies limited to the finite number of precious eggies they were born with. That calls for very different strategies for ensuring that your DNA carries on. The consequences for sexual promiscuity are quite different for women than for men. All the progressive, liberal, wishful thinking in the world won't change the double standard.
Regarding the generall sluttiness of our pop culture, I'm waiting patiently for the pendulum to swing back. Soon please! I'm not the least bit averse to looking at beautiful bodies, but I'm getting tired of looking at gyrating pelvises and humping booties on TV commercials, magazine covers, sports programs, etc. It's not the sexiness that bugs me, sexiness is fun and energizing. It's the porno-sleaze aspect of pop culture that bugs me, and that it's so ubiquitous. Hugh Hefner's dreams have come true, we live in a playboy bunny culture.
On a related note, last night on "So You Think You Can Dance," judge Nigel Lythgoe criticized one of the dancers (Natalie?) for relying too much on sexy moves. He told her that her dancing was strong and beautiful, but that she had degenerated into running around like a "sex kitten or a French maid." Nigel said that the constant sexy posing took away from her dancing. Thanks, Nigel, for setting her (and the teens in the audience) straight.
Another related note: Cat Deeley, the emcee for that show, has the most amazing dresses!! They're simply gorgeous, week after week! Where does she get those dresses!?!?!?
I am anxiously awaiting the pendulam to swing back to the "normal" idea of sexy too. I've had enough of seeing mothers and daughters dressed alike in sheer navel-bearing shirts, thong revealing hip-hugger jeans and whatever else may be the skank couture of the day.
Anyways, I think there is a huge difference between slut and sexy, unfortunately slut fashion has mistakenly been interpreted as sexy which it's far from. Just my .02 :)
Posted by: diva | July 24, 2006 at 06:15 PM
"Skank couture"
That's a great term! Yes, it's not enough to be atttractive anymore, you're supposed to be hot. If someone made "Gilligan's Island" today, there wouldn't be a Mary Anne, there would be two Gingers. And they wouldn't be alluring and elegant, they'd be trashy and practically naked. "You've Come a Long Way, Baby?" Not hardly.
Posted by: miss kelly | July 24, 2006 at 09:55 PM