sexualization and psychological damage
Feb. 20th, 2007 10:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brightrosefoxhttp://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070220/ts_alt_afp/uschildrensex_070220135757
While there are a few points to contend with, there is one thing I will vehemently agree on:
Those Pussycat Dolls music videos.
Oh, good gods.
Why don't they just call it musical porn? That's all it is. It's porn. They just don't show the pink parts. Those videos honestly embarass the hell out of me. There is no art or substance or beauty behind the plastic polyester over-the-clothes masturbation and forthright "Rip my clothes off and fuck me" message. Madonna did it much better in the 1980's, honestly. It was subtler and softer and gentler and not so "Holy crap it burns my retina" aggravating.
The Fergie videos bother me, too. Thank you, but wearing a schoolgirl uniform and grinding yourself against a British Guard is really not going to make me interested in buying your albums. If you are going to do that, move to Skinemax.
Some people may disagree with me -- maybe the women are just sending the message that we need to be sexually free, not afraid to show our bodies and show our sexuality. I have absolutely nothing against that. I often model nude for artists myself. I love nudity. But there is a difference between artful nudity and sexuality, and in your face fuck me now nakedness and porn.
And, there is a reason many "sex" shows and documentaries are shown on certain channels at certain late-night times. It really is jarring to turn on VH-1 and watch half a dozen skinny women wearing almost nothing, thrusting their crotches and asses at the cameras and blatantly asking the viewer to remove their clothes, with no subtlety, no mystique. If I wanted that, I really could just change the channel to a cable station specializing in nakedness and sex. That's why those channels are there (and gods bless them).
Am I wrong? I am a prude? Am I cold? Maybe. But I have a real issue when popular female singers decide that the only way they can get attention from fans is to masturbate over their clothes and dry hump a dozen men in every music video, and in their lyrics become so blatant and forthright about sex that there is no imagination at all. The Pussycat Dolls used to be a private burlesque act before they became "pop stars." I think they should have stayed that way; there was beauty and power and mystery. Now there is just porn.
Where is the art? Where is the creativity? Where is the absolute beauty of a half-nude woman dancing sensually, artfully to soft sweet music, her body veiled in silk and imagination -- and not actively grinding her crotch against a chair?
I love nudity, and expression, and the art of the human body. Seeing a music video that is done with art and love and beauty takes my breath away. Seeing a music video done with crass exploitation, commercial attitude, plastic shine and no substance makes me cringe.
I'm not saying this to cry, "But think of the children, boo hoo," and I'm not saying it to demand, "Take this filth off the air." It's not even filth, it's expression. And thank the gods for freedom of expression, especially sexual expression.
But I want to gently explain that there are better ways to express sexuality and freedom in the public media without feeling a burning desire to desperately fling oneself at a crowd of millions of strangers while fondling one's genitals. To me, that just says that you have no talent and no appeal other than your sex; and even that is a lie.
There is a reason strippers and exotic dancers perform at private clubs and places not completely open to the public, why prostitutes perform their jobs in private -- sex is not something that should be so insanely thrown out there with no meaning. Sex is a power, it is power in itself; and in certain forms of media, it becomes crass, commercialized, dragged down, stripped of its beauty. It becomes something ugly in those hands, something that should be locked away and destroyed.. when it is supposed to be one of the most beautiful, magical elements of humanity.
And yes, I know we can always just change the channel, not look at the photos, look away, etc etc. But that can be difficult when it really does surround us from all sides.
I just... I don't feel that we should be hurting ourselves over false beauty and false power.
You are welcome to debate and disagree. I would like to hear viewpoints from all sides.
While there are a few points to contend with, there is one thing I will vehemently agree on:
Those Pussycat Dolls music videos.
Oh, good gods.
Why don't they just call it musical porn? That's all it is. It's porn. They just don't show the pink parts. Those videos honestly embarass the hell out of me. There is no art or substance or beauty behind the plastic polyester over-the-clothes masturbation and forthright "Rip my clothes off and fuck me" message. Madonna did it much better in the 1980's, honestly. It was subtler and softer and gentler and not so "Holy crap it burns my retina" aggravating.
The Fergie videos bother me, too. Thank you, but wearing a schoolgirl uniform and grinding yourself against a British Guard is really not going to make me interested in buying your albums. If you are going to do that, move to Skinemax.
Some people may disagree with me -- maybe the women are just sending the message that we need to be sexually free, not afraid to show our bodies and show our sexuality. I have absolutely nothing against that. I often model nude for artists myself. I love nudity. But there is a difference between artful nudity and sexuality, and in your face fuck me now nakedness and porn.
And, there is a reason many "sex" shows and documentaries are shown on certain channels at certain late-night times. It really is jarring to turn on VH-1 and watch half a dozen skinny women wearing almost nothing, thrusting their crotches and asses at the cameras and blatantly asking the viewer to remove their clothes, with no subtlety, no mystique. If I wanted that, I really could just change the channel to a cable station specializing in nakedness and sex. That's why those channels are there (and gods bless them).
Am I wrong? I am a prude? Am I cold? Maybe. But I have a real issue when popular female singers decide that the only way they can get attention from fans is to masturbate over their clothes and dry hump a dozen men in every music video, and in their lyrics become so blatant and forthright about sex that there is no imagination at all. The Pussycat Dolls used to be a private burlesque act before they became "pop stars." I think they should have stayed that way; there was beauty and power and mystery. Now there is just porn.
Where is the art? Where is the creativity? Where is the absolute beauty of a half-nude woman dancing sensually, artfully to soft sweet music, her body veiled in silk and imagination -- and not actively grinding her crotch against a chair?
I love nudity, and expression, and the art of the human body. Seeing a music video that is done with art and love and beauty takes my breath away. Seeing a music video done with crass exploitation, commercial attitude, plastic shine and no substance makes me cringe.
I'm not saying this to cry, "But think of the children, boo hoo," and I'm not saying it to demand, "Take this filth off the air." It's not even filth, it's expression. And thank the gods for freedom of expression, especially sexual expression.
But I want to gently explain that there are better ways to express sexuality and freedom in the public media without feeling a burning desire to desperately fling oneself at a crowd of millions of strangers while fondling one's genitals. To me, that just says that you have no talent and no appeal other than your sex; and even that is a lie.
There is a reason strippers and exotic dancers perform at private clubs and places not completely open to the public, why prostitutes perform their jobs in private -- sex is not something that should be so insanely thrown out there with no meaning. Sex is a power, it is power in itself; and in certain forms of media, it becomes crass, commercialized, dragged down, stripped of its beauty. It becomes something ugly in those hands, something that should be locked away and destroyed.. when it is supposed to be one of the most beautiful, magical elements of humanity.
And yes, I know we can always just change the channel, not look at the photos, look away, etc etc. But that can be difficult when it really does surround us from all sides.
I just... I don't feel that we should be hurting ourselves over false beauty and false power.
You are welcome to debate and disagree. I would like to hear viewpoints from all sides.
