You've Come A Long Way, Baby (NOT!)

The Media's Betrayal of Modern Woman

by Roland Kriewaldt

If movie trailers and tv commercials reflect modern culture, then a women of power must have, as a bare minimum, the following:

Let's face it, media women are still largely chosen for their sex appeal. It caters to the masturbation demographic of young, naive, males; those who crank up their phone bills with sex chat lines or drink the beer endorsed by their favorite sports celebrity.

With this demographic in mind, and some token masculinizations to appease the feminists, our superhero woman by today's pop culture standards is a male impersonator with the same old Barbie Doll sex toy appeal. It's common knowledge that Pamela Anderson's boobs and blond hair made her famous, not her acting. And is it Angela Jolie we're interested in, or just her full, pouty lips?

The portrayal of women as powerful also requires a hardening of all soft, submissive or nurturing qualities. These are replaced by either a gun or a hunger for always being right. Yet her tits, ass and face must remain immaculate or market share will drop by episode 2.

Todays superwoman continues also to trade personal comfort for the sake of keeping men sexually alert. She often wears elaborate, revealing costumes even when she's fighting evil. This gives us the impression that her main objective in life is still to ensnare a man who will marry her, give her a child, and thus justify her existence. Just like in the 1950's, the 1850's, the 1750's, and so on.

Also for women portrayed in television, their ultimately deepest, most pressing challenge is always about men, not politics or the threat of global warming.

Fortunately, real women don't look or act like their tv equivalents, but many feel they must. But why are we being programmed to admire and desire what is fake and unattainable? The fallout is the destruction of young women's self-esteem while raising false expecations in young men. Ironically, women with breast implants have triple the suicide rate of women without them. So much for self-improvement.

The media induced public impression is that woman's biggest ambition is to have long, thick lashes; hair with lasting shine but someone else's color; soft, smooth, flawless skin, and a diamond ring that proves they are worth two months of some man's salary. Oh, and a lipstick that lasts all day. There is not mention of her wanting to rule a nation, or live without a man, even if she can.

The end result is that we are still portraying the average women as a breeder looking for seed. And with women's magazine articles focussed on how to please and keep a man, things won't change for the better all too soon.

The media's message appears to be "Yes ladies, take your power, but be damned sexy too or we'll put you at the back of the line with the frumpy housewives and butchy dyke inmates. And if you're over 40 and an actress, expect cameos to be your main source of income as people slowly forget you. Sex and sag don't mix well.

Of course, it's even worse in much of the Middle East where long, thick lashes don't matter much with a queen-sized blanket over your head. It's one thing to objectify a woman, but to deny her altogether must surely upset somebody's version of god...

But I think that the USA and a few other nations are now in a war to bring democracy, Maybeline and McDonald's to the oppressed. There are even some women on the front lines, with guns of course. We call them heroes.

Just a thought.