This Is Girl Power?

December 1, 2000

Sometimes I look at the world around me and I just cringe.

I live in a fairly warm climate, and close to some rather popular beaches, so it's not that unusual to see teenage girls in tank tops and shorts. But, in recent years, this basic outfit has appeared in skimpier and skimpier variations. Some people may think it's great that these girls aren't afraid of their bodies, but frankly, I'm very worried. Dressing like that screams, "Look at me! Look at my perfectly flat stomach, my cute butt, and my barely restrained cleavage!" They aren't at all worried about being seen as sex objects. (Never mind the pressure this puts on girls who don't naturally have models' bodies - that's a slightly different issue for another rant.)

Why does Britney "Lolita" Spears have so many male fans? Simple. It's the over-the-top outfits. Disagree with me if you want, but I just think she looks incredibly tacky. Her people probably love that, since it's widely known that sex sells. After all, Courtney Love took her top off at a Big Day Out show back in early 1999, and ticket sales for the next day shot way up. (In 1994, when Susan Faludi's book "Backlash" was still reasonably fresh in everyone's mind, it would have been received as a feminist statement.)

In a few short years, we have gone from a world of strong, smart girls who listened to Hole and L7 to a world of giggly airheads who aren't at all bothered by Eminem's misogynistic lyrics or Fred Durst's attitude problem. (Side note: I have long felt that someone should really take an entire *box* of cookies and...I'll stop there.)

And I just don't understand it. Our mothers and grandmothers worked so hard so we could get the rights and respect that they were refused, yet today's girls frequently don't care. I'm 19 and voted on election day, but I wonder how many of my peers are blowing it off this year. Do today's girls really want to set the stage for literally pushing feminism back? Sure, I know it sounds extreme, but I worry about it nonetheless, especially now that guys these days have more "macho" role models than they did, say, eight years ago (does anyone remember Eddie Vedder, Kurt Cobain, and Billy Corgan?).

I know it's wishful thinking, but I would love nothing more than to see a world of strong young women who put their brains to good use and express their own opinions. Young women who pair cute little dresses with big combat boots and quote Bikini Kill whenever some guy starts acting like he knows everything. Teenage girls who refuse to change themselves or censor who they are just to please anyone else.

Email me if you feel like it.

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