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Originally Posted by JinnKai
I'm torn on this statement. The feminist in me says I shouldn't be saying you haven't had this experience, because I haven't been a woman and I thereby can't really know the true effect of social pressure.
On the other hand, it really sounds like a cop-out. "It's something about the way girls are socialized that makes these magazines have such a huge impact" is excusing the ability of powerful women to escape that "powerful impact" by willpower.
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Okay, well I wasn't saying it as a cop-out, but I understand how it came across that way. It was easier to introduce the idea that way than to explain that I am a powerful individual who has overcome that but I recognize that there is something to it (and also something to each individual woman) that makes it, on average, a bigger obstacle for a girl than a men's magazine would be for a boy.
Boys aren't sexualized at an extremely young age by the media. You probably didn't stand in front of the mirror lifting up your shirt trying to look "sexy" (and not really knowing fully what that was) at a young age (like younger than 10) the way I did. I can't say for sure what made me do that. All I know is that I have overcome a lot of expectations placed on me by my family, their culture and the media (among other things encompassing the rest of my personal experience)... and I think it's also a cop-out to say that you're just not good enough or strong enough if you can't overcome it.
If you have one strong swimmer and one weak one, you can drown them both in the ocean if the conditions are right. There's more nuance to the idea than my initial statement suggests.