2007-01-18T10:53:00.000-08:00

Sex Sells!

There is a fine line between love and sex. And while trying to decipher the two is a matter of morals and individual perspective, and preaching in that regard is a lost cause much like trying to teach a monkey calligraphy. It must be said that while freedom of speech and behavior are at the forefront of civilization, are we all losing our minds? And is the ‘do as you please’ norm getting out of hand?

From the countless frames of booty in music videos to the pages of magazines and other teen worshipped platforms, the message that discreetly creeps into the minds of girls is you have to be thin and sexy ‘arm candy’. Rather than the message of being intelligent, beautiful people! And this is the stuff of eroding self image and an even faster deterioration of self worth. Thus leading to regrettable backseat sex, date rape, eating disorders and failing grades amidst depressed teens struggling to fit the clique and selling a part of who they are in an attempt to be ‘hip’ like the much talked about ‘idols’. And in trying to fit into this hyped mould many teens loose their right to self discovery, choice and uncovering the real makings of who they are, ought to be and want to be.

The element of sexy is a marketing ploy to grab attention, it is a commodity, and while ad campaigns may manage to procure more sales if a product accompanies a bikini clad model, young girls see that as a mirror of who they are meant to be, who society wants them to be. And things like adorable pudgy 11 year old ‘baby fat’ become tear induced issues of self loathed body image. Consequently tweens, teens and shockingly even a younger crowd obsess over calories and list plastic surgery on their wish lists rather mundane yet charming knickknacks.

Thus young girls already struggling through a weave of an overwhelmingly confusing web are further perplexed, frustrated and threatened by what is expected of them, and what they perceive as acceptable as opposed to little girls growing up to be strong, intelligent young women who have the courage to ‘dream’, to realize their aspirations and transcend their strengths to the people in and around their lives. Women who grow up to be leaders, CEO’s, teachers, Scientists, mothers and so forth as opposed to nameless, faceless bodies shakin’ it up to appease a two second consumer ‘itch’.

Women, the mothers, sisters, and daughters among the species are people, with beautiful souls and spirits. They have the capacity to be generous, intelligent, loving, confident individuals. Yet the message fed to young girls is anything but. The message young girls hear is not getting good grades in school, or being successful individuals rather they hear, be superficially gorgeous or be left behind, put out or be forgotten. So what the heck are we selling anyway to the generation that will shape tomorrow?

In other words the notion of sex sells is embraced at the cost of young impressionable, keen observers losing sense of self and crippling their potential.

So yes, platinum record sales soar, cars at auto shows zip out as sales roll in or another six pack passes a checkout counter at the corner gas station, all with a little nudge, a little consumer interest peeked by images objectifying woman — the mothers, daughters, sisters…

Sex sells, it sells products, sells dignity and self respect. It shelves the rights of little girls and future women to have a chance to grow up to be respected, loving individuals who have purpose. ‘This’ image on the screen, in pages, on posters, etc robs and often adversely influences young women trying to figure out the multitude of confusions the world presents and it ends up affecting their future relationships, choices and lives.

Now ask your self was the ‘sell’ worth it?

2007-01-18T10:19:00.000-08:00

Media Fungus ….Talkin’ Trash…..The Obsession…
Don’t blame the paparazzi blame the audience

Britany Spears was caught with her pants down and unless you’ve been living under a rock somewhere on an uninhabited island, you know we mean that rather literally and not as a metaphor. So the girl went commando what do you care? Rosie O'Donnell is crass, ‘The Donald’ in his Rosie rebuttal has inexplicably insulted the overweight community in his rage and rants over the never shy and always outspoken Rosie. And while freedom of speech is a right within the free world, can we ask everyone to retract their claws and move on to more pertinent issues to rant and voice opinions over? Say famine, the atrocity of war crimes, child abuse, the ever expanding ozone, tax evasion, fraud, underhanded commerce, etc etc……..

….Celeb X divorced Celeb Y, Celeb B went on a crash diet, Celeb ‘whatever’ looks withered, bloated and prematurely old in non-digitally mastered photos….blah blah blah…..In short the list goes on, as we end up reading headline after headline and numerous blog-spots about………..well essentially ‘nothing’. In other words there are endless news reports about random callousness and other behavior that if sported by Jane and Tom next door would’ve gone on unheard.

The point is while everyone (as in the misrepresented celebrity) considers the paparazzi and tabloids, media fungus and while the has-beens of last year’s number one movie, song or ‘whatever’ rant and ramble about the pesky media hounds, yet secretly enjoy even crave the attention, (infamy is one kind ‘fame’ after all), the unquestionable fact is, the media whether ‘fungus’ or regular, work to inform the public and reality is the public has an insatiable appetite, obsession even with trash talk. And the media (of all variety) aims to please and for obvious reasons feature stories, gossip and tidbits people want to hear and know about.

Swarming issues of invasion of privacy, character defamation, pending lawsuits and so forth aside, there is entirely too much air time and ink wasted in the media dedicated to stories featured about famous cat fights, reckless partying, over-bleached famous tresses and much more to appease our guilty pleasures in reading and watching nosy tidbits that are much to do about nothing.

So yeas while there are countless commendable celebrity feats to highlight and idolize, like Oprah’s new school in Africa, there is feeble, half minute mentions of the many praiseworthy stories out there in contrast to the many minutes, hours even of wasted brain cells allotted to stories that aren’t stories at all and popularity over bogus.

While the world still battles and crumbles with issues of pollution, power and human rights and justice for all, we the readers and broadcast audience alike apparently still can’t contain our appetite for gossip and find ourselves picking up a tabloid at the checkout counter and flipping the channel to entertainment gossip just as we pick up the daily newspaper or watch the evening news (hopefully).

Much like the campaign against animal poaching or the sale of fur, it must be said that “if the buying stops……” than so does the trash talk focus. To that end perhaps 07’ is the year when we let pop princesses and real-estate tycoons alone and redirect guilty pleasures of trash talk and focus on issues that matter and influence the world today. Because isn’t it time we put our energy to good use and let the celebrity front be famous for their jobs rather than personal lives?

While we obsess about abominable fashion senses of celeb XYZ or the outrageous cribs money can buy, there are homeless hungry people out there, who are wondering why there isn’t a ‘frenzy’ over issues spawning their plight and why time and energy is wasted poking fun and gossiping rather than helping!

Sam@stylinzine.com

www.stylinzine.com

Stylinzine.com