Yet another dumbass article

[ismnotwasm]

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/6796300?MSNHPHCP>1=10035


"Can we talk about naked women? Is that OK? We'll try to keep it mature and intelligent ... but not so mature and intelligent that you forget we are talking about naked women.

Three-time U.S. Olympian Amanda Beard will pose nude for Playboy. Or, more likely, she has already posed nude for Playboy. In any event, the pictures will hit newsstands soon.
Quite a few people will condemn Beard for setting a bad example. Many will scurry to see pictures of her. And some folks will do both.
Beard can do whatever she'd like, of course. This is a free country. Posing nude might not be as noble as teaching a college physics class, but I suspect it pays better, and you don't have to hold office hours. Anyway, Beard's choice is just that: her choice."
----Snip----

And maybe that is what this tells us: We see famous male athletes as athletes, but we see famous female athletes simply as famous people. Most sports fans know who Amanda Beard is, but I would bet that at least 95 percent have no idea what her best stroke is. Michael Phelps is famous for being a great swimmer; Amanda Beard is famous for being an attractive swimmer, even though she has won seven medals in three Olympics and is preparing for her fourth trip to the Summer Games.

-----Snip----
Female athletes have as high a profile as they ever have — I would wager there are more famous female athletes now than at any time in history. But to the extent that those athletes have been able to cash in on their fame, it has been as endorsers more than as athletes. There are exceptions, of course — notably tennis players. But even that exception comes with a caveat or two, because Maria Sharapova, as talented as she is, is still more famous for being beautiful.

It would be easy to pin this on male sports fans, but since there are 150 million women in this country, that isn't entirely fair. Culturally, we have embraced women's sports more on principle than as spectacle."




Regarding Women Athletes Posing Nude. You see, never is the fact of women's nudity put in what I consider proper context; Sexual exploitation, usually to sell something. Prostitution. I don't personally give a fuck if it's a woman's "choice" to pose nude. Choice is driven by demand, and that demand is driven by patriarchy. Male demand and usually unacknowledged privilege to Check out Naked Chicks. Why a female athlete is singled out as "hurting" a profession is beyond me. It's all the same shit.


A worthy read from Twisty Faster;
http://blog.iblamethepatriarchy.com/2007/04/28/reader-actually-asks-spinster-aunts-opinion/

[mrreowwr_kittty]

1. I loved the point that was made in that Twisty thread

About how it is impossible for any woman to choose to be a sex object, no matter how hard she tries to pretend that she did and that it's "empowerful" or whatever. We do not have the agency in this society to make such a choice, it is thrust upon all of us whether we want it or not. Being a cooperative "sexbot" may get you some nicer amenities for your cage but it will not free you.

[bliss_eternal]

2. That is a good read.

... I should have been reading from there longer. :thumbsup:

[ThomCat]

5. Link please?

That is a great point, and I'd like to read more. :)

[bliss_eternal]

3. It's interesting to me,....

...that so few people ever ask "why." Why are they ok with women's nudity, but balk at the idea of men appearing nude--in film, magazines, etc. Why do they feel it's ok, when did they get that idea? How did it form? Why?

The day I asked myself why I felt as I did, changed the way I thought about a lot--particularly porn. If no one ever considers why they think as they do, where they got such ideas from, no one will ever change or challenge any of this. They just accept that it's the way it is. Or it's ok because it's part of the mainstream or whatever. :crazy:

I've noticed the same thing with racism, homophobia and other forms of bigotry. When you really start to talk to the person, asking them when are where they came to believe such things can be so telling. The person usually starts blaming the group and saying it's the groups fault they are seen this way. Eventually they reveal that they know few people from that group, haven't bothered to get to know anyone from the group. These are ideas and assumptions they just took for granted, because they were taught these things. They learn this stuff from adults as kids, from the media, someone they liked and trusted, etc. But no one is just born thinking these ideas are ok, at least in my opinion. ;)

I sometimes wonder how I would feel about female nudity and men's magazines, if it hadn't been for seeing them in the possession of adult males when I was a kid. :shrug:

[Morgana LaFey]

4. Good GODDESS

Here it is, in one sentence:

Porn — gay, straight, bi, live-action, animated, or ‘feminist’ — is the graphic representation of the oppression of the sex class.

followed rather quickly by this:

Or, if you prefer, in order for porn to be politically neutral, it can’t be porn.

followed by a whole breathtaking paragraph:

When you’re already oppressed, it is, in fact, impossible to volunteer for oppression. A woman is a member of the sex class whether she “chooses” it or not. This pre-existing condition forms the backdrop to any fun feminist’s conclusion that her compliance with the patriarchal sexbot mandate is voluntary. She may believe otherwise, but her belief does not alter the fact that patriarchy — a social order predicated on an oppression to which she is already subject — is real and in effect and entirely beyond any unrestricted control she may wish to exert and only too glad to welcome her as a team player and sign her up for the rewards program.

(Take THAT, Mongo! :evilgrin: )

The paragraphs immediately before and immediately following are pretty important too. IOW: GO READ THIS if you haven't:

http://blog.iblamethepatriarchy.com/2007/04/28/reader-actually-asks-spinster-aunts-opinion/

[ThomCat]

6. Wow. Good stuff at that site. Thank you.

:)

[bliss_eternal]

7. Just read it all again...

in addition, I perused the thread the person referenced in her letter to Twisty. :scared:

I have to say, I'm not all that surprised by the content of the thread or the fact that it's on the forum of a "feminist" magazine.

Or perhaps I should say I'm not that surprised that it's from that particular magazine.

I frequently read it and enjoy a lot of it's content. But I was more than a little "confused" a few months back when the magazine chose to feature a "pop star" on it's cover. Given that this "pop star" was the female front and singer for a rock band, who penned some cool "pro-woman" lyrics, I thought the interview may have been more interesting than it was.

Apparently, much has changed since the time when the singer penned the lyrics I admired. The band found success and the singer became a "pop star", fashion icon, etc. Some of her more female positive ideas, were apparently a "phase", maybe spurned on by the angst she was experiencing in that particular time. There was no evidence of the woman with the kick ass lyrics in this interview. At. All. :grr: :mad: In her interview, she was asked if she was a feminist, and she replied that she didn't know the definition of the word. :eyes:

But she was on the cover, of a "feminist" magazine.

I was glad that I wasn't a subscriber when I read that.