By: Jacky Jasper of Hollywoodstreetking.com Edited By: Michele Fralick
“We have a tendency to call grown woman ‘girls’. This is identical to what we did in slavery, when we called grown Black men ‘boys’ – as an insult.” ~Dr. Catherine Mann
In this era of sex-tape ‘leaks’, fake booty fads and twerking trends – we can’t deny the obvious oppression of women may have peaked. This, a few hundred years after women abolitionists opposed slavery in the U.S. in the 1800’s. Now, people like Kim Kardashian, Nicki Minaj and Farrah Abraham have built booming brands – and racked in fortunes – through the degradation of the female being, while erasing the self-esteem of our young women.
Suyima Torres – a 28-year-old mother of two, reported to have been “extremely concerned with her appearance” – is the latest botched plastic surgery patient to die over wanting more ‘junk in her trunk’. Sadly, Torres is probably not the last. Why? We are degrading and dehumanizing women – through film, television, magazines, and all multi-media platforms – into making them believe they are nothing more than aesthetic objects.
“Enter the world of the Playboy pin up girl, Butt-naked dressed in nothing but pearls.” ~Lil Kim
Playboy Magazine may have been the first media empire to openly dehumanize women by turning them into an animal – The Bunny. Psychologists say objectifying a subject – in this case, the woman – is the first step in leading society to think it’s cool to chew up and spit out the previous “it girl”. Don’t believe me? Just ask Britney Spears. Now, those once racy Playboy images are often viewed as PG-rated – paving the way for one ‘Backdoor Teen Mom’ to land a seven-figure digit check for her shameless service to society.
“Pornography is like a graphic propaganda campaign that is humiliating women.”
In 1994, Queen Latifah begged the question, ‘Who You Calling A Bitch?’ Now, you can turn on your television every Monday night to hear Love & Hip Hop Atlanta’s Joseline Hernandez call herself a “bad bitch”. The fact that it’s openly acceptable to refer to women as ‘bitches’ is extraordinary. But, have you ever considered that referring to a grown woman as a ‘girl’ is just as damaging?
- “Girls, girls, girls, girls
- Girls, I do adore” ~Jay Z
According to Women’s Rights advocate Dr. Catherine Mann it is a “diminution” of their character, stature and status. “Language is important, and we have to begin to observe how we use it against ourselves,” says Mann. “When a rapper has a line that’s anti-cop in a song – just words – they come after him, but you can have an entire industry that’s predicated on utter graphic humiliation of women, and that’s called entertainment.”
Has the female of this twerking time trumped the achieved woman – like Michelle Obama, Maria Shriver and Oprah Winfrey? I don’t think so. That’s why Hillary Clinton will be our next President. Don’t you agree?
