This post at Pandagon left me scratching my head.
Evidently, nude photos of High School Musical star Vanessa Anne Hudgens have surfaced, and the actress has apologized for the "lapse in judgment."
So, what's the Pandagon take on events? Why, it's Teh Patriarchy keeping women down again!
People who are worried sick over what the children will think if they find out that adults have sex need to grow up and be more worried about the horrible lessons this apology teaches. Like:--Women should apologize for being human beings with sexual desires.
--If something bad happens to a woman who has a sexuality (basically all women), we should blame her for being sexual instead of blame the person who violated her trust or body or autonomy.
--Women’s bodies are public property and if a woman uses hers in a way that the public disapproves of (even if it hurts no one), she owes everyone an explanation.
I thought about making another "I can't stick my head this far up my ass" reference after reading this stupidity, but it just seems repetitive. Is Amanda Marcotte really dumb enough not to see the problem with taking nude pictures of oneself? Is there a woman in America who hasn't heard of some woman somewhere who took nude photos of herself for her boyfriend and then faced the humiliation of said boyfriend giving the pictures to a third party or (in this day and age) posting the photos on the Internet?
It's utterly bizarre to me that Amanda just doesn't get it. This isn't a woman "expressing her sexuality." This is a woman engaged in what is reckless behavior that came back to bite her on her nude ass.
Back when Vanessa Williams was decrowned Miss America because of the surfacing of nude photos, Bob Greene wrote a column pondering the question of why women felt compelled to take off their clothes in front of cameras. I can't find a link to the column, but the main point was that you never see nude photos of powerful men surfacing to embarrass them in their prime, nor do men ever make the ridiculous argument that they "were young and didn't know what they were doing." Yet this is pretty much the argument made for women doing this silly thing all the time.
Why do women take off their clothes for cameras? Is it simply compulsive? Is it really "celebrating their sexuality?" And if so, why don't men "celebrate their sexuality" the same way?
Every time some silly woman's nude photos make news, I roll my eyes and wonder when womankind will grow up enough to recognize that taking your clothes off for a man is a private matter not intended for the camera. Here's the lesson girls (not the one Amanda wants you to get): don't take your clothes off in front of the camera. Ever. Even if you've been married 50 years. Even if your man begs you to. Why? Because someday, somewhere the photos will come to light to embarrass you. Engaging in sexual horseplay between consenting adults is one thing. But the next time a man wants you to take off your clothes for the camera, tell him you want a photo of the two of you naked. That will stop the publishing of such pictures.
P.S.--Amanda, the objection parents have isn't that they think kids won't know where babies come from. High School Musical is a movie watched by 7-year-olds as well as 18-year-olds. There is such a thing as appropriate behavior (not that I expect you to understand that), and parents usually think people from children's movies will behave a bit better than, say, a rapper.
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