Hi guys,
Sorry for the slowdown (again), but I’ll be out of town for a few more days. (Don’t worry–Dashaway is still here!)
But since things will be a bit slow for a while, here is something for you guys to do. (I believe in you! You can do it–it’ll be fun!)
What are your guilty pleasures as feminists? You know . . . those things that you know are misogynist/sexist, but you read/watch/listen to anyway? How do you guys justify that taste? Do you feel guilty about it, resigned?
I’ll start:
1) Sir Mixalot’s “Baby Got Back”
2) Nip/Tuck
3) The film M*A*S*H
4) South Park (I know it’s awful, but I laugh anyway.)
I always feel a twinge of guilt when I listen to/watch those, but I cannot bring myself to give them up. Is it all right to appreciate the humor/entertainment value in something as long as we acknowledge that they are also offensive? What if our tastes have been formed in an offensive society–shouldn’t we try to change the way tastes are formed? (After all, the fact that offensive things are humorous is not, in my opinion, natural–I believe that taste is a created object.) Am I promulgating an offensive taste through my participation as an audience member?
Think about it. Comment about it. Peace out.
Filed under: entertainment
Dashaway
femmemeister
Bento
America’s Next Top Model. That says it all.
America’s Next Top Model. I have a problem with everything it represents and continues to perpetuate. The world (especially the little girls I know who watch it) would be so much better off without it, but I can’t seem to stop. I watch it entirely conscious of how awful it is, and rationalize that it’s better to recognize how problematic it is than to not, but I do see the hypocrisy in myself because of it.
Progress often does require (self) sacrifice, and I know that if I require change in others, I should do it too. I guess I should take a good look at why the show is so appealing to me in the first place, even in the face of so many things that I believe so fervently.
Cool Marki, we posted synchronously. By the way, I think South Park has some satirical value–the key being to exist, at least in part, to point out things about society that may need to change. The danger with South Park is that it mixes any social value with the just plain vulgar, and they’re definitely playing to certain audiences.
Lauren, we are twins. Its official. We even agree about South Park. I think its really unfortunate that social commentary (that is sometimes amazingly poignant) has to be candy-coated with obscenity in order to sell.
Haha, was that a slight nudge to get me to start posting again, femme?? It’s been quite a while, hasn’t it. I’m not dead, I swear! Just busy worrying about all the stuff I have to do within the next month (not really *doing* any of the stuff, just worrying about it mostly). Obviously, that has been consuming a lot of my time since I have not been posting. My apologies!
I must agree with both Marki and Lauren on this one. I heart ANTM. And I guess I’m really not ashamed. South park is funny for like a minute and then it just turns gross and stupid. *I* particularly LOVE Austin Powers. Is that a guilty pleasure?? Funny, because I don’t feel particularly guilty about liking either of those things. hehe. I DO feel guilty about liking or singing along to music that is just so blatantly misogynistic/sexist (WHAT ABOUT THE RAP MUSIC?…). Usually I catch myself and stop liking the stuff, but sometimes those rhythms are just so damn catchy. I mean, who doesn’t love watching little kids do a cute little dance while the words “supah man that ho” reign in the background? /sarcasm. I also used to love busting out Buck Cherry’s song “crazy bitch” but those lyrics are just horrible as well, and HAH! that’s not even a rap song.
Oh! That wasn’t a nudge–I just meant there would be half the posts since there are half the people! (Unlike break, when we were both gone, and things totally halted.)
I have not been sucked into ANTM, luckily. (Otherwise my productivity would decline even further *gulp*.)
Music is also tricky. I am not really knowledgeable about rap music (but I appreciate a lot of it–I just don’t really know much), but I love Ben Folds’ “Give Me My Money Back You Bitch” and his version of Dr. Dre’s “Bitches Ain’t Shit.” Maybe we should start a campaign to replace the word “bitch” with something else in the songs we like–then we can still sing along to “Bitches Ain’t Doves” and “Give Me My Money Back You Dove,” or something.
Time to fly out . . .as long as the plane doesn’t get hit by lightning!
Souja Boy’s “Crank That”…which I didn’t realize until this weekend would be considered anti-women in part.
The people in entertainment write all sorts of things that are sexist but become popular because they are funny, catchy, or have a good rythm. And while they may be sexist and gross and just really poorly written, I to tend to fall for them as well. I can’t help laughing at some of the jokes on Comedy Central or dancing at the bars - I guess I could resist if I really wanted to, but I don’t. If we didn’t loosen up and shake it once in a while we wouldn’t be human. It’s okay to joke and and dance and still be a feminist, even if we dont agree with the things that are being said or the messages being delivered.
Ya know, when I was writing my last comment, I really wanted to ask the question, what IS so wrong with America’s Next Top Model?? In one of my classes this morning, there was a quick comment about ANTM being counter-cultural in some ways, and you know, I really have to agree. I do think the show is a lot different than the rest of the shit out there. In every cycle there seems to be a pretty diverse group of women, racially, ethnically, etc. and okay they usually only throw in one lesbian and at least one “plus-size” model but hey, they’re trying. There have been women having to deal with their traditional parents and their cultural and religious traditions when it comes to modeling, women who come from really tough backgrounds, your stereotypical southern girls, last season there was Heather with Asperger’s syndrome and then this season, there is a woman who has undergone female genital mutilation and wishes to speak out against such a practice, there are women who have kids, women who are strippers or should I say, “dancers.” All these women are thrown together in a house for a modeling competition. Because of all the diverse backgrounds, I think something really interesting happens on this show. Now I know there could just as well be the argument that ANTM capitalizes on these women’s stories, but I think there is still some good to be taken out of this show.
ANTM is a show about modeling, so of course they are going to be scrutinizing bodies, but a lot of times, I feel it is for the purpose of art and to create something different and beautiful, but then yeah, sometimes you come to those traditional standards of beauty that cannot seem to be reconciled. Many times they create the story line of girls who “eat to much” or put on a little weight during the show and i remember one season a girl had to get her front teeth moved closer together, all in the name of “beauty.” I think ANTM is in a great position to be critiqued and studied and it is not one to so quickly throw out and condemn like something like “rock of love” ugh. I think Tyra at least tries, I guess.
I definitely think that there could be some value in the variety of models that are on the show, and as for myself, I always do find my self rooting for the “underdog” models (as an interesting side note, I’ve read that the show has been criticized for a preference of white models or “white looking/white acting” models. Think back to Danielle and how often they told her she needed to have less of an “accent”).
I do think that the show is founded on some very problematic things though, not just the emphasis on one, underweight standard of beauty, but the very bedrock of taking real people and turning them into advertisements or art. It’s kind of the ultimate definition of “objectification,” and I think it’s very telling that there’s no show that features male models that has reached the popularity of ANTM.
Advertising is the very means by which our society functions. Be it right or wrong, that’s how it is. And in order for it to succeed we need people to be part of those advertisements. People humanize a product, they make it worthy of sale. If we see someone using a product and they like it - from cars to clothes to chewing gum, then it’s okay for us to buy that product as well.
Yes, humans can be seen as objectified, but if they weren’t there would products sell? I would argue no. I would also agree with Lauren in that there really aren’t any shows (an ultimately, little advertising) that objectifies men more than women. There is a show on Bravo, I think it’s called “Make me a supermodel” that has both women and men, but I have only seen clips of it, so I am not sure how it works. In the end, people are objectified, but if they weren’t, I don’t think our society wouldn’t work.
I think I’m in agreement with Lauren–the show is more bad than good (which is not to say that I’m not also a guiltily avid viewer). In the objectification bit, I think I can agree that objectification as a phenomena may be inevitable in our society, but currently it does apply to women far more often than to men.
Also, despite they have they do start out each season with one or two token “plus-size” models, none of those models has yet made it to the final round–from what I remember, most are sent home at some point for a reason along the lines of “she just doesn’t have enough confidence.” But really, how do the judges expect them to be confident when they are living with 10 other underweight girls and are constantly being told by photo directors and judges to “suck it in” during the shoots? Not mention the media influences the women on the show grew up with.
Also, does anyone remember Keenyah? The judges told her to eat less even though she wasn’t one of the plus-size girls. That confused me because it makes it seem like you can only be one of two types of models–the conventional underweight ones, or the plus-size ones. Why couldn’t Keenyah have gained the two or three unnoticeable pounds that she did and fall somewhere in the middle? Overall, I think those kinds of comments by the judges highlight the fact that despite their inclusion of unconventional girls on the show, they’re still looking for a conventional winner.
I think I’ve heard Tyra say at least two or three times something to the effect of “I wish the modeling world were different, but until it is, you girls have to work with the system.” She usually says it after making a comment such as the ones she made to Keenyah, as a kind of justification I think. Tat really disappoints me, because she is in essence saying “until the system changes, conform,” but just how exactly is the system going to change if everyone conforms? And given the popularity of her show, she is in a great position to start changing things.
And know that Lauren mentions it, I can also see signs of the preference for white-looking or white-acting models. Why were Jaslene and Natasha’s accents acceptable, but Danielle’s “Southern” accent not? My guess would be that Jaslene and Natasha’s accents are exotic and less stigmatized, whereas “southern” accents are more stigmatized. I also have a sneaking suspicion that “southern” really meant “black.” I can’t remember any girl in particular, but haven’t there been other southern accents on the show? If it were a white girl with a southern accent would it be endearing and sweet?
I also didn’t like that the judges conflated her accent with her ability to be articulate. Those are two very different things, but they kept claiming that they couldn’t understand her very well and telling her to be more eloquent. In my opinion, she was perfectly articulate and I was able to understand everything she said, as the rest of America probably did. Isn’t that all that matters. And now that I’m thinking about it, wasn’t Bre or someone on the same cycle criticized for putting on airs in her speech? I believe Tyra and Twiggy told her to use her natural, “less posh” accent because it made her relatable and didn’t sound like she was trying to be someone she’s not. Just a whole lot of mixed messages from this show, is what it comes down to I guess.
On the upside, I do agree with Dashaway that the series does do some things right–having some diversity in the models’ lifestyles, body types, backgrounds, ethnicities, etc. The fact that Danielle was the winner for her cycle is great. And whether it is entirely or only partially unfemenist/ unhumanist is maybe not the most important thing as long as it is looked at with a critical eye. Since these issues are so pervasive in pop culture, I think it would be silly to ignore/ avoid any items in pop culture that are sexist, racist, classist, etc since you’d be left with pretty much nothing in the way of TV shows, movies, music, books, websites, magazines, etc to amuse yourself with! If we’re engaging in pop culture AND using a critical eye, then I think all of those guilty pleasure shows and other things can be good–they provoke discussion and make for good teaching tools.
Whew! Sorry, I clearly have length issues. But I think this is a really interesting topic. Qudos to Word Warrior!
Confession: I say “motherfucker” a lot (mostly just in my head). And that is just blatantly violent language. I should stop.