Now there’s a word….prude.
Do people even use that word anymore?
Well I think I might bring it back into the lexicon because I find I am becoming one and if I am becoming one, odds are others are too.
Prude – a person who is excessively proper or modest in speech, conduct, or dress.
This morning I read a speech given by the female singer Charlotte Church about sexual demoralization of women in the music industry. http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2013/10/15/church She talks about how young talented women are pressured into sexually explicit outfits and performances by a male dominated music industry.
Anyone not living under a rock recently has heard or seen the media coverage of Miley Cyrus and her twerking performances. Don’t get me started on that! What has really got me peaked about it though is that mainstream culture is reacting to shocking behaviour as the new norm.
Lady Gaga just did a performance at a Gay club completely in the nude. Where is the line drawn between art and pornography? What is left for her to do to shock us, sex on stage?
These examples may be entertainment industry extremes but they are troubling to me because once a new level of shock is established we soon become de-sensitized to it until an even more shocking performance happens. What’s left that hasn’t been done?
For crying out loud ladies, put your clothes back on and keep your private parts out of the media!
In the 1960’s and 1970’s women fought hard for gender equality, freedom from oppression and male supremacy. Women’s Liberation opened the world for women in western societies. We became empowered and because of the feminism movement, a women today can achieve anything she sets her mind to.
One important issue that was fought for was the right over our own bodies. This may sound like a basic human right, to make your own decisions about your body, your health and even sex and reproduction and it is, but in many countries and cultures, it is a right that is denied on a daily basis.
In my opinion, to use your body as entertainment in such a public way as some female pop stars are doing is sending a message to young people that a women’s body is not her own, but public property to be viewed, used and exploited. In our drive for sexual freedom and expression we have unwittingly played into the hands of those who would seek to control us.
I am a prude.I think that everyone’s body, male or female, is sacred, and as such should be shared privately. Not publicly on music video’s, not on Facebook, or any other form of mainstream media for that matter.
Yes I get that sex sells. There is nothing wrong with an entertainer using allure, innuendo, and artistic smolder, but don’t ruin the fantasy, leave something for the imagination.
Keep porn as porn, that way if you choose to seek it out, you at least know what to expect. I may be naïve but it is my hope that the women and men who choose to work in that industry do so with the full knowledge of all the ramifications of their career choice.
In the mean time, what can we do to create a new balance?
While I think it is very important to teach women self respect, I think it is also important to teach our sons respect for women. To do this means that mothers need to show by example how they expect to be treated by their husbands, lovers and sons and fathers need to show by example how their daughters should expect to be treated by honouring and respecting the women in their life.
In a world where the last decades were dominated by a me generation, every person out for themselves, it is easy to see how entertainers have resorted to shocking performances to stand out from the crowd. With the availability of so many forms of media, the public has been flooded with extreme entertainment.
This prude wants to see talent not naughty bits.
Maybe this could be the new fad, turtlenecks and a really good song. Now that is shocking!