Girl Talk

A while back, I wrote a piece that spoke favorably about a young woman whose profession involves selling pictures of herself. I received some blow-back from a handful of readers, concerned about my appearance to degrade women and how my stand would be interpreted by my younger readers-like those who follow The High-Heeled Guide to Global Domination. I appreciate the feedback, it’s nice to see my readers care.  

It’s also a great opportunity to talk about these topics, so let’s get it on!

In my piece ‘Leave it to Beaver’, I profiled a series of attempts small-town cons used against a victim.  While The Beav’ was probably unaware, he chose his victim deliberately as was each and every action taken by the Cleaver clan afterwards.  Read it if you haven’t already, I have to admit I’m pretty proud of it.  The particular incident I described was as close to text book as you could probably get and will undoubtedly be of educational value.

So I was surprised by the readers that chose to focus on the victim’s vocation-as if that mattered at all.  The small-town scammers made many references to it as well-even used it as a means to contact her and blackmail her in the first place.  But that was my whole point from the get-go.  Like all of their other moves, it was a con, a dodge and a distraction from the real objective: which was to continue the crime, control the victim and make off with the payday.  When all other details are eliminated, it’s easy to see how the methods employed are so successful and how trivial her occupation really is.  

Think about our friends the Nigerian scammers for a moment.  When they try to scam Grandma, they don’t check to see if she’s a stripper first, do they?

But Angel’s occupation is such a successful diversion because society has many pre-conceived notions about what are and aren’t respectable vocations for a woman.  In the case of our scenario, our victim is an artist who uses her body as her medium.  But the fact is, it really doesn’t matter.  She could have been a housewife, a soldier, a nun (or a high-heeled word artist like yours truly) and never been more or less deserving of the crime or justice.  The idea that a woman somehow ‘asks for’ worse treatment based on unorthodox activities is absurd.  To me, it’s a return of Liam’s invisible rules-only applied globally.    

So let me lay it out there: telling a woman she can’t do anything BASED SOLELY UPON HER GENDER is degrading to women!  It doesn’t matter how many women do it, how many men agree with it, or even whether or not she is clothed.  In our society, a woman is free to do anything she wants to within the law-except force her health insurer to pay for a prostate exam. 

That goes for representation before the government, seeking justice, education or medical services and living within her community.  A woman is free to do ANYTHING she wants and anyone who says different is degrading women. It’s just that simple.

So what is it about a girl in a g-string that gets everyone up at arms?  She’s not spinning plates on her cheeks, setting off fireworks or using her cleavage to do an imitation of Mister Hankey on America’s Got Talent.  It’s a pair of breasts and buns-we’ve all either got them or seen them before. And even the best set of each is hardly worth the bother.

And what is with the morality police, those self-righteous super heroes who decide it’s their responsibility to uncover, expose and publicize those who do? What do they get out of it besides a small taste of fake superiority?  I find the women who engage in this kind of slut-shaming particularly interesting, and how many of those who probably have at least a few nudes under their belt as well.  Screen-shotting pics for research?  If not, drop it.

So no, I’m not worried about appearing to degrade women or how my beliefs may influence my younger readers.  If anything, I’m worried about yours.  Are you sure your discomfort is with degradation or because I’m ignoring oppressive stereotypes and dogmas?  Are you uneasy because I’m placing the victim’s sexuality behind the actions that happened to her?  Is it because I am casually dismissing tradition instead of addressing it?

We as a species find it difficult to remain in the same room during a Twilight Marathon much less speak about equal rights.  And that is perfectly fine!  I, for one, don’t want to agree with all my sisters on everything.  That kind of uniformity would make us terribly boring.

Call it my woman’s prerogative.  

I’m Jennifer Beck and I’m Jenuinely Jennifer.

Writer, Researcher and She-Rebel!