London Striptease: Modern Female Sexualization - Essay Example

? LONDON STRIPTEASE: MODERN FEMALE SEXUALISATION Introduction According to the American Psychological Association, sexualisation refers to the state where a person values him/herself almost exclusively in accordance to his or her sexual appeal or character. This notion can also be used to describe a society, in terms of the way it values personality in relation to sexuality (Haug 1999: 06). Nowadays, especially in the Western World, sexualisation has risen to an all high with both men and women choosing nudity as a way to empower themselves. In London, for example, the striptease industry is currently booming and many people are flocking into related institutions e.g. the Jo King’s School of Striptease. Many of the women who striptease feel that it empowers them and that it is an adequate way to improve their image. Sexualisation has also hit the media with sexual exposure becoming vital for magazines, movies, music and advertisements to achieve financial success. However, does embracing sexualisation in the society really liberate those involved, especially women, or does it imprison their potential and possibilities? Does sexualisation really empower? It all started with strippers going live on TV to give lessons on lap dancing men to orgasm. Then celebrities like Britney Spears started becoming increasingly popular in relation to their nudity, so much, so that discussions about some of their private parts became major subjects in entertainment gossip. Charlie’s Angels, the movie, was then introduced in 2001, enhancing the interest of people in ‘sexy’ crime fighting. It involved stars who dressed in soft porn like fashion, which was apparently meant to inspire empowerment and independence in women. Its sequel involved even more sexualisation as the stars were required to perform many stripteases while undertaking their missions. This did not end with the TVs and the radios as anyone walking down the streets in any Western world community would come across teens, young women, and some occasional wild fifty-year –olds wearing shorts cut so low and so tight that they exposed the butt cleavage. These shorts would then be paired with miniature tops, which showed the whole sections of breasts above the nipples and the pierced navels alike. In some cases, as if the overall message radiated from such clothing was not obvious enough, the pieces of clothing would be imprinted with the playboy bunny or a nude porn star’s picture or drawing. As if things were not becoming weird, enough, many women started going to strip clubs (with female strippers) in their leisure time. They explained that it felt liberating and rebellious to watch their fellow women on the poles, toss some notes at them or shove them in their underwear and occasionally strip down and join them. Many young women became openly and shamelessly obsessed with porn stars, a hobby previously thought to be exclusively for teenage boys. As a result, girls started purchasing merchandise like the one g-strings and vibrators commonly associated with their favorite porn stars (Levy 2010: 32). Nowadays, nudity has become such a common part of life. So much so that exposing a woman’s breasts in public is not considered a taboo, most so in the Western world. In fact, such a scenario is given surprisingly little attention as witnessed in many of the streets. There have been numerous reports of female celebrities taking their morning jogs on the streets of Hollywood with nothing but their underwear on, during rush hour traffic. According to the reports, very few people even pay any significance to them, leave alone staring, whistling or commenting inappropriately. Such a scenario can be witnessed in many of America’s beaches, which have fully embraced nudity and anyone seen with even a drab of underwear is considered out of place. Also contributing to this notion is the fashion industry. Models are strolling down the runway with tops that reveal everything under them as they apparently believe that it does not sell unless it comes with a nipple or some side boob. With this trend, wearing only bras on one’s chest in the future may just be considered outlandish and modest (The Man Repeller 2013: 22). Of course, we cannot forget to mention the fashion industry when it comes to sexualisation. It has now become a necessity, an addiction rather, to inculcate half naked models, especially the female ones, in promoting new fashion releases. Take, for example, the recent performance done to advertise an iconic shoe made by designer Christian Louboutin at the Design Museum. It involved the dancer Dita Von Teese, who strip teased on stage wearing only lingerie and some pumps. Undoubtedly, the performance was creative and stunning, but it should have involved less nudity and sexual indecency (Vimeo 2013). There is also the case of city billboards, most notably, the Calvin Klein ones, which dominate London’s public space with hyper-sexualised images. This whole revolution was, supposedly, aimed at ending feminism. The society had decided that it was time to end the objectification and misogyny of women and allow them to join the world of frat parties and pop culture, previously dominated by men. Women reasoned that if male chauvinists were men who regarded women as just sex objects, then they would beat them at their own game by becoming sex objects of themselves and their fellow women. In many of Ariel Levy’s interviews, when women are asked why they like the ‘raunch culture’ they say similar things like the empowerment of miniskirts, and feminist strippers. The most astonishing of the responses, however, is that they want to elevate themselves into the social position of men. Such women desire the experience of a man and go to strip clubs or obsess over porn stars; which is a way of bridging the gender gap. Besides, they add, it is all done in good fun, and for anyone to regard it as bacchanal or problematic would be ‘uncool’ and ‘old school’. Earlier on, writer Natasha Walter had embraced and advocated for the cultural liberalization of women in her book, The New Feminism. Nowadays, the female empowerment has taken a turn to which she did not anticipate. As opposed to women getting concerned by issues like gender equality in the workplace, it has become all about women receiving the right to dressing as tartly as possible, exposing as much skin as they like. The Western culture has distorted the concept of female liberalization, such that girls now strive to become the as sexually attractive as they can rather than aiming for the best out of education and gender equality. For this reason, the writer regrets ever writing the book and counters it with Living Dolls. The book addresses draws an alarming picture of a generation driven almost exclusively by sexual impulse, such that prostitution and strip dancing are treated as some of the average jobs (Walter 2011: 12). According to Walter, the current society frames all things that relate to women with feminism and women empowerment. She gives an example of a woman whose life was ruined by prostitution, but could not realize it, let alone leave it since people kept reassuring her that promiscuous sex was empowering. Just as the previous society required them to retain their submissiveness and virginity, women nowadays are not aware of the commercial interests and pressures of the current society to become unrealistic ideals of beauty. These women become obsessed with the latest fashions, get waxed and surgically enhanced frequently and are obsessed with dieting just to feel empowered and in place. In this ‘raunch’ culture, most women aspire to conform to the sexual expectations and pleasures of their male observers rather than to express their own individual sexuality. Even though the ‘raunch’ culture originated with men, it no longer makes sense to blame them for it (Levy 2010: 54). A significant factor of the culture is what Ariel Levy refers to as female chauvinist pigs, that is, women who objectify their lives and those of their fellow women based on sexuality. Female chauvinist pigs deploy two strategies to deal with feminism. In the first strategy, they set themselves apart from excessively feminine women and criticize them frequently. They use this strategy to overcome their oppression and appear closer to men in terms of social positioning. In the second strategy, the female chauvinist pigs objectify themselves through their choices of appeal and expressions of stereotypes in terms of female sexuality. This strategy is commonly used in an attempt to gain social status, by embodying the ultimate object of male sexual desire in a society (Levy 2010: 45). Many, however, cannot get the sense out of this reasoning. How is the resurfacing of every stereotype of female sexuality supposed to bring good for women? How is laboring to become a sex magnet like the likes of Beyonce and Lady Gaga empowering? How does pursuing the lifestyle of a stripper or a porn star- a person whose job is centered on arousal in the first place- sexually liberate women? In spite of the power of evangelical Christianity growing in Western countries, sexuality has grown to become more extreme and more pervasive. What was previously viewed as a kind of sexual expression has now to be regarded as sexuality. Porn used to be a ‘back-alley’ subject, almost being regarded a taboo. Now, it is everywhere with many porn stars and other naked ladies moving from the side streets and back alleys to the center stage, where they are comfortably watched, even in broad daylight. An example of such an occasion is the Babes on Bed competition where a group of girls strip down and kiss in front of a steamy and sweaty crowd of men in order to qualify for a job in the Lads Magazine. It is rather ironic that women have come to embrace factors like the playboy in this allegedly, post feminist world (Levy 2010: 43-65) Conclusion Just as Natasha Walter stated, not all pornography and other forms of sexualisation degrade women in the long run, but underneath the fake outer cover of empowerment, many women are haunted by deep unhappiness. Women who value life in terms of sexualisation secretly admit that they feel humiliated by the brief encounters of sexual abuse they face because of their lifestyle. It is the current over sexualised society that is to blame for pushing women so deep into lap dancing and nude modeling that young girls view it as a privileged lifestyle. The way the society frames empowerment and feminism to deliver male sexual fantasies is dangerously misguiding women and girls into self-worthlessness. If not cured, this trend will have a catastrophic effect for the future generations due to the degradation of motherhood. How can fashion play its role in the noble crusade of desexualizing the ladies of our generation? The belief that the fashion industry cannot make it without nudity ought to be made a cliche. There currently exists way more under exploited indigenous fashion designs, which promote values like culture exchange, than the usual sexually exaggerated ones. We need bold new designers who will make products specifically aimed at stemming down the vice and promoting true women empowerment. Bibliography HAUG, F. (1999). Female sexualization: a collective work of memory. London, Verso LEVY, A. (2010). Female chauvinist pigs: women and the rise of raunch culture. Collingwood, VIMEO., 2013. DITA VON TEESE X CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN HOLOGRAM. Regular. Available at: http://vimeo.com/43047387 [Accessed 26 November 2013]. THE MAN REPELLER. 2013. Boobs. Regular. Available at: http://www.manrepeller.com/2013/08/boobs.html [Accessed 26 November 2013]. THE MAN REPELLER. 2013. Founded on the Principle of Garments. Regular. Available at: http://www.manrepeller.com/2013/11/founded-on-the-principles-of-garments.html Vic, Black Inc. WALTER, N. (2011). Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism. Little, Bown Book Group. Read More