And while I don't pay attention to anything Hollywood or who is who, I do obviously see things on Facebook or on the news, since scanning for headlines is a big part of what I do. What I've noticed is a few similar complaints - one by a brave mother who is taking on Target for selling short-shorts to little girls and another about the sexualization of young female stars.
On the left, a girls size 4-5; on the right, a boys size 4-5.
I'm not going to deal with the Hollywood angle, because it just seems too obvious, and I'm sorry, but those people? Well they're just plain effed up. But as far as the daisy dukes and the slathering yourself with baby oil in a (wrestling?) unitard and shaking your ass? I mean, can't we do better?
I remember when I was going through those horrible stages bordering on flowering into womanhood, and for god's sake, yes, I'm being facetious. I wanted to hide my body, not showcase it. I didn't want my father to know I was changing, because I was worried it would mean the end of us hanging out, fishing, playing tennis and mowing lawns together, if I had boobs. Lucky me I never actually grew anything remarkable, so continuing on as a tomboy was manageable, but I remember mostly I just didn't want my dad to treat me differently. Because I respected my father and enjoyed his company so much, I was embarrassed to do anything overtly girlish. Shit, I wore ripped jeans, Nine Inch Nails Tee Shirts and Flannel Shirts all through high school. I certainly wasn't at risk to star in a J-Lo video, so maybe it's hard for me to relate, but I'm wondering if strong father-daughter relationships are the missing link.
Television shows and movies are also to blame. Yes, I said it. I don't have to watch the crap on TV to know it's true, and you can ask my husband, since he laughs every time I mock the idiotic scripted words provided for the bimbo screen stars in action movies. Seriously, yes, you, the girl from the latest Transformers movie? Could you please stop hugging your boyfriend when your father is friggin Mark Wahlberg? What are you stupid? And while you're roaming around the earth dodging bullets, please button your friggin' shirt and put on a pair of sturdy Levi's (that go all the way down to your ankles) during the robot apocalypse. That'd be great. Thanks.
Writer and director Tessa Blake would know too, since she is a minority on the other side of the lens.
The more media a girl watches, the fewer options she feels she has in life. The more media a boy watches, the more likely he is to develop sexist views. No wonder. Only 25 percent of leads in movies are women, and men are more likely to be shown with a job. Weirdly, we don't even have equal representation when it comes to crowd scenes.I know that I can just not watch. I get that. And for the most part, I don't. I guess my complaint goes a little bit deeper - to not just wish that the offensive images weren't such a staple in our culture, but to wish that young women (and old women, I mean really, leave the Daisy Dukes in the 70s - yeesh) didn't emulate that image. Even when it was preferable to reveal your midriff in the early 2000s, and yes, even though I had awesome abs, I did not. You know, just cause they're doing it? Doesn't mean you have to.
Why should a mother of a young girl have to shop in the boys department if she wants longer shorts? I get the argument to not buy the short-shorts, so don't play that card, but if that's all there is to choose from? Yes, that IS a problem.
And the fact that it looks like J-Lo and other young women are opting for the short-shorts too in order to define themselves in an otherwise tasteless and tacky society that encourages women to use their bodies, not their brains, it means the voices that count, the Tessa Blakes and the Angry Mom Blogger who took on Target? Those voices need to sound off just a little bit louder.
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