Bought and Sold: The Exploitation of Female Sexuality in a Market Driven Society

This article was originally posted on the YWCA USA blog. It is reposted with permission

Recently I’ve watched the sexual assault case against an extremely affluent international businessman unravel due to efforts to render the victim in-credible. The case kept coming up in the back of my mind (interrupting me really) when I sat down to work on this blog about image, beauty and women’s power. Then I turned to wonder… What if there’s a connection between the two? What if the beauty and image debate is part of a much larger (more significant) conversation about the use and abuse of women as currency in social and political games of power?

Let’s walk this one through…
In a market driven economy, enhancing female sex appeal has become a prime ingredient in sales campaigns targeting females from age six to sixty. The alarming part of it all is that children are being targeted for the same products directed at grown women.

 The same Skechers shapeup sneakers that sexy siren Kim Kardashian endorses as the key to keeping her “assets” in shape now come in size 2 for seven year old girls (to shape up what?!)

 A few months back, ABC reported that a mother was injecting her daughter with botox to prevent the signs of aging (at age eight?) to keep her in tip-top shape for the next round of kiddy pageants.

 Abercrombie and Fitch’s 2011 spring line of swimwear targeting girls as young as seven years old featured a padded, womanly shaped “push-up triangle,” bikini top (really?).

What’s the problem with this? These consumer-driven marketing tactics exploit an important developmental stage of play and wonderment by over-stimulating girls with products that prematurely direct attention to their sexuality.

In a Good Morning America interview about marketing and the psychology of children, Dr. Logan Levkoff, explained the problem well. She said, "We have a society where we sexualize little girls, almost from birth on... The fact is all these 'Toddlers and Tiaras' shows, the products, whether it's push-up bras for tween girls or shapeups for girls to firm their butts, all of this sends the message that our girls aren't good enough."

The net effect: Girls learn very early that in a market driven society, their power lay in their ability to buy products and sell themselves. In essence, their bodies and sexuality are used as currency in the very adult game of market place consumerism.

When we underestimate the significance of this sexual socialization, we do so to the detriment of being able to recognize the role it plays in the ongoing social phenomenon of objectification and violence that begins early and continues through out women’s lives.

I raise this issue against the backdrop of the rape allegations against Dominique Strauss-Khan because of how in this case too, female sexuality has become a pawn in larger social and political games of power. Only the accuser and alleged perpetrator know exactly what happened. But what we know for sure is that the case has gained its notoriety in some ways because of the stark contrasts in power and resources between the accused and the accuser.

It raises core issues about the collision of gender and power that occurs when a woman claims her right to pursue justice in the face of overwhelming social pressure. At various points there have been comments alluding to the rape allegation as a ploy to disposition Strauss-Khan as a candidate for the French presidency. The possibility of the Guinean immigrant and maid being raped has been overshadowed by the political forces that reposition her rape claim as a minor part in a larger plot to sabotage him politically.

In spite of the fact that the physical evidence collected for the investigation has not come into dispute, the main story has become the discrediting of an alleged rape victim as the now predator whose real aim is to make money and topple a presidential bid.

Here we see female sexuality, this time an alleged rape turned on its side to project the victim as the attacker, used as currency in a larger battle for social and political power.

In the case of marketing that targets little girls for products that are really meant for grown women, as well as with the Guinean housekeeper whose sexual assault allegations are being obscured by politics and violations of power, both young and old find their sexuality objectified and thus violated.

Taken together the situations represent an arc from adolescence through adulthood that points to social processes at play in culture that dis-empower women through their sexuality.

So, where does this leave us?

It leaves me more and more aware of how what I say and do around little girls matters. In a society that would commodify their curiosities about womanhood, one of the most important things we can supply them with is encounters that do not encourage them to buy and sell themselves. Our girls are watching how we walk through the world for cues on how to be. That’s why it’s equally important to point out to them the ways that society unjustly exploits women for selfish social and political motives.

It’s never too early, and (woman to woman) it’s never too late to defy disempowering processes in society. Remember...you’re worth it!

Deep Impact: What’s at Stake for Our Girls in the Underlying Ism’s of Popular Culture

We live in a media culture that is so filled with disempowering depictions of women and narrow standards of beauty that we rarely question the content of these images that we absorb on a daily basis. This Monday (June 20, 2011, 3-4EST) I will join Susan L. Taylor (Essence Magazine), Deborah Rhode (Author of the Beauty Bias) and Gloria Lau (Executive Director, YWCA National Office) to seriously engage the influence of these images for the YWCA Webcast, “Beauty and the Beholder: The Politics of Beauty.”

But first, I had to do some thinking on my own.

When I stepped back to take a long look at the landscape of female imagery in popular culture, I realized these images functioned as primary vehicles for transmitting norms that undergird appearance discrimination in the lives of women. That’s when the real issue came into focus: the ism’s that popular depictions of women promote and the psychological harm they do to many – especially our girls.

Race-Ism…Promoting the False Association Between Beauty, Intelligence and Skin Color
Just the other day a video caught my attention. The little girl couldn’t have even been five years old (maybe in kindergarten). Her adult interviewer asks her to choose from a lineup of cartoons depicting African American girls whose skin tones range in color from lighter skinned to darker skinned. The interviewer asks the child to pick the girl from the lineup who is smart and beautiful. The girl repeatedly points to the lighter skinned cartoons. When asked why this one is smart and beautiful, she responds, “because she’s light.” The interviewer asks similar questions, this time asking the girl to point to the child who is dumb or ugly. Repeatedly, the brown skinned African American girl points to the darker images. When asked why, she tells the interviewer, “because she’s black.” Not even dark, but “black.”

I shook my head…that is deep.

The scene I described is from Bill Duke’s “Dark Skinned Girls,” a documentary detailing the pain that many darker skinned African American girls and women experience about the color of their skin.

By kindergarten the girl had taken in, and was wearing as truth, the racist images and messages from her social environment that taught her to appreciate lighter skin and to reject darker skin (skin like her own.)

It got me to thinking…

Other than magazines that specifically target the African American market, how often do we see ads featuring darker skinned Black women in positions of power? How common is the image of a darker skinned female executive in an ad targeting the finance and business sectors? It’s easier to notice the absence of darker skinned imagery when it comes to the beauty sector, but what about the outlets that focus squarely on intelligence, business and power.

How does this lack of positive association and imagery impact our girls’ race-consciousness?

Sex-Ism…Setting Standards and Manufacturing Womanhood
The second image that came to mind is of a little red-headed girl. She is smiling into a camera. Behind her you hear a voice singing (warning), “here it comes…here it comes…here it comes!” The camera zooms in on her face and the screen explodes with a barrage of visuals: scantily clad, pencil thin models in compromising sexual positions and ads promoting products that will “fix” the thing about your body that makes you unbeautiful.

And then come the practices…the actions to take when the products don’t cut it: graphic shots of plastic surgery to increase this or shrink that, women starving themselves (anorexia), forcing themselves to vomit (bulimia), diet pills, appearance driven obsessive exercising.

Yet again I shake my head…this too is deep.

The clip is from Onslaught, a Dove ad that explicitly focuses on the role that the media plays in setting and maintaining beauty stands in our culture. What I noticed is that the ads aren’t just selling a product to make you beautiful…they’re packaging and selling womanhood.

More often than not girls and women internalize these standards because we’ve been taught that attaining these physical qualities will make us sexually appealing and socially acceptable (mostly for the sake of attracting men). To meet these standards, is to be desireable, which is of course the essence of what it means to be a woman. Really?

There are several problems with this: 1) Beauty by this standard allows someone who isn’t a woman to set standards by which women gauge not only their physical attributes, but their value as a human being; 2) Womanhood defined in terms of appearance fails to give so much as a nod to character and common sense (the twin powers that give beauty its shine); 3) Beauty defined in this way is incredibly heteronormative (what about the woman whose goals for attracting a mate don’t include the approval and desire of men – how then does she measure her identity as a woman?)

What impact do these loaded images have on girls’ perceptions of what it means to be a woman?

Bill Duke’s “Dark Skinned Girls” and Dove’s Campaign for True Beauty remind me of what’s at stake in these images: the hearts and minds of our girls.

Our girls deserve the right to imagine themselves without the fetters of the ism’s embedded in popular depictions of women. But, It’s going to take some work on our part. We’ve got to put as much energy into creating opportunities for them to see themselves as they can be, rather than in the narrow places that isms’ carve out for them.

How are you doing it?

Rather than invite more opportunities to analyze what’s not right about what we see, I’d like to switch it up a bit. Drop me a line to let me know about the ways you create space for the girls in your life to see themselves fully, in spite of the isms.

How do you encourage the girls in your life to move in the freedom that comes with self definition?

"Man Down" - Rihanna Uncovers the Anguish of Rape Victims and Calls the Community to Accountability

My initial reaction to Rihanna’s “Man Down” video was to ask if there was some kind of connection between it and her personal experiences with violence that we were all made aware of in the 2009 coverage of her assault by a man she was dating (Chris Brown). It seems that since that experience, issues of dominance and relationship violence have become more common in her lyrics and visual representations. Consider her work on Eminem’s “Love the Way You Lie,” a song depicting a volatile cycle of passion and pain in a violent relationship between a man and a woman who batter each other but won’t separate.

When I watched “Man Down” and then read some of the posts, especially the negative press, I wondered about whether or not some of her personal experiences AND what she observes in the lives of other women has impacted how seriously she takes her work as an artist.
I may not be far off on this one... Just days after the video was released, Rihanna called in to BET’s 106th and Park show to talk about the video.

The 23 year old artist said, “Rape is, unfortunately, happening all over the world and in our own homes, and we continue to cover it up and pretend it doesn't happen...”
She explained, “Boys and girls feel compelled to be embarrassed about it and hide it from everyone, including their teachers, their parents and their friends. That only continues to empower the abusers."

In several cultures, the work of the artist serves as the moral barometer of the community. In this sense, the work isn't as much about their personal experience as it is about what's happening on a spiritual level that shows up in our dealings with one another in the wider communal and cultural context.

I must admit that I was indeed shocked when I saw the video (the blood spilling from the back of the man's head).

That shock was matched by sorrow and sadness over the amount of people (girls, boys, women and men) who are sexually assaulted and who spend days of their lives in anguish because there is no justice really when it comes to the trauma and pain of rape and assault - especially in a culture where people blame the victim when the concern really should be the perpetrators’ use of force.

I thought of the women who are in jail right now because they killed people they were involved with in an act of self defense after years of having been abused. Is there justice in being put in jail because you were defending your life? Do we need to take a serious look at what we mean when we use that word, “justice?”

I also thought of the story in Texas about the eleven year old who was gang raped in a trailer by 18 boys and men. When the news hit, this was the response from a woman in her community, “These boys have to live with this the rest of their lives.” The “this” she was likely referring to are the criminal charges (and perhaps the guilt?) of their alleged offense.

I shook my head...

What about what the girl will have to live with for the rest of her life - the mental anguish and physical scars of gang rape. How is it that the perpetrators’ needs came to outweigh the suffering of an eleven year old victim? Furthermore, what happens when girls can't even count on adult women to side with them as they face the aftermath of gender-based violence?

So, all of this prompted me to consider Rihanna's “Man Down” from the perspective of people who need to know that there are women who use their art to raise awareness about the reality of women’s anguish over rape, but who will also use their art and public platform to call the community to accountability over rape as a communal offense that impacts EVERYONE.

I think that's just what Rihanna is doing, using her artistry to: 1) Unsettle the conscious and unconscious ways that society has largely accepted violence against women as a norm; 2) Flat footedly reject the idea that responsible, mature women handle their pain and rage quietly and privately. It's as if society wants the victim to handle their pain in secret, just to protect the community from being embarrassed by what's happening. Shame on that!

Rihanna isn’t alone. Actress Gabrielle Union took the opportunity to engage rape as a public concern, and the rage she felt when she tried to kill her rapist.

To be clear, I do not suggest that those of us who have been hurt take to the streets to shoot everyone who has hurt us. But, what I do recognize is that her video shows us what can (and does) happen when people weigh their pain against society's acceptance of violent acts that enforce dominance: They feel the overwhelming weight of the community's non-commitment to justice, and take matters into hands that pull triggers.

I appreciate Rihanna's willingness to use her media presence as a medium for consciousness raising. I’m interested in her next step as an artist: I would like to see her participate in the opportunity for dialogue about rape’s rage and change in our communities that her video creates.