Hungry Like The Wolf

Naomi Wolf certainly doesn’t hold back her opinions on beauty and the porn biz! Her works were refreshing to read and brought to the surface some of the very ideas that I seem to harp on internally from time to time. First of all, The Porn Myth had me nodding my head in agreement. In our culture women feel more pressure than ever to appeal sexually to men. Ironically, today the real female frame in all its natural glory doesn’t seem to be quite as titillating as a bronze-colored surgically enhanced one. My sympathy really goes out to the generation of men who lack the knowledge of what a real woman’s body looks like. Even those males, who don’t search the internet for smutty clips, still have a false perception of how a woman should anatomically appear. Just by flipping on the TV one can tune in to The Girls Next Door and see fake playboy bunnies take part in a photo shoot. I totally agree that pornography has become our “wallpaper”. I mean every where we look, whether it be a liquor commercial or a Quizno’s ad there is always some underlying sexual innuendo attached to it. Music Videos are basically now just 3 minute soft-core pornos that hormonal teens can view with the sound off. It is sad that real women are being replaced by robotic one-dimensional submissive downloadable sex divas! Gosh, wasn’t there a time when sexuality was something unique, something that you could find within the flaws and corky subtleties? The beauty myth really tackles the question or whether or not the beauty industry is being pushed on females to make them feel negative about their own selves. It is rather strange that even after all the things women have accomplished there still is this undercurrent of negativity surrounding the idea of one’s physical appearance. Isn’t it also interesting to read about the ways different cultures view beauty? I won’t hold my breath till we adopt the idea that “droopy breasts” are beautiful. Sheesh. It is also quite mind-boggling to think about why older women are not considered as beautiful as younger women. Hmm, do you think this is because with age women become more powerful, self-assured, and less submissive? I agree with Wolf, that in order for women to feel wonderful about their bodies and faces, they have to develop a new way of seeing things. The Dove ads are really trying to shift people’s views about what it means to be both beautiful and sexy. However, sometimes they lose their validity when they are sandwiched between two ads that show rail thin blondes with huge jugs and orangey smooth skin. I personally am hungry for something different!