I have often ranted against the new "girl power " "music". But today brings a special cringe to my delicate feminist ear. The song "When I grow Up" was played for me today. The lyrics are song by women in their twenties and thirties dressed in barely-there clothing. When they think they are going to "Grow up" is a bit beyond me, so i have to assume that the song is actually meant to be the anthem for young teen girls. Which in itself scares me.
When I grow up I wanna be famous,
wanna be a star,
wanna be in movies /
when I grow up I wanna see the world,
drive nice cars,
I wanna have groupies.
What happened to i want to be a doctor? I want to be a lawyer? I want to be a mother? I want to be a teacher? Are girls no longer encouraged to seek honourable professions? Are our entire use as females based on how many people we have flocking around us? Or how much money we have? It wasn't that long ago that the idea of being an actress was akin to being a harlot. Thankfully those days have passed, although you wouldn't know it by looking at how the Pussycat Dolls dress.
Bernard Zuel from Sdney Morning Herald agreed with me, "But even if you don't object to the lyrics it's hard to shake the image of the Pussycat Dolls (essentially lap dancers with microphones) when you're listening"
It is sad when a woman begins treating herself like she is nothing more than a play thing. Women hold a sacred role in society, or at least they should. We bare life, which even in a science age is important. We bring a unique perspective to the world. We should not have to set our mind aside to "Be famous". Where are the female role models that show real strength and real honour, that encourage girls to have integrity?
Being able to wear a miniskirt does not equal liberation from oppression. In the same way that baring a child does not equal being a real woman. Excersicing your rights think and act for yourself, making responsible choices, these are marks of a liberated woman.
3 comments:
Don't they have a line that says "I wanna have boobies" or something?
lol! i don't think so, but you can check out the lyrics here http://www.metrolyrics.com/when-i-grow-up-lyrics-pussycat-dolls.html
if our interested.
Wow. I haven't heard this song, nor have I heard of these girls (yes girls, not women) until now. I really agree with you - when do they think "grown up" is? Since they're in their 20s, you'd think, "Oh, they must mean when I grow up mentally." But really...if you consider what they have set as goals for "adulthood," they won't appear to be grown up mentally when they reach those goals. So...um...yeah.
It seems to me that a lot of women these days are considering their role to be sexual. They dress to impress (men), they walk to emphasize a certain attitude or shape of their body, they paint their faces to accentuate the best parts and hide the worst, and they act in such a way as to attract men to them. Once they've scored, it's time to move on, because sexual "duty" calls.
I can't blame all of this on men, because if women would stop and THINK and say, "Wait a minute...I'm more than breasts and a vagina and a damn sexy curvy body. I'm a woman! I've got a brain, and I know how to use it, and I plan to do so in the best possible way," then they'd change how they dressed, acted, painted their faces, and walked. They'd cease to become sexual objects for their bodies, and would then have to actually have a real conversation to impress a male. Males might respect females more if we acted as though that's what we wanted. But we don't.
And yes, I'm generalizing. Not every woman is like this - case in point: me. But in general, this is true.
Anyway...ranting. Sorry. But thanks for the inspiration and the post. And for being a brainy sexy woman. :o) (I'm sure Chris thanks you, too.)
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