The Media and Double Standards – The Joke Is On Women.

I was watching an interview with Writer Seth MacFarlane a few weeks ago, whilst answering one of the questions asked him, half way through he uttered an expletive. The interviewers were aghast and immediately lurched forth with profuse apologies for MacFarlane’s mistake; insisting he hadn’t meant it and that he hadn’t realised what he had said was wrong. MacFarlane was shocked by their response, you could visibly see it; I suppose he hadn’t realised UK audiences are ‘anal’ about swear words being spoken on television. His retort to all of this panic was something I have always agreed with, but it has never been said as a response on television; ‘oh so I can’t say a rude word, but it is OK for breasts to be shown in UK newspapers and magazines’. Needless to say the interviewers didn’t reply to this.

Yet, it is a question that needs answering as it is a contradiction we all accept. It is pathetic and unjustified; no swearing and yet there are far worse things getting aired via the media, oh, and going on daily throughout the world! For Heaven’s sake people, get a grip, it is ONLY a word (swear)!

Double standards? I think so, but yet the UK seemingly thrive on that! Actions speak louder than words, and I’d prefer to hear a swear word being used than see the constant objectification of women on every advert, and in every magazine shoot! Hell, you only have to switch to MTV for a little bit of sex education; between gyrating and semi clad women to the explicit lyrics, sex is everywhere! However, I don’t see that being apologised for; but as usual any swear words mixed into the lyrics which glorify having sex, sex and more sex, are ‘bleeped’ out! Swear words are just a step too far, too obscene for viewers! The videos are OK though; women stripping, lap-dancing, being a sex object, being a sex toy, being cast as a dumb fool; but if they swear, well that won’t be tolerated!

Hey, no problem it is great demonstrating to everybody, mainly the young and impressionable that these ‘MTV’ roles represent all women are, and want to be. This is a must for every 5 year old’s education I am sure. MTV has no ‘watershed’, anyone can watch at any-time and be inundated with images of what women are good for, sex. Great self-esteem boost for all women out there; thanks MTV for pimping women as a ride!

I suppose people think I have a prudish outlook, you know what, I don’t care. The measure of me is not just my body parts, my female gender; I am a human and want to be treated with respect, and as a person with a brain! I personally don’t live my life to be in servitude to a man’s penis, although I do like sex, I am not an object!
I feel it is what we are subjected to daily that makes us believe what we see is acceptable, and is then adopted as the norm. We have been drip fed naked flesh and provocative images for so long we can’t remember life without them all. I just want to know why it is deemed necessary to sell; shower gel, coffee, trainers, washing powder, chocolate and God knows what else, with naked flesh and sexual invitation? Why does all this nakedness appear mostly on adverts aimed at women? Why are these images of rampaging, semi clad and sexually desperate women supposed to sell things? Who is identifying with them? What has any of it got to do with washing powder?

If you look at adverts from 10 years ago, there is a marked difference in today’s variety; the barriers of what is normal and accepted by the public are being pushed all the time. So subtle are the changes and developments that we don’t see it, we just accept it as the norm, see it as what society is like and we don’t question why. How further can it go? Will women just end up like meat on a stick; not human, but just worth their flesh?

I suppose we can’t now escape naked forms, and our enjoyment in seeing them all the time, well then, let’s have some fair sharing and distribution. More men on display and the ‘HOT’ variety please! Naked women are on show everywhere for everything; dancing to the tune of male advertisers and marketing execs, DJs, Rappers and so on and so on; if their lack of clothing has no link to subjugation, sexual pressure, objectification or dominance of fully clothed males over naked females, then why are there so few naked men?

If naked bodies and sex are cool, and the world is OK with them, why aren’t there more naked, gyrating men selling women products? Men in adverts, on television, in photo shoots; pandering to women’s sexual fantasies, being women’s sex toys, being objectified by women, losing dignity and self-respect for women’s needs. I wonder if those ridiculous double standards have anything to do with it; or maybe, it is because more men hold positions of power to decide what gets published, televised and so on? For example, the penis, adverts about condoms, the contraceptive pill and sexually transmitted diseases aren’t aired on the television or in magazines. Why are such things relegated to specific times and places; late nights, certain channels and magazines? I mean sex is everywhere, so surely we should see the other half of the species who have sex too, and not just the women of world being stripped bare? Surely we should all know about the male penis and condoms? We see sanitary products on the television all the time, but no condoms, no penis.

I wonder why half the population, who are women, are happy with this flaw. Liking sex, liking men, enjoying being seen as attractive or sexy, looking after your-self; all of this has nothing to do with despising objectification and subjugation. Being seen as a woman should be on your terms, not what a faceless industry tells you, no dictates that you are or should be. To me it seems they are destroying femininity, unpicking it with smut for money. It’s a cheap and nasty joke, which women are the brunt of. You’d think these industry men would have another punch line by now, but then, ‘small minds’ and all that!

Sexual, prude, foolish or subjugated; women’s limited roles in the media.

Copy Right Notice:
© Bex Houghagen and The Savvy Senorita, 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Bex Houghagen and The Savvy Senorita with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Biggest Loser or Modern Day Freak Show?

From ITV The Biggest Loser (UK)

I am perplexed and somewhat appalled to see such programmes as ‘The Biggest Loser’ being aired on TV. The cavalier attitude to which these programmes, and there are many, address issues of health is somewhat annoying.

The shows ‘experts’ seem to revel in exonerating bullying the participants, and reducing their self-esteem to minus something. Do they ever consider or fully address the greater issues attached to weight gain, self-esteem, confidence and so on? They are dealing with highly emotive and complex issues in a light and disregarding fashion, for mere entertainment purposes. ‘You’re fat because you are greedy, get a grip’, it is not always so simple a solution.

Furthermore such dramatic weight loss as is expected every week, which occurs from drastically restricted diets (crash diets), and extreme exercise routines; certainly is a dangerous mix? If you happen to weigh 33 stones or 462 pounds, isn’t that all too much and too soon; wouldn’t the stresses alone do some severe damage?

I would like to see how the participant’s in these programmes fair psychologically, as well as health wise after leaving such programmes. I wonder what issues they have come up against months later, and who is there to help? To be honest they are making entertainment yet again out of other people’s misery, mocking people like they are part of some modern-day freak show, its gross.

http://www.itv.com/biggestloser/

Copy Right Notice:
© Bex Houghagen and The Savvy Senorita, 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Bex Houghagen and The Savvy Senorita with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Hair Free Expectations.

By chance I read a blog by College Candy, entitled ‘Why This CC Writer Doesn’t Have Pubic Hair. The page discussed a topic which I didn’t realise could hold such fascination; to perform hair removal on the intimate feminine area or not.

Is it a question worth asking at all? I think the reasons behind asking such a question, and the reasons why performing hair removal is seen as the norm are definitely worth considering.

Does being hairy in that area make you less feminine, desirable or hygienic? Is hair free less ridiculed or shunned than being hairy? Isn’t hair removal just about personal choice, or is it a ‘must’ dictated by some societal norm?

Choice should be a personal matter; to be hairy or hair free is a woman’s own decision to make. However, what used to be beauty choices are now interwoven into the everyday good woman’s guide of how to maintain her-self. When there is a pressure to do something to conform to an accepted norm, then where is the freedom of choice?

This pressure to conform then takes the initial questions of hairy or hair free to a much deeper level than merely the topic itself. These questions can be applied to all aspects of self and society; especially people’s reactions to such pressure, and the perceptions of themselves. So how much of the beauty regime that women do, is because they choose to do it and want to do it? How much is done because women have a fear of being ridiculed?

Who decided these measures of beauty as a norm, who decreed these expectations? Who woke up one morning and thought, ‘You know what without the beauty industry I am nothing; Oh, and by the way I really must remove my body hair to be accepted’?  Maybe this is just about women’s expectations, their ideals gone out of control to an extent that it is driving all of this ‘beauty myth’ to new heights, or maybe men and sexual attraction are the culprits to blame?

To have sex, I suppose women have to be seen as attractive by the men of the world, but are men’s expectations of beauty always what women think they will be? Could it be women labour under false pretences, maybe to please a society of men who really couldn’t give a damn about all that beauty malarkey? No man would say, ‘Nope, I’m not having sex with you until you remove that pubic hair’, surely not? If that was the case then does a woman reply, ‘OK, I’m not having sex with you until you remove yours’?

If men do indeed frown upon a woman who doesn’t fulfil her ‘beauty duties’ then God help him if, and when he does secure a stable relationship. Life dictates that most women refrain from being slaves to the bathroom on a 24/7 basis; a girl has gotta work for a living too! What would a man do when he realises this, up and runaway to a woman who maybe does live by the rule of beauty alone? If the answer is yes, then is that man worth wasting yourself on?

Women aren’t merely dolls to be played with. A measure of a woman is surely more than her individual parts? Is she just hair, teeth, skin, nails, and features and so on? How sad it must be to believe you are only as good as what your make-up or hair looks like. In reality, if women did what the ‘beauty experts’ suggest they do to their bodies daily, then such exhausting routines would consume their lives and minds! Hell, no woman would be able to step outside without crippling anxiety that she isn’t worthy, just because she hasn’t done X or Y before walking down the street.

Yet, can this beauty obsession ever come to an end? Are we that reliant on it? What will the pilgrimage towards beauty insist upon next though? How far can the boundaries be pushed until women say; no more of this, this is me and deal with it. More importantly who are women changing themselves for; is it for individual benefit or for others? How can we be certain? If the reasons to change are so inextricably linked to society pressure and norms, then surely no-one can be 100% certain what motivates their choices and why.

Copy Right Notice:
© Bex Houghagen and The Savvy Senorita, 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Bex Houghagen and The Savvy Senorita with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.