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Why young women are exposing themselves: Part two
townhall.com ^ | 2/24/04 | Dennis Prager

Posted on 02/23/2004 9:17:37 PM PST by kattracks

In Part One, I offered two reasons for the increasing exposure of young women's bodies. One was the loss of female roles and identity, leading many young women to announce they are females in the only way left to them -- by showing their body. The other was the near-extinction of the concept of femininity, including the demise of feminine dress.

The ending of sex-based roles, probably the major goal of feminism, has brought some blessings, but it has also harmed countless lives. Roles, to use the most venerated word in feminism, empower both sexes.

As much as feminists may disdain the roles of mother or wife, those roles have bestowed power as well as meaning and satisfaction on the vast majority of women in history. When all is said and done, heading a home and being married to a good man are far more satisfying to most women than college teaching or corporate work. The ending of women's roles has left innumerable women more free to choose their life's course, but often less happy and, yes, less powerful. Roles empower (as well as constrain) people.

Women derive power from feminine roles, and men derive power from masculine roles. At the core of feminism is an envy of male roles and power and a belief that women should have the same. But, as a recent New York Times Magazine cover story noted, women graduates from Ivy League universities are increasingly leaving the corporate world to raise families. Having the same power as men did not fulfill these women.

Now, the third reason. With no feminine role to aspire to, many young women feel powerless. The one area of power left for them is sexual. The more a young woman has bought into feminist notions of equality (i.e., the sexes are essentially the same and there is no such thing as a woman's role), the more she is likely to flaunt her sexual power. It is the only power left to her. This helps explain why female students at Harvard -- among the highest achieving young women in the country -- have just launched a magazine featuring Harvard women posing nude.

A fourth reason may be surprising -- sexual harassment laws.

Women feel freer than ever to dress provocatively in part because men can say nothing about it. Omnipresent sexual harassment laws and "consciousness raising" seminars in businesses and schools have frightened men into not making any sexual comments to a woman.

As a result, the normal check on a woman flaunting her body is gone. A woman can reveal her breasts or cross her short-skirted legs near a man, but he is forbidden to say so much as, "You have great legs." In fact, he can be fired or sued for saying nothing and merely "staring."

One reason women dressed more modestly in the past was fear of men's verbal reactions. No more. There are vast checks on his sexuality, none on hers.

We should either drop all sexual harassment laws (except those prohibiting threats -- "Sleep with me or you're fired") or apply them equally to women. If men create a sexually charged work environment when they talk sex, women do the same when they show sex. "Hostile work environment"  -- a trial lawyer enrichment program created by feminist anger at men -- should be either dropped as a legal concept or applied equally to women's dress.

A fifth reason is the most obvious -- a desire to attract men.

Every woman knows that the quickest way to attract a man is to have him notice her. So it makes sense to assume that the more of her body she shows, the more men will be attracted to her. The problem with this approach is that unless all she wants is sex that night, provocative outfits are not usually in her best interest. Why not?

This leads to the sixth and final reason: women's naivete. It is doubtful that women have ever been as naive about men as are large numbers of contemporary educated women. I believe that my grandmother who never went to school understood men better than the average female college graduate today.

So, as a service to any woman who is confused by the difference between "cute" and provocative as regards women's clothing, this may help. What you often call cute or attractive, men see only as a sexual come-on. If you wish to dress for sex, you should be entirely free to do so. But if you want love and attention, you have to know the difference between dressing for sex and dressing to be cute and attractive. The more skin men see, the more they think sex, not love. And that includes guys your age, your male teachers, your clergyman, your mailman, and the old man next door.

©2003 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

Contact Dennis Prager | Read Prager's biography



TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: dennisprager; femminism
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1 posted on 02/23/2004 9:17:37 PM PST by kattracks
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To: kattracks
Apparently Obviuosly, Prager has way too much free time on his hands.
2 posted on 02/23/2004 9:24:16 PM PST by hole_n_one
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To: hole_n_one
Obviuosly s/b Obviously
3 posted on 02/23/2004 9:25:19 PM PST by hole_n_one
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To: kattracks
bump for later
4 posted on 02/23/2004 9:25:51 PM PST by goodnesswins (If you're Voting Dem/Constitution Party/Libertarian/Not - I guess it's easier than using your brain.)
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To: kattracks
blah blah blah...did he mention it was for attention?
5 posted on 02/23/2004 9:27:30 PM PST by Diva Betsy Ross (Every heart beats true for the red ,white and blue!)
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To: kattracks
Were there any photos with this article?
6 posted on 02/23/2004 9:28:27 PM PST by WorkingClassFilth (DEFUND PBS & NPR - THE AMERICAN PRAVDA)
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To: kattracks
Don't know why, just thankful.
7 posted on 02/23/2004 9:29:55 PM PST by breakem
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To: kattracks
He left out the oldest reason in the world.
8 posted on 02/23/2004 9:33:22 PM PST by HAL9000
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To: kattracks
Must be "sweeps week" at TownHall.com.
9 posted on 02/23/2004 9:34:13 PM PST by Ichneumon
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To: kattracks
You know, I never thought I'd write this but I'm getting tired of going to the mall and seeing plumber's butt on 19-years old girls (often accompanied by a tattoo). It's just the wrong thing at the wrong place.
10 posted on 02/23/2004 9:34:45 PM PST by DallasMike
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To: kattracks
As a result, the normal check on a woman flaunting her body is gone. A woman can reveal her breasts or cross her short-skirted legs near a man, but he is forbidden to say so much as, "You have great legs." In fact, he can be fired or sued for saying nothing and merely "staring."

How Orwellian.

11 posted on 02/23/2004 9:35:52 PM PST by judgeandjury
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To: kattracks
Which two parts are they exposing?
12 posted on 02/23/2004 9:36:02 PM PST by AFreeBird (your mileage may vary)
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To: hole_n_one
All this really proves is that those religious are obsessed with sex; and probably more so than most.

I'd call it a deprecation of sexuality syndrome.

13 posted on 02/23/2004 9:39:37 PM PST by thinktwice (The human mind is blessed with reason, and to waste that blessed mind is treason.)
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To: kattracks
Who cares about WHY?

I just want to know WHERE!
14 posted on 02/23/2004 9:42:18 PM PST by Luis Gonzalez (Unless the world is made safe for Democracy, Democracy won't be safe in the world.)
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To: Luis Gonzalez
LMAO!
15 posted on 02/23/2004 9:49:44 PM PST by hole_n_one
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To: Luis Gonzalez
Nice! My sentiments exactly. :)
16 posted on 02/23/2004 9:55:55 PM PST by qxc172
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To: kattracks
"History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster." -- General Douglas MacArthur
17 posted on 02/23/2004 9:56:08 PM PST by hosepipe
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To: kattracks
The traditional role of women empowered them? Being paid less than a man for the same work (which was common before the 1970's) is empowering? A woman with no job skills and little education other than housework is empowered? The women dependent on a husband who cheats on her and even gives her VD is empowered? A woman who can't flee a husband who beats her up because the powers that be won't let her is empowered? This is not one of the better articles posted on this otherwise excellent website. Everyone should read an article thoroughly before posting it.
18 posted on 02/23/2004 9:59:35 PM PST by Clintonfatigued
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To: kattracks
read later
19 posted on 02/23/2004 10:00:17 PM PST by LiteKeeper
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To: hole_n_one
Dennis is right on.
20 posted on 02/23/2004 10:11:37 PM PST by Psycho_Bunny
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