According to Susan
Douglas, enlightened sexism is
A response, deliberate or not, to the
perceived threat of a new gender regime. It insists that women have made plenty
of progress because of feminism, indeed, full equality, has allegedly been
achieved. So now it’s okay, even amusing, to resurrect sexist stereotypes of
girls and women (Douglas, 2010).
Long gone are the
days of fighting for equal pay and reproductive care rights. Now, we’re
fighting over the best labels on our clothing and the hot guy in our math
class. Much like Douglas, Pink decided she had enough of the enlightened sexism
surrounding her when she wrote the song “Stupid Girls.” Picking celebrities
such as Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Lindsay Lohan as her inspiration,
Pink took a look at today’s modern woman and challenged the ideals of sexiness
and designer clothing being more important than intelligence and independence.
![](https://media3.giphy.com/media/rzHKacdbTIbss/200w.gif)
The video shows
Pink struggling for male approval by acting like the other females around her.
By pretending to be obsessed with her looks, she’s providing a social
commentary and discussion point of the exact thing Douglas wants to end. In one
scene of the video, Pink’s date starts to pay excessive amounts of attention to
another female wearing a low-cut top and a mini skirt bouncing up and down. To
make her date pay attention to her again, Pink pulls her “In Case of Emergency”
cord to inflate her breasts excessively. The trick works and the date continues.
![](https://media2.giphy.com/media/28s2ixaWMV3oI/200w.gif)
Later, Pink asks “What
happened to the dream of the next girl president?” She answered her own
question with “She’s dancing in the video next to 50 Cent.” Here, she is giving
examples of how girl power has changed with the times. Where we once burned out
bras to fight the societal oppression, women have now turned on each other and are
more concerned with male affection and how attractive you are. Douglas also
gave sources of this problem in her book, including the Pussycat Dolls, The
Bachelor, and the television show Are You Hot?
Pink and Douglas
alike urge girls to ignore the media influence and to have ambitions and goals.
They are trying to convince women that there is so much more to them than just
how a man feels about them. After reading excerpts from Douglas’s book and
listening to Pink’s song, I agree.
I’m not sure where
we went wrong, but we as females must have goals and ambitions to excel in the
patriarchal society we live in. We have to band together to change the way we
are treated today. Women comprise 46% of the American work force, yet they make
only 77.5 cents for every dollar a man of equal occupation makes. The statistics
are even worse for women of color. Worldwide, four out of every ten businesses
have no women in senior management. 4 out of 5 victims of human trafficking are female (MAKERS Team, 2015).
![](https://media1.giphy.com/media/3o85xKPAEDCuXxRepO/200w.gif)
So what’s a girl to
do? Women must fight societal pressure to focus on our looks and the male gaze
and use our minds to continue the fight for equal rights. Instead of designer
labels, let us adorn ourselves with knowledge and courage to crush the glass
ceiling. We must band together and smash the patriarchy because the approval of
a man means nothing if you aren’t in the same playing field. We cannot forget
our foremothers before us and what they were fighting for. If we do, all of
their hard work was for naught. We as females can’t let that happen.
Oh, and if you’re
curious, I left that boy alone the next day. If he couldn’t appreciate me for all
I had to offer, he didn’t deserve my good looks.
Works Cited
Douglas, S. (2010). The
Rise of Enlightened Sexism: How Pop Culture Took Us From Girl Power to Girls
Gone Wild. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press.
MAKERS Team. (2015, March 07). http://www.makers.com/blog/21-facts-you-never-knew-about-international-gender-inequality. Retrieved from URL.
Pink. [PinkVEVO]. (2009, October 24). Stupid Girls. [https://youtu.be/BR4yQFZK9YM]. Retrieved from URL.
I loved your post! You grabbed my attention right away by telling a personal story and you did a really nice job of integrating different ideas from the article and from Pink's song. I agree one hundred percent with Pink's song because I have always believed that brains triumph over beauty. Girls have so much more to offer than pretty looks and I am glad you learned that in middle school! :)
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love this song, and I love the title you gave this video. However, I must say your response to the song and how you interpreted it surprised me a lot. I used to love the song a lot more than I do now, because to me, it feels like it puts down other women who act that way instead of putting down the system that makes them act that way. She calls the girls stupid, after all, and makes comments about their sex lives that are really negative. So to me, it's really interesting that you took it as a positive feminist message, because I don't really see it that way. However, I think what you have to say is very well spoken, and I'll admit, you have a point. I might not completely agree, but I think some good can be said about the song.
ReplyDeleteWhich is now stuck in my head.
Darn it.
Oh my god, I meant article. I love the title you gave your article. Oh my god. I am so sorry for the typo.
ReplyDeleteKelsey,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this posts and reading about your thoughts on this particular topic. I completely forgot about this song until now! I can remember watching this music video with my sister when I was much younger. I definitely get where you're coming from in regards to this song, P!nk is calling out all of the things she sees as wrong and is trying to display a positive feminist message. I can't help but think though, is it positive if P!nk is still putting down other women and calling them stupid for acting this way? I still understand what shes trying to say though and I think you related the article to the music video very well. BTW love your gifs!
I love how you compared it with that song! I still listen to Pink throw back songs to this day. I also like how you opened this up with a personal story that many of young girls can relate to! I remember having similar conversations with my friends in middle school and even early in high school.
ReplyDeleteWow I really enjoyed this article. It was easy to read and seems to be well thought out. I especially like the comparison to Susan Douglas’s “Enlightened sexism." the ways that you explained the video, it seemed as if Pink made the video based from Douglas theory of enlightened sexism. This peace easily drew me in because my sister is a huge Pink fan. For years, all I heard was Pink this and Pink that. Now it is justified that there is some type of education behind her lyrics.
ReplyDeleteKelsey,
ReplyDeleteI loved your blog post and bringing that song back made me realize how much I now hate how I used to love that video. Women should not have to shame themselves for being smart, pretty, etc. just because society or a boy says they need to change. This video definitely embodies what Douglas's article was all about, and the personal example that you used helped bring this whole blog together. I personally love a good life example and the experience that one takes from it and I thought the usage of the article and example really flowed.
This post was great and interesting to read! I really like how you chose "Stupid Girls" by Pink. It's an exact portrayal of how many girls feel pressured by society nowadays. It seems like so many girls find beauty more important than brains to grab a guys attention. I agree that we all need to stand together to fight this societal pressure.
ReplyDelete