Stupid Girls, Big Bucks

Pink was on Oprah this week to discuss her new song and video Stupid Girls.  In her music video, Pink attacks modern-day role models like Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Jessica Simpson, mocking them for appearing self-absorbed, materialistic, and dumb.

Pink is quick to note, however, that she doesn't believe that the celebrities she criticizes are actually stupid.  Rather, she believes that they have chosen to capitalize on a lucrative business that thrives on the image of stupid, sexually available girls.

But, few women profit themselves from this enterprise; many our exploited by it and many literally buy into it.

Karrine Steffans, author of Confessions of a Video Vixen, also appeared on Oprah. She was 21 years old when she made her video debut. She danced in videos alongside artists like Jay-Z, R. Kelly and LL Cool J.  According to Steffans, dancers are treated like objects; they are nothing more than props on set.  She emphasized that while young women might envy her sexiness in these videos, her actual life has been far from sexy.  She recounted some terrible stories of abuse and harassment on set, including waking up in her trailer to find a music executive, standing above her, pants down, demanding she perform oral sex if she wanted to keep her gig.

Also on the show, was a former recruiter for the the Girls Gone Wild empire.  She explained how easy it was to get young women on spring break to dance and strip for the camera.  She suggested that these girls feel sexually empowered and like the attention. No doubt, they want to show that they are as sexy as the women they see in music videos.  Except, these girls don't even get paid!  They dance and strip for free while some jerk-off makes a fortune selling videos of them. Looking dumbfounded when she learned that the girls don't get paid for their exposure, Oprah remarked, "Okay, that really is stupid."  No kidding.

But, wait!  It gets worse. It is not just that women are exploiting their bodies "for free", they are forking out tons of money to look like all the women they see on television.  Oprah had four teenagers from Florida on the show.  These young girls spend thousands of dollars to imitate celebrity styles and one is already planning on getting breast implants.  Are these young women just a rare exception?  Come on.   Who hasn't spent a ridiculous amount of money on highlights, or bikini waxes, or some other please-make-me-be-sexy type thing? 

We are literally buying into our oppression.    People are profiting off the exploitation of girls and women, and then taking our money as we each try to add up to the narrow formula of sexy that bombards us.

Ariel Levy, author of Female Chauvinist Pigs, is highly skeptical of women who claim that they are liberated by this new brand of sexual empowerment.  In a recent interview with Bitch magazine, Levy remarked,

...I think it is funny that people are always saying that our culture is oversexualized.  All we are is overcommercialized.  This isn't a moment of explosive sexual hedonism.  It's just a moment where sexual performances of one particular kind are overvalued.

When people talk about female empowerment, what they usually mean is women happily accept, or if not happily at least smilingly, where we're at.  The definition of a sexually liberated woman right now is a woman who looks at Maxim and doesn't feel bummed out by it.

A continued focus on women's sexuality amounts to the cultural marginalization of women.  We must reclaim space for our whole selves, and redefine our sexual selves in the process.

Related Links:

The REAL hot 100 is a website that exemplifies how women can redefine what is considered "hot" and sexy.
Stupid Girls presented by The Oprah Winfrey show
Stupid Girls video via Pink's website
Review of Female Chauvinist Pigs by Ariel Levy at Blogcritics.org
Review of Confessions of a Video Vixen by Karrine Steffans at AALBC.com

Resources:

Hog Heaven: Ariel Levy on Female Chauvinist Pigs and the Rise of Raunch Culture, by Andi Zeisler in Bitch(Volume 30)

Comments

[Richard Evans]

My favorite quote: "We are literally buying into our oppression."

ie: You're only as oppressed as you allow yourself to be.

There may be hope for you yet Polly.

[Artemis]

The key here is though that the women are rich. unlike their fore mothers (think janis joplin, judy garland, marilyn and a host of others). Modern women have learned to play the game and do not die penniless anymore. That is where the progress is being made. Eventually, they'll deal with the other issues. In the past their male agents took it to their own banks leaving the women to become suicidal, et al. Therein lies the difference. If women are going to objectify themselves, they should laugh all the way to the bank, and leave the men pissed of (and penniless?). We do, afterall, live and work in the same world. It's a jungle out there.

[Polly Jones]

It would be nice to think that women can aim for more than being poor. Certainly, it is not enough to make money on oppressive images of women. And, the other issues need to be dealt with now. While women aren't to be blamed for aspects of their oppression (e.g. violence), we can also be smart about the extent we participate in oppressive culture.

And, RE, clearly, buying into one's oppression is not the equivalent of creating it.

[Richard Evans]

I'd like to say that you've missed the point Polly but you're too smart for that. I think you're making a consious decision to overlook the concept of "individual responsibility" as it came through in your post.

You know full well that we all have choices in life. We can choose to become drug addicts or alcoholics or not. We also choose whether or not we will be oppressed by others. In each instance there's a symbiotic relationship with the parties involved. One can't survive without the other.

Here's a great quote I've read recently: "A Slave Is A Man That Waits On Another To Set Him Free."

Like I said previously, you're only as oppressed as you allow yourself to be.

[The Fat Lady Sings]

Idiots notwithstanding - I think you've done an excellent job of synthesizing the problem. I have been railing against this particular problem for years. It's quite pervasive; and goes far beyond hip hop video porn or Paris and her constant need for physical exposure. Women (and men, for that matter) are constantly denigrated in every advertisement I've seen these past few years - on TV and in print. Woman as mommy or slut, man as child and/or lazy, lying slob. It really pisses me off; and it should piss off men as well - but for some reason that escapes me - it doesn't. They seem quite content to have themselves portrayed in such a negative light. So do far too many women, for that matter.

As for those making money off of either gender-specific perversion - profit at any cost has been the order of the day for many years now. Look at how most corporations exploit everything in their quest for money. Look at our ‘anything that's expedient’ politicians - their needs supersede that of their constituents; that makes lying expected rather than exceptional.

I know it seems as if I am traveling rather far afield here. But I see the intellectual connection between the marginalization of women, and corruption at the highest levels of government. Dismissal of people of color is what historically comes next; and we have seen the buds of that just this year. Oprah only saw the effect on women. I see the disintegration of society as a whole.

[Richard Evans]

"Women (and men, for that matter) are constantly denigrated in every advertisement I've seen these past few years - on TV and in print. Woman as mommy or slut, man as child and/or lazy, lying slob. It really pisses me off; and it should piss off men as well - but for some reason that escapes me - it doesn't. They seem quite content to have themselves portrayed in such a negative light."

I agree! How's it feel to have an "idiot" agree with you?

[Polly Jones]

FLS,

Your connections make sense to me. I think we become divorced from ourselves in ways that makes resistance more difficult. It is almost as though people's instincts are slowly destroyed. I also think that creating and maintaining struggle for groups helps to keep them so busy that they have little time and energy to participate in critical discussions.

[RossK]

The 'buying into the oppression' is a concept that really resonates with me.

My kid is 13 - and this issue is rapidly becoming all consuming.

.