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» babble   » walking the talk   » feminism   » Next year, be a man, by Roz Allen

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Author Topic: Next year, be a man, by Roz Allen
jrose
babble intern
Babbler # 13401

posted 04 November 2008 09:04 AM      Profile for jrose     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I'm not sure if this has already crept up on babble, but I thought it was an interesting article by Roz Allen on rabble's front page.

quote:
I grew a beard this weekend.

Yep. It's my usual anti-establishment style. I'm so sick of the sexifying of women's costumes that this year I decided to dress up as a man.

It was a statement, and it was simple. A tie, some spirit gum, a bit of blood spatter and voila! I was transformed into my personal pop-culture hero, Shaun. Shaun of the Dead.

SNIP

Women have no unsexy pop culture icons to emulate. Because to be a pop culture icon, first you have to be popular. And to be popular as a woman - you have to be sexually provocative.

Take my personal favourite female pop culture icon of late - Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft in Tomb Raider. She's smart, she's strong - and she's a superhero. But sadly, if I want to dress up as THAT for Halloween I need to invest in a DD bra and a case of toilet paper. Cause we all know that Lara Croft can be as spectacular as she wants - but folks, she ain't nothin' without her humongous breasts. Tomb Raider costume less the bazoongas = Epic Fail.

To contrast? Some of the most popular men's getups.

Loose green T-shirt and some baggy brown pants? You're Shaggy! Shiny silver attire and an axe? You're the Tinman! Ridiculous yellow jumpsuit with matching ridiculous yellow hat? You're the Man in the Yellow Hat from Curious George!

Indeed, superhero spandex and a speedo is about as sexy as it gets for the average heterosexual man. And unless you're six foot somethin' and spend five days out of seven at the gym - there's not gonna be much that's sexy about that.


I thought it was interesting because I, too, donned a beard (well, more a goatee) this Halloween, and I felt oddly rebellious at a Halloween party filled with sexy cats, sexy police officers, sexy devils etc. etc.


From: Ottawa | Registered: Oct 2006  |  IP: Logged
Scout
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1595

posted 04 November 2008 09:10 AM      Profile for Scout     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I dressed up as James Bond for a Bond Party last Christmas - I didn't want to be a Bond Girl.
From: Toronto, ON Canada | Registered: Oct 2001  |  IP: Logged
jrose
babble intern
Babbler # 13401

posted 04 November 2008 09:46 AM      Profile for jrose     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I went as Kurt Cobain. I loved going out in ripped jeans and an oversized t-shirt, though the wig got a little scratchy!
From: Ottawa | Registered: Oct 2006  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
Moderator
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posted 04 November 2008 10:15 AM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
This was posted last year, but it's the first thing that came to mind when I saw this thread.

Girls's Costume Warehouse


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
jrose
babble intern
Babbler # 13401

posted 04 November 2008 11:01 AM      Profile for jrose     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Oh, I forgot all about that one! How could I forget Sexy Mustard?
From: Ottawa | Registered: Oct 2006  |  IP: Logged
Tommy_Paine
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 214

posted 04 November 2008 02:11 PM      Profile for Tommy_Paine     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Women have no unsexy pop culture icons to emulate. Because to be a pop culture icon, first you have to be popular. And to be popular as a woman - you have to be sexually provocative.

Although I've been aware over the years of bits and pieces of this phenomena, I have to thank Allen for putting it all together in that statement.

I first became aware of this, almost twenty years ago when, out with my daughters in the toy section, I noticed a whole row of "Barbies" that, in a sudden epiphany, looked like they were modeled after a stereotypical street walker from a low budget cop show.

I looked at dolls and other toys as being the leading edge of the inappropriate sexualization of girls. And of course, I was aware of the pop singers on Much Music, and what example that whole culture was setting.

You'd think things were better now, but as I browse toy sections with Snarfy the Wonder Girl, I realize that "Bratz" dolls in laytex hobble skirts are all the rage.

WTF?!

In an age where the lable "pedophile" is the worst thing you could hang on anyone, we have Bob Dole saying "down boy" while watching a 17 year old Britany Spears on T.V., for "Viagra".

Halloween might be one of the data collection points for the effects of all this.

Like Allen, I think there's a time and place for the naughty nurse costume, etc. The time isn't the pre and early teen years. The place isn't the street.

I mention this to female friends and aquaintences, and they think I'm joking, or making a mountain out of a mole hill.

But it seems to me that during the 70's there was an examination of toys and role models aimed at girls, and they were criticized for steering girls into the 50's version of what a woman, mom and wife should be.

I am not sure there is the same concerted effort today in response to what I find a deeply distrubing socialization of young girls.

[ 04 November 2008: Message edited by: Tommy_Paine ]


From: The Alley, Behind Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
remind
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 6289

posted 04 November 2008 02:59 PM      Profile for remind     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Tommy_Paine:
But it seems to me that during the 70's there was an examination of toys and role models aimed at girls, and they were criticized for steering girls into the 50's version of what a woman, mom and wife should be.

I am not sure there is the same concerted effort today in response to what I find a deeply distrubing socialization of young girls.


It is not just socialization, it is operant conditioning through media and consumer tools


From: "watching the tide roll away" | Registered: Jun 2004  |  IP: Logged
Tommy_Paine
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 214

posted 04 November 2008 03:46 PM      Profile for Tommy_Paine     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I just saw the costume warehouse video. I think it's funny and clever, and I usually see humour in a lot of stuff other's don't or won't see. I think it's valuable satire.

But I'm humourless on this subject, for some reason, and have been for, well, decades.

And the wierd thing is, is that I'm usually the first one to think that feminism sometimes goes too far in extrapolating and drawing conclusions about this trend or idea or that. I have the scars to prove it.

On this subject, it seems the tables are turned, and that I am the crazy extrapolator.

And I don't think it's just because of the experiences I've had bringing up four daughters. I might have been slower on the uptake had I raised boys, or had no children at all, but I think I would have arrived at this mental spot all the same.

I guess what I find mindblowing is that lack of linkage between real crimes committed against children, and in particular young girls, and the sexualization of the same in our media. And the latter seems unapposed, and given little thought.


From: The Alley, Behind Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
martin dufresne
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posted 04 November 2008 04:28 PM      Profile for martin dufresne   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
If this is at all reassuring, there is presently a groundswell of opposition in Quebec to the sexualization of young girls by the media. Academics have researched it in depth*, the Quebec Status of Women Council has put out an official Notice to the government, but - more to the point - young women are organizing in high schools and colleges throughout the province. Châtelaine Magazine editor blew a fuse about fingers pointed at women's magazines for pushing this ttrend and she thoroughly discredited herself by demanding that the QSWC be shut down. The Charest governement turned her down.

*Check out Pierrette Bouchard, Natasha Bouchard et Isabelle Boily, La sexualisation précoce des filles, Montréal, Éditions Sisyphe, 2005.


From: "Words Matter" (Mackinnon) | Registered: Dec 2005  |  IP: Logged

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