The Rise of Raunch Culture

All I can say is "WOW!" after reading the first two sections in Ariel Levl's Female Chauvinist Pigs. I never considered today's mainstream portrayal of women in this way before. Well I always thought there were "those" women in our country, but I would have never considered Katie Couric's revealing dress as a way of her showing everyone that she has made it today. This along with female Olympians baring all in magazines is supporting the notion that "it is not enough to be successful, rich and accomplished" woman (pg. 33), more is needed in order to be apart of today's mainstream culture, raunch culture. "Trading up" was a reason proposed by Levy for why Olympians decided to pose nude because porn is a greater part of today's culture. But no male Olympians have done so. Why is this the case? Could it be the fact that we as a culture value male athletes more? Or are female athletes considered masculine and unwomanly? Thus by posing nude, they are displaying the female body for all it is worth.

Levy mentioned that feminsim has been achieved as shown by the emergence of raunch culture. However, this statement from her introduction seems contradictory to the purpose of the feminism movement. Instead of gaining equality to men, women have degraded themselves by displaying their bodies in such a way, so they can be viewed as sex symbols. I believe this is the opposite of what women need. We need to be seen as equals to men, not more inferior, especially since Christie Hefner, CEO of Playboy, said that male nudity is not acceptable, well males feel uncomfortable posing. "How is resurrecting every stereotype of female sexuality that feminism endeavored to banish good for women?" (pg. 4) This question posed by Levy caught my eye because I think she has a good point and foreshadows the rest of the book, which seems like it will discuss different circumstances when women showcased their sexuality. What do you think? Also do you think this culture represents what women have already achieved or what there is still to gain? But if our culture was the opposite of today's and instead of a Girls Gone Wild crew traveling around spring break destinations there was a Boys Gone Wild show, would this completely change how everything is looked at? I think so. Would men be more "comfortable" with them selves? All of this embarrassment women are subjected to if they fail to please an audience of Girls Gone Wild is crap! You may be the most confident and comfortale person in your own skin, but still refuse to participate. Maybe you just don't want to encourage this type of behavior and be stereotyped as a slut.

The last thing I found interesting was the fact that many women partcipate in encouraging other women to act in a sexual way. For example, Liest, the Girls Gone Wild tour manager responded to friends saying GGW is degarding to women, by it is ok when girls offer to act this way. This comment just encourages more of this behavior to occur. What do you think about how Leist answered her friends?