i'm not sure that i've heard arguments that girls gone wild is empowering to women, although i'd be curious to see any current writing on the topic just to see what other feminists think. perhaps some women find taking part in girls gone wild to be somewhat liberating, but i'd argue that they're just drunk. ;)
Well, that was sort of where the discussion started with me and Maggie, and then in the Salon/Feministing article that I linked to, when the topic comes up, Valenti sorta brushes it aside. "I don't think that phenomenon is as widespread as people make it out to be" or "Why are we tsk-tsking those girls when there are bigger issues" or such like. It IS a big issue. I think it's incredibly important to teach our daughters that sex can be amazing and empowering, but it isn't always, and that you have to use your agency as a sexual being to make good choices -- that ability to CHOOSE is what's empowering, not sex-across-the-board. It's a difficult subtlety to get across to young girls, and obviously it takes a long time to work out for yourself, but the point needs to be made.
The reason I like talking to you and Maggie about this stuff is that you both see a lot of nuance to all of these issues, whereas I feel like most political or philosophical talking heads/figureheads like to paint things in broad strokes so that they're newsbyte worthy. There's no money to be made or publicity to be had in point-by-point rational discussion. :/
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Date: 2007-04-25 05:20 am (UTC)Well, that was sort of where the discussion started with me and Maggie, and then in the Salon/Feministing article that I linked to, when the topic comes up, Valenti sorta brushes it aside. "I don't think that phenomenon is as widespread as people make it out to be" or "Why are we tsk-tsking those girls when there are bigger issues" or such like. It IS a big issue. I think it's incredibly important to teach our daughters that sex can be amazing and empowering, but it isn't always, and that you have to use your agency as a sexual being to make good choices -- that ability to CHOOSE is what's empowering, not sex-across-the-board. It's a difficult subtlety to get across to young girls, and obviously it takes a long time to work out for yourself, but the point needs to be made.
The reason I like talking to you and Maggie about this stuff is that you both see a lot of nuance to all of these issues, whereas I feel like most political or philosophical talking heads/figureheads like to paint things in broad strokes so that they're newsbyte worthy. There's no money to be made or publicity to be had in point-by-point rational discussion. :/