Female Chauvinist Pigs?
Ariel Levy's new book, "Female Chauvinist Pigs", is certainly stirring up some controversy within the feminist movement (if indeed such a thing still exists...)
Citing examples of Girls Gone Wild videos and striptease and pole dancing classes at your local gym, Levy argues that our newfound "sexual liberation" is no such thing. Where she has a strong point is that women today are now working full time to imitate porn stars and strippers - people whose jobs it is to feign arousal and pleasure to begin with. On the otherhand, its easy to slide from wanting "true sexual liberation" to wanting to impose your personal conceptions of sexual liberation on the rest of the world. Levy's problem is that she is judgemental of all girls who participate, (some of whom may actually enjoy raunch culture) labelling them whores and tramps (instead of attacking the hierarchy that would make women feel obliged to participate.) This is no solution either.
Anyhow, the book is highly recommended. Also available are the mp3 recordings of the Guardian's discussion forums held last week on the topic, which you can listen to in two parts.
Listen:
Part 1
Part 2
Buy:
Female Chauvinist Pigs by Ariel Levy (Amazon)
Citing examples of Girls Gone Wild videos and striptease and pole dancing classes at your local gym, Levy argues that our newfound "sexual liberation" is no such thing. Where she has a strong point is that women today are now working full time to imitate porn stars and strippers - people whose jobs it is to feign arousal and pleasure to begin with. On the otherhand, its easy to slide from wanting "true sexual liberation" to wanting to impose your personal conceptions of sexual liberation on the rest of the world. Levy's problem is that she is judgemental of all girls who participate, (some of whom may actually enjoy raunch culture) labelling them whores and tramps (instead of attacking the hierarchy that would make women feel obliged to participate.) This is no solution either.
Anyhow, the book is highly recommended. Also available are the mp3 recordings of the Guardian's discussion forums held last week on the topic, which you can listen to in two parts.
Listen:
Part 1
Part 2
Buy:
Female Chauvinist Pigs by Ariel Levy (Amazon)
posted by Brittany at 7/06/2006 02:06:00 pm
1 Comments:
i dont think it's really all that black and white. young girls in our culture grow up seeing those who dress provocatively and act "whorishly" as idolized (ie: paris hilton, the bratz). if they want to be noticed, i believe it's implanted somewhere in their subconscious that they have to act similarly. we're brought up, especially in america, to be selfconscious and feel as though we're not people who are worth anything unless we have some sex appeal. i know thats why i walk around everywhere wearing only that sheer teddy that i ordered from your moms site, so i can feel like a real important person walking down the street. hehe. i miss our political and social discussions. hope to talk to you soon!
-ilana
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