YouTube Feminism
I've developed a most embarrassing addiction to YouTube. I don't watch the jack-ass style antics or clips from television shows. Sure, I love the music videos, and if that was it, I wouldn't be so ashamed -- such viewing being the equivalent of a glass of wine with dinner. But I've gone far beyond 'social' viewing to the 'it must be 5 o'clock somewhere' routine that just isn't healthy. Dare I admit my problem? I've become obsessed with watching the girls on YouTube -- the narcissistic, whiny, ignorant brats that remind me a lot of myself when I was younger, only prettier and with more free time. It's not that I'm interested in what yoga position they can teach me or what their parents did to piss them off, or even really them at all -- its the resulting comment storm that keeps me coming back for more, more, more! If ever in my blacker moments I believed feminism was dead, the proof of it is in the responses to these girls' videos. Grown men and boys drooling over cleavage, bitter women throwing the word 'slut' around like its a greeting, and of course your spammers taking up precious space that the former could be busy filling up with hate. When you combine that with how woefully ignorant of feminist philosophy -- or any philosophy, for that matter -- these girls are, it just makes me despair for the next generation. In fact, I may just have to post a video about it some day . . . :)
8/13/2006 10:01 AM
Drooling over clevage is sort of what what grown men do. It's pretty much the only fun left to us. Without that, our boyish charm withers and dies.
We can't be particularly smart, so we choose to be overly horny. Okay, we don't exactly choose to be that way. If young girls choose to feed that, God bless 'em. Further, it serves to demonstrate pretty clearly where the "power dynamic" that feminist ideology seems to rest on really lies. I think Camille Paglia had something to say about that.
On the other hand, I could be wrong. I'm not exceptionally bright. top
8/13/2006 11:14 AM
OMG, skippy read my blog! I'm both giddy and embarrassed! :) I wish I'd spent more time on my post, but it was late and I'd had a great evening . . . I didn't make it clear that my problem isn't the drooling, which is clearly expected and which constitutes flattery, it's the women that attack others for daring to be proud of their beautiful breasts, simply because men take notice of them. It's why I wasted my high school years in oversized shirts and sports bras . . .
I just wish these girls knew that they have a right to be proud of their bodies, and didn't spend half the video bemoaning their weight. I wish they knew that the power they have isn't just about sex, but understood that's a good portion of its potency. I wish we had the kind of society where a girl could go around undressed if she wanted, without having to worry about other women hating her or someone sending pictures to her family... top
8/13/2006 12:26 PM
That's where we're in total agreement, Gail.
I've long thought that the fundamental flaw of feminism is that it pits women against men, at least idealogically. That misses the point completely.
Men are, by and large, clueless. We kinda like it that way. It reduces stress. Women, on the other hand, are their own worst enemies. Fights between men or between men and women are flashes, bad at first, but then gone. Women are like wolverines with one another. Put two of them in a cage and you know that only one is coming out alive.
While it's endlessly amusing to watch, you really won't make your greatest strides (insofar as there are any left to make) until that's resolved, which it won't be. And that's my problem with "sexual politics." It seeks to change fundamental human nature.
Essentially, we're all doomed. Of course, it might be that I just need to get laid.
I'm so cheerful. top