fete proaste, fete curve

un articol despre prevalenta si popularitatea imaginii de “stupid girl” in pop-culture-ul curent – explicatii, implicatii:

Return of the brainless hussies

From “American Idol” to Paris Hilton to an army of jiggly video stars, vapid females seem to be everywhere these days. Have we really gone this far backward, baby?

During the last week of April, Ellen DeGeneres welcomed Paris Hilton and her four Chihuahuas to her daytime talk show, ostensibly for a special episode about dogs. Once the host had the hotel heiress sitting down, however, she pressed her on a non-canine issue, asking whether she was hurt by Pink’s video for “Stupid Girls,” which mocks Hilton and her shopping-zombie peers for their essentially somnambulant behavior, and which two weeks earlier, DeGeneres had praised on her show. “I haven’t even seen it yet,” said the hotel heiress, in her flat monotone. “But I think … it’s just a form of flattery.”

Any thinking person who has seen Pink’s video, in which she sends up Jessica Simpson’s “These Boots Were Made for Walking” video by humping a soapy car, imitates an Olsen twin in Montana-size sunglasses and Wyoming-size handbag walking straight into the plate-glass door of a boutique, and savagely mocks Hilton’s appearance in a dingy night-vision sex tape, would not confuse the clip with any known form of flattery. Especially if that thinking person heard the “Stupid Girls” lyrics, which go, in part: “They travel in packs of two or three/ With their itsy-bitsy doggies and their teeny-weeny tees/ Where, oh where, have the smart people gone?”

But Hilton is not a thinking person. Or, if she is, she hasn’t let on.

[….] these new, varied and wildly threatening options help to explain and undergird a rejuvenated craze for dumb chic. Perhaps, as social progress propels women slowly but undeniably forward into public spheres of influence, baser human impulses — erotic desire, capitalist greed — dig in, summoning and then clinging to a dusty daydream of the fast-fading ideal woman of yesteryear.

Working on this story, I received an e-mail from a Harvard graduate student who told me that while he’d dated only smart girls, he “liked the ‘idea’ of dating a dumb girl.” The fantasy, the student explained, “is almost certainly formed for us by the media representations of … celebrities [like Hilton, Lohan, and Simpson]. Blonde dumb girls are sexy. And won’t talk back. Add in various shades of male ego/guaranteed superiority notions, and you’ve pretty much got it.” In a world in which male superiority is no longer guaranteed, it becomes a lascivious desire that can be gratified, performatively if need be, by willing women. As Pink trills, mockingly, “Maybe if I act like that/ that guy will call me back.”

But it’s time to put that transactional model for romance out of its misery, and make room in the pop firmament for examples that sound more like Pink’s self-assessment: “I’m so glad that I’ll never fit in/ That will never be me/ Outcasts and girls with ambition/ That’s what I wanna see.”

dupa parerea mea, analiza e rezonabila. (ma mira ca nu spune nimic despre pop-cultura (radical) feminista care exista si ea, reprezentata de le tigre si bust si stitch ‘n’ bitch si hip hop feminist si feminist-blogging si o gramada de alte chestii nu total underground printre care si ladyfest – si pentru care pink-ca-si-feminista este numai o foarte indepartata intruchipare din mainstream.) dar articolul este si mai bun citit in combinatie cu textul “I like Paris Hilton”, care explica de ce la un anumit nivel reactiile “feministe” la tipe gen paris hilton (“e curva deci e proasta si viceversa”) sint de fapt profund anti-feministe:

“More accurately perhaps, I don’t hate her.”

“I can like Paris and agree that some of what she does is Bullshit.”

“I’m not saying Paris Hilton should be the next poster girl for feminism. I am saying the reasons so many love to hate her seem steeped in sexism.”

“If I have a problem with Paris, it’s with celebrity obsession/worship in general and our ass-backwards media that force feeds them down our throat and successfully lulls so many Americans into a general lazy complacency – instead of thinking about or acting on The Real Issues.”

eu cred ca urmatorul punct este si foarte adevarat si foarte important: “attaching the ‘slut’ moniker to Hilton ultimately does feminists more harm than good. When a feminist mocks the so-called slutitude of another woman, she gives the misogynists a green light to do the same” (sau “1) much of the hatred of Paris reinforces anti-feminist norms in essentially deplorable ways, and 2) the hatred of Paris even for the better reasons is clearly over-the-top compared to other rich airheads because she’s an openly sexual young woman.”).

are women human?

din ciclul care e diferenta intre feminism si anti-pornografie, de pe acest blog (episoade precedente: 1, 2 si 3):

citeam un interviu relativ recent cu catherine mackinnon: “In her new book, leading feminist Catharine MacKinnon argues that women are still treated more like “things” than people. …”

deci din p. meu personal d.v., desi am ajuns de-a lungul anilor la o pozitie foarte diferita de ideile intransigent/absolut anti-porn si anti-prostitutie ale lui mackinnon si dworkin, sint totusi mai de acord decit nu cu ce spune mackinnon pe linia “Pornography affects people’s belief in rape myths. So for example if a woman says ‘I didn’t consent’ and people have been viewing pornography, they believe rape myths and believe the woman did consent no matter what she said. That when she said no, she meant yes. When she said she didn’t want to, that meant more beer. When she said she would prefer to go home, that means she’s a lesbian who needs to be given a good corrective experience. Pornography promotes these rape myths and desensitises people to violence against women so that you need more violence to become sexually aroused if you’re a pornography consumer. This is very well documented.” chiar cred ca e mult adevar in chestia asta. si cred ca vedem rezultatele in “rape culture”-ul care se perpetueaza la nesfirsit… motivul pentru care atitudinea predominanta fata de viol ramine cea cu “victima trebuie sa fi facut ceva sa merite – sau macar sa invite atacul” (si asta nu numai din partea unor persoane conservatoare sau fara compasiune la alte capitole). numai intr-un rape culture e posibil ca, in secolul xxi:

– in italia (unde btw legea impotriva violului marital este inca ceva f. nou), intr-un caz in care o fata a fost violata de tatal ei vitreg, sentinta sa fie mai usoara pentru ca fata avea experienta sexuala

un senator in sua sa poata vorbi despre singura exceptie pe care o poate vedea el la noua lege in south dakota care interzice avortul chiar in cazuri de viol sau incest, in urmatorii termeni: “A real-life description [of an exception scenario] to me would be a rape victim, brutally raped, savaged. The girl was a virgin. She was religious. She planned on saving her virginity until she was married. She was brutalized and raped, sodomized as bad as you can possibly make it, and is impregnated. I mean, that girl could be so messed up, physically and psychologically, that carrying that child could very well threaten her life.” (pentru ca, altfel, majoritatea violurilor sint o nimica toata. mai ales daca victima nu e virgina/religioasa.) alte reactii la napoli si interzicerea avortului in south dakota: aici, aici si aici.

– despre un caz in care o stripteusa (negresa) i-a acuzat de viol pe niste studenti (albi), cineva sa poata scrie urmatoarele “It’s racism at Duke, all right. Racism against white students. Members of the Duke University Lacrosse team may have abused a black party girl, but, without any proof or trial, the Duke Lacrosse team was punished by the university, suspended from further games. So terrified was the administration of being charged with “racism.” The black female wins again. She is truly an ace on the field and in court.” cu alte cuvinte, nu numai ca nu se poate sa fi fost viol pentru ca e vorba de o “black party girl”, dar chiar daca ar fi fost un viol nedreptatea aici e ca victima a indraznit sa-ngreuneze vietile celor care au atacat-o si ale suporterilor lor. (sau, daca nu e acuzata pe baza faptului ca e o femeie usoara si ne-alba, atunci victima e mincinoasa pt. ca “She filed a sexual assault report ten years ago and did not follow through with the investigation.”)

etc. etc. etc. si-apoi, desigur, te intilnesti cu atitudini de-astea, uneori mai “subtile” uneori nu, la tot pasul. constant. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

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