GIRLS ARE WATCHING Self-Expression or Sexualization?

[ismnotwasm]

Between the perennially half-naked Miley Cyrus and celebrities whose only claim to fame is sex appeal, impressionable young women are being taught that sexualizing themselves is the key to empowerment.

“We’re all seeing the same exact thing over and over again, so it’s kind of hard to avoid not replicating that,” said 16-year-old actress Winnifred Bonjean-Alpart during a panel at the Women in the World summit on the impact our sex-saturated culture is having on young women. “Of course they’re going to try to create what they’re seeing because that is what gets attention.”
Hypersexuality in the media and pop culture is a growing concern among women of all ages, as Bonjean-Alpart articulated during Saturday’s panel, which was moderated byMorning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski.
But it was actress and writer Rashida Jones, whose feature in Glamour on “the pornification of everything” inspired the panel.
“I don’t blame anyone individually for expressing themselves. I’m just worried about the collective message,” Jones said of the sexualized images perpetuated by young female pop stars and emulated by young women and girls as young as seven. “It feels like the headline. And I know there’s more to those performers than that.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/witw/articles/2014/04/05/teaching-girls-the-difference-between-self-expression-and-sexualization.html

For some reason I couldn't find the videos to embed. LOVE this first comment

This is such an important discussion to have, but I think we need to stop focusing only women and girls--STOP holding them responsible for the hyper-sexualization of women and girls. Blaming women and girls is actually reinforcing the problem because it avoids examining the root cause of the problem. We need to start holding GROWN MEN RESPONSIBLE for the hypersexualization of women and girls. Men must be encouraged to stand up against the hyper-sexualization of women and girls. Why are they are completely invisible in these conversations about female exploitation? Because this is how unequal power structures work. Dominance operates, by being unexamined, and those in power are usually in denial, because they aren't feeling objectified and oppressed. It is like blaming slaves for their own oppression, and not holding the enslavers, the ones in power, responsible.


Fact: Adult males are more powerful then women. They hold the majority of powerful roles in our society. Look at government leadership and CEOs in our country--women hold a tiny percentage of these positions. In record numbers, men control the media, men make the decisions about what will be shown in media, in music, they make up most of the audience that support the hyper-sexualization/exploitation of women. Women all over should demand that men act to protect their wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, their female loved ones. To learn more checkout Jackson Katz's work--an ally, he is doing great stuff on this topic.