Blogroll Addition
Irradiated by LabRat
I aten’t dead. Just taking a mini-vacation, as the giant yearly climax that is ChristmasNewYears has left me wanting to take up professional hermiting, which is pretty much normal for me.
Meanwhile, Alan pointed me at a blog that wound up devouring my entire day today on a nonstop archive binge. I may not always agree completely with the guy, but I LOVE the way he thinks: The Last Psychiatrist. He has a particular gift for saying things I want to disagree with, but can’t actually because he’s not wrong. Which makes me think, which makes me like his stuff even more.
Check out this one in particular: The APA Says The Media Is Making Women Really Hot. He makes a point I haven’t ever seen articulated before, but rings completely true to me- the pornification of women in mass culture isn’t so much changing girls into sluts as it is creating an expectation about their behavior in boys that they may react to quite badly when it turns out to be at odds with reality.
Go read. But only if you’ve got a big chunk of spare time.
December 26th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
“The real problem for the women of our society isn’t a lack of self-esteem. It’s a lack of weapons.”
That’s actually the line that made me add him to my RSS feed.
December 27th, 2009 at 10:36 am
Thanks Labrat.
But I repeat myself.
December 27th, 2009 at 11:27 am
Excellent post, linked. But media doesn’t have to “make women hot” for what he is describing to occur. Just look at the Muslim culture - women have to wear concealing clothes, cannot travel without a male relation as escort, and in many of the subculture are sexually mutilated because men fear their sexuality. Rape is not uncommon, and the rape victim is seen as the instigator and punished for it, often with death. Etc, etc.
Humans are screwed up about sex. It’s a wonder we reproduce at all.
December 27th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Regarding the linked-to post (and contra Kevin a bit, I think), TLP seems to argue that the disappointment of media-generated expectations is the crux of the issue, not the (many) default neurosis’ people have, whatever their culture. Leaving that out of the equation, I agree with what I think Kevin means, that abusive behavior isn’t dependant upon media contribution.
I do wonder to what degree such artificial expectations within both genders work to create a mutually-reinforcing, self-fullfilling cycle of failure in people. Media fantasies targeted at (and blatantly emphasizing) the young do seem a likely contributing factor. What to do in response is a delicate question indeed.
December 27th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Kevin: Nope, but if you look at the two situations, there’s still a cultural setup of expectations that’s killing the women in both cases. In the cultural context in which honor killings- and rape of any woman not escorted or not dressed in a Hefty bag occur- the drumbeat of the message is that women are naturally walking temptations. Not only are they not people the way men are, the message is that men are not responsible for the feelings they induce, and that it’s the female responsibility to avoid tempting them. Any woman who isn’t doing her duty, as it were, must want it- and when she gets it good and hard, the men were only doing what comes naturally.
It’s their version of “acting like a slut”. And all women are sluts- it’s why they have to be locked away in all senses, because being a slut is ten thousand times worse.
December 27th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
This is an awesome link, thank you so much! *adds to RSS*
December 29th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
This is great - thank you!