Don't stay in bed, unless you can make money in bed. - George Burns

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Here at Right Thinking, we often talk about the decline of Western Civilization, and how ultimately, our own undoing will be a result of those who would rather promote negative values to children than have their kids known as boring, dull, or the stereotypical nerd on the block. Rich Lowry examines this phenomenon, and how it’s taking off like a rocket out of Edwards Air Force base.

It wasn’t so long ago that pornography was disrespectable: “Think of Vanessa Williams, crowned the first black Miss America in 1983, and how quickly she was dethroned after her nude photos surfaced in Penthouse.” In contrast, Paris Hilton’s sex video rocketed her to stardom. Hookers and porn stars are mainstream figures.

This isn’t quite the liberation feminism promised. “Raunch culture is not essentially progressive,” Levy writes, “it is essentially commercial. By going to strip clubs and flashing on spring break and ogling our Olympians in Playboy, it’s not as though we are embracing something liberal — this isn’t Free Love. Raunch culture isn’t about opening our minds to the possibilities and mysteries of sexuality. It’s about endlessly reiterating one particular — and particularly commercial — shorthand for sexiness.”

No lustful man would have looked at Gloria Steinem in the 1970s and thought, “She is going to help fulfill my most absurd voyeuristic fantasies.” But the currents unleashed by feminism, especially the drive to have women behave like men, have done just that. The mother of the hyper-sexualized pop star Christina Aguilera has said of her daughter, “She’s a wonderful role model, trying to change society so that a woman can do whatever men do.” Since women don’t have the same interest in seeing members of the opposite sex expose themselves and dress in skimpy bunny costumes as men do, acting like men effectively means objectifying women, too, playing along with the sweaty teenage fantasies. Levy describes going to a gathering of a group called CAKE, devoted to female sexuality” and experiencing “feminism in action.” It devolves into women performing Sapphic sex acts for the men in the crowd.

That last line details exactly what the problem is. In a giant effort to empower women, the actions of these people has done nothing more than make them look like a bunch of hoes. Granted, you won’t see me shield my eyes if Christina Aguilera happened to be standing next to me with no clothes on, but I wouldn’t have any problem looking over and telling her what a hoe she is.