What actual misconceptions have they been getting?
One of the things that worries me is that a whole generation of young males will grow up thinking natural breasts are shapeless/soft/saggy, because of the saturation exposure of hard silicone globes everywhere.
Wait, wait, lemme clear something up:
If I see a woman that is “homely” or “ugly” and describe her as such, I am being superficial because I am ignoring her inner self, her mind, her personality, her potential, and all these other wonderful things that make a person a whole, well-rounded being… correct?
But calling a sexual woman a bimbo, brain-dead, and devoid of personality somehow ISN’T superficial?
I don’t get it. It’s bad to judge a person that isn’t physically attractive, but just fine to judge a person that is?
SPOOFE, it sounds like most of the people in this thread agree with you.
I don’t really have an opinion on the videos, because I think that women should be able to express themselves/make money however they want (as long as they’re not hurting anyone). But I also see how being repeatedly exposed to these images may give someone the idea that women are objects and to be treated that way. They’re seeing one side of the woman. Hopefully, people will have enough other women in real life that will give them a balanced view of what women (and indeed people) are.
Because for administrative personnel, productivity is not measured on how hot you look, while for music video dancers, it is. Same reason being a big, muscular, flamboyantly weird-looking loudmouthed smartass is outstandingly great for business if your boss is Vince McMahon, not so much if your boss is the Superior General of the Franciscan Friars. Everyone has a niche. Where there may be trouble is if a segment of the population with critical-thinking deficiencies (a distressingly large percentage) gets the mistaken impression that the niche of “biiootch in some pimpdaddy’s stable of human bling-bling” is “THE” niche for women.
For the same reason you don’t wear your yardwork clothes or your night on the town clothes. It’s just not apropriate for the circumstances. This line also made me wonder if your administrative job interview attire was as sexy as you ever dressed?
But seriously, As I get older I’ve come to understand your attitude but sex isn’t something to be vilified and tucked away out of sight. All the loaded words like objectified and de-humanized just seem like excuses to force people to someone else’s standard of behavior.
Who’s more de-humanized, a woman volentarily dancing in a bikini or a woman forced to wear a burka?
Last summer I was shocked for the first time by what girls were wearing. I saw three teenage girls wearing tight tank tops that said “AVAILABLE” across the boobs. My first reaction was shock, then I laughed at myself for getting old.
Well, the idea of sexy women as “accessories” to “the good life” goes back farther than that, at least as far as Hefner and Playboy.
Like the OP, I find it sad how many girls are willing, if not eager, to be treated as possessions or objects; but I guess that’s easier than being a fully responsible human being.
I sympathize with the OP. I’m a woman who is not a “sexual being” and I get tired of having images thrown at me which tell me I should be one.
I don’t think Destiny’s Child or any female superstar should be forced to be modest and cover themselves up. But I do wish that for every woman showing off her stomach and wiggling her hips on TV, there was another showing off her intellect or wit or hell, talent. I know sexiness and intellect aren’t mutually exclusive, but they rarely share equal footing in the hypervisual world of the mass media.
It goes beyond the media. I’m sick of seeing women wearing shirts that don’t cover the belly. I’m sick of seeing women in tight jeans that don’t cover booty cracks. I’m sick of seeing little girls wearing pants that have words written all over the seat, just inviting perverts to look at their ass. It’s hard for me to take women seriously that are dressed this way. Sexuality is a part of identity–I understand this. But there is a time and place for everything. I would prefer NOT to have to look at your naked waist while standing in line in the cafeteria. I would prefer NOT to have to avert my eyes every five minutes to avoid seeing your thongs, butt cracks, bare stomachs, jiggling breasts, and camel toes. No wonder the only thing the guys at work can talk about are how “hot” some “chick” is. Hotness is all the see.
Perhaps women wouldn’t feel so much pressure to be thin if clothing were made to actually cover up rather than expose. I shouldn’t have to shop in the Miss section to find clothes that don’t leave me feeling naked, and yet that’s what I have to do. I’m too young to be shopping in the Miss section, dammit!
But I admit that I’m a giant prude.
Just some examples-
Us driving in the car listening to the Beastie Boys’ “Girls”-
Me: “Uh, you know, son, that girls aren’t put on the earth to clean your room or wash your dishes, right?”
Boys: “Yeees, mom.” (rolleyes)
Watching videos with the boys-
Me: “Uh, you know, boys, that women have more worth than how their bodies look and they’re not put on this earth to look good or shake it like that, right? I mean, it’s okay if they choose to do that but that’s not their sole purpose.”
Boys: “Yeees, mom.” (rolleyes)
Listening to hiphop music with the boys, which we all like, get into, and dance to-
Me: “Uh, you know, boys, that it’s not okay in real life to refer to women as bitches and hos, right? Those phrases are in these songs for the entertainment value and should not be viewed as the correct way to relate to the female gender, right?”
Boys: “Yeees, mom.” (rolleyes)
I think that without talking about the images they get of women and their roles in society that they see in the media, boys can very easily get the wrong idea of women from music and TV. I want my boys to see women as strong, smart, and capable, no matter what they choose to do with their bodies.
“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench,
a long plastic hallway, where thieves and pimps run free,
and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.”
Hunter S. ThompsonIf I’ve given the perception that I’m a prude who thinks women shouldn’t be sexual, please allow me to clear that up - I think women are and should be sexual beings, and sex is good. My problem is with the portrayal of woman as only sexual objects. Nothing else about the woman matters as long as she has a pretty face, big, firm boobs and a vagina to be used.
My husband and I were discussing this issue last night, and I was trying to figure out why the objectification of women in media bothers me so much. I’m having a hard time verbalizing why, but it just feels wrong to me. I know nobody is making these girls do videos wearing only skimpy bikinis, but it still feels wrong to me. Your example of the burka is a good one, Foible, but just because it isn’t as wrong as that, it doesn’t make it right.
I was thinking just a few minutes ago why it feels wrong to me: I want to be hip and cool, but I don’t want to do some of the things that many in my age group are doing. If a large segment of the female population accept that objectification of their bodies is okay, then what happens to the rest of us?
It seems like many guys don’t see anything wrong with women showing their bods off, particularly if the “bods” are pretty and sexy. But I’m wondering how they would feel if it suddenly became trendy for men to walk around in booty shorts, with their balls practically hanging out of the legs. What if it became cool for men to walk around in tight muscle midriff shirts? What if women only seemed attracted to men doing these things, and men who chose to be more conservative were labeled as prudes or assumed to be suffering from low self-esteem? Would anyone be able to take a man seriously if his wag was poking out of his pants?
Although, I do have to say that when I was in the grocery store today, all the women I saw were dressed nicely while still showing off their figures and beauty. But I know tomorrow, when I got to my job at a university, I’ll be seeing plenty of asses and tits and outlines of vaginas. Maybe that’s just what college kids do nowadays, and my age is catching up with me.
(Checks monstro’s location) I don’t think it’s equally bad in all parts of the country. If it really bothers you, you might think about moving to North Dakota.
Me, I like seeing female skin and sexually suggestive dress. But it certainly doesn’t make me respect the person more. It mentally puts me into “I’d sure like to get me a piece o’ that” mode. Which can be distracting and frustrating in a situation where it’d be impossible or highly inappropriate to reach out and grab me a “piece o’ that.”
I don’t see ‘objectification’. I see sexuality. There is a huge difference.
And, for the rest of you, do your own thing, and you’ll find people who appreciate you for who you are. As always.
Seyla.
I’d think other men were dressing pretty silly, and I’d stick to what I wear now anyways.
Um… I think that happened about a decade ago. Generally when I see a guy wearing something like that I think “Damn, I wish I had a physique which was that good.” Then I go about my day.
Fuck society and fuck the masses.
I am who and what I am, and women who can appreciate me for who I am are good to snuggle with. If other women don’t like me because I don’t dress a certain way, they’re welcome to go do their own thing. People are attracted to what they’re attracted to, and either there’s clickage, or there’s not. I see no problem with that.
I’d say some women might still want to fuck him, yeah. But who cares?
To each their own, as always.
Can you please get me in touch with whatever office I need to speak to about visiting you campus? 
Some kids do, yes. Not all. I would say that the generation right after mine is a lot more sexually adventerous than mine was, at least from what I’ve been hearing/reading.
I absolutely agree. There’s a time and a place for dressing all sexy, and it can be fun to do it. But not at work and not at school. In that context, I want people to concentrate on my brains, not my boobs. As for musicians, I want to focus on their music, not their clothing or distracting lack of it.
Amen.
Shaking your boobies is empowering, huh? I wouldn’t know about that, as I wouldn’t shake my boobies for strangers under any plausible circumstances, but I do know that WIELDING POWER is really empowering. It makes me very sad that the closest these women are ever going to come to wielding power is that they can make some men drool by boobie shaking.
Standing in front of platoon of soldiers and making them follow your commands, that’s a nice sensation of power. Crossing the stage at a graduation ceremony and accepting the top award for academic achievement, that’s a nice sensation of power. Having a job where people approach you for your expertise, that’s a nice sensation of power.
Each to her own.
But society dictates what’s attractive, does it not? And I don’t mean attractive in a “ooh, I’ve got a boner!” kind of way. I mean attractive in a “ooh, I’d love to date and have babies with this person” kind of way.
Mating is not random, so it’s a competitive sport. I worry that that the media (including the fashion industry) is yet again raising the bar for women. If “sexually attractive” now means I’ve got to wear pants that show my butt, stomach, and coochie creases, while flaunting bosom cleavage I naturally lack, then it becomes that much harder for me to find a boyfriend and a husband (not that I’m looking, I’m just saying…) Men simply do not have to worry about this. It doesn’t seem like the requirements for getting a mate have changed that much for men, but it has for women. I find that to be unfair.
A woman can be sexy without flashing tits and ass. In fact, the best “sexiness” IMHO is that which leaves something to imagination. But YMMV.
One thing I have gathered from my time as a human being is that men are extremely sexual beings. They think about sex all the time. Their eyes gravitate towards bosoms and bottoms through no fault of their own. They have erections at little provocation. They must relieve the tension and urges on a daily basis. As a biologist, this makes perfect sense to me, and I don’t cast any moral judgements on men’s sexuality. But what I don’t understand is why men–these uber sexual beings–do not trapse around in skin-tight clothing (gay men being an exception). Why don’t you see men on music videos jiggling their butts? If men are so sexual, why is it so cool for young males to wear lots of clothing (baggy pants, down-to-the-floor t-shirts, coats even in the summer time) while teenage girls are expected to walk around half-naked? Are women more sexual than men? If it’s all about sexuality and not objectification, why do we only see women showing off their bodies? It’s the inequality that makes me think one side is being “used” for the enjoyment of the other.
What would be objectification to you, FinnAgain?
shoves everybody else in the thread aside Me! Me! Me!
I agree - there is a huge difference. As monstro points out, if this is just about sexuality, why aren’t the men in these videos dressed as provocatively as the women?
Man, if I looked like any of the women in Destiny’s Child, I’d be naked ALL THE TIME! 
(sure, you can watch my webcam. $150/hr)
If you guys didn’t notice these women are also, you know, talented singers and stuff. Beyonce has done pretty well for herself. Note “Independent Women”.
Oh and Re:
See “Whatta Man”. Mhmmmm…
mmm…
Amen to that! Smart women are incredibly sexy.
Jeopardy! is a good source for brain/eye candy, although there still seem to be more men than women taking part. In the current Tournament of Champions, I’m particularly fond of Pam Mueller (her bio and pics are on a javascript link from this page). I also thought our own h.sapiens looked very nice this past week, but I can’t link to her bio because (unfortunately) she didn’t win her round and so isn’t on the “First Round Winners” page.