Today a friend forwarded me a link to an article about a journalist who got
vajazzled on camera. I was left with the following thoughts: Bizarre, Why, and why is it that a man would never do something so ridiculous, but it’s expected and encouraged for a woman to do it, preferably in public?
Women worked so hard to enter the public sphere, and there have been some hard-earned gains with regards to jobs, earnings, and civil rights. But as far as women as sexual objects, women’s entry to public life has only taken private male sexual ownership of women’s bodies and sexuality and make it a public spectacle.
It’s downright disturbing to see the creeping effect of demands to be perfect. In the past, just your face and figure had to be perfect; now a woman’s lady parts have to be picture perfect as well. The rise of cosmetic labial reduction and insane products like Vajazzle and My New Pink Button are an obsession that make Wonderbras look downright feminist.
Rubbish like this makes me want to bang my head against the wall. The concern I now have is “what’s next?” We’ve figured out a way to wax, pluck, plump, enhance, compress, paint, botox, liposuction, dye, and augment every visible inch of the female body. What’s next? Vital organ modification? Stripping the pituitary gland so that women don’t grow body hair or sweat in the first place? I’ll have to remind myself not to be surprised when I read an article a few years from now describing an exciting new procedure to give women aesthetically pleasing ovaries.