The opinion piece "When Sexiness Stops Being Sexy" , written by Paula Joye for the Sunday Morning Herald, discusses how the way older teenage girls begin to dress as they come out of high school is becoming progressively trashier, due to the influx of role models thrust upon them who dress like ' soft porn barbie dolls', such as the women on the TV show " Jersey Shore".
Paula talks about seeing a group of women hobbling down the street one night, the way she describes them, they were dressed in basically matching bandage tight dresses, heels, and fake nails and their tacky hair and smeary make up sounding like it looked like it was styled straight from a ' How to look like a hungover prostitute' make up tutorial.
" These outfits were aggressively suggestive and sexual. There was no nuance, mystery or prettiness. From a distance they looked like a low-budget video shoot and up close it looked like they were open for business - business of the wrong kind. "
The way teenage girls are represented in this article is actually disturbingly realistic. Today, girls do seem to respect themselves less and less through the way they dress when going out to parties. It sends the message to people who seem them in public that they're skanky and easy! When in reality, this way in which they dress isn't initially intended to send this message out about who they are, girls just start dressing like this because they see their friends doing it and they want to fit in.
The consequences of girls representing themselves in this way goes far beyond being perceived by the general public as 'skanky' and 'trashy', but it sends this message to guys of about the same age that they are this way too; even though they may not actually be and are just dressing like this for the sake of conforming. If guys see teenage girls dressing in this way, in a way that is flashing so much skin and barely leaving anything to the imagination, it is obvious to them that they don't respect themselves enough to maintain their dignity; and if these girls don't respect themselves, why should they respect them? The outcome of this perception from teenage boys on these girls, is that they cannot possibly build healthy relationships with guys when they are dressing like this, as they guys will not be able to look past the fact that they're flashing most of their boobs over town and portraying themselves as copy-cats of the 'sex symbols' on shows like Jersey Shore, which means that all the guys are going to end up wanting from the girls is just that: sex.
All in all, when girls are represented in the media in this way: trashy, fake and slutty, it kickstarts a negative trend in the fashion choices of young girls in real life society, one that can be dangerous for teenage girls copying it because it causes them to portray themselves to everyone around them in a way that is possibly not true to who they actually are.
The consequences of girls representing themselves in this way goes far beyond being perceived by the general public as 'skanky' and 'trashy', but it sends this message to guys of about the same age that they are this way too; even though they may not actually be and are just dressing like this for the sake of conforming. If guys see teenage girls dressing in this way, in a way that is flashing so much skin and barely leaving anything to the imagination, it is obvious to them that they don't respect themselves enough to maintain their dignity; and if these girls don't respect themselves, why should they respect them? The outcome of this perception from teenage boys on these girls, is that they cannot possibly build healthy relationships with guys when they are dressing like this, as they guys will not be able to look past the fact that they're flashing most of their boobs over town and portraying themselves as copy-cats of the 'sex symbols' on shows like Jersey Shore, which means that all the guys are going to end up wanting from the girls is just that: sex.
All in all, when girls are represented in the media in this way: trashy, fake and slutty, it kickstarts a negative trend in the fashion choices of young girls in real life society, one that can be dangerous for teenage girls copying it because it causes them to portray themselves to everyone around them in a way that is possibly not true to who they actually are.
No comments:
Post a Comment