Posted on 11/05/2007 3:40:48 PM PST by wagglebee
Tila Tequila has been Playboy’s Cyber Girl of the Week. She has self-published singles titled “F--- Ya Man,” and “Playgirl Central,” where she proclaims “I don't want no love, I just wanna get screwed!" She’s got more “friends” than anyone in the history of MySpace. She recently announced her bisexuality, and stars on a popular new MTV reality show. Tila has become a sign of the times.
Tila Tequila and her career have prompted ruminations on the nature of celebrity in The New York Times, and she’s been profiled in TIME magazine. But more than anything, the Tila phenomenon highlights a pernicious trend in American culture: Celebrating young women only for their “sexiness” and their willingness to flaunt it -- rather than for character, intelligence, or talent.
On “A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila,” both straight men and lesbians vie for Tila’s affections. To do so, they engage in a variety of sexually explicit activities features lewd behavior among the contestants, encouraged and applauded by Tila herself, including group sleepovers and raunchy rounds of “Truth or Dare.” It is the most popular show in its time period among people 18-34, and no doubt has many younger viewers.
Certainly most young people understand that what they’re watching is more than a little over the top. But seeing the behavior also normalizes it – and allows women like Tila to set standards for young people all across the United States. When the culture tells girls that sexual decision making comes down to nothing more than “if it feels good, do it,” they become pressured to conform to a sexy ideal that’s as unwholesome as it is difficult to attain.
That’s quite a contrast from the days when American society (and media of all sorts) reflected a consensus that took into account the dangers – not only physical, but also emotional, psychological and even spiritual – of giving too much too soon. Now, girls have lost much of the social support that once buttressed decisions to abstain from sex, and parents and clergy are left trying to protect them from a culture that glamorizes sexual promiscuity and exhibitionism. Because of the example set by “celebrities” ranging from Tila Tequila to Paris Hilton (who came to prominence after the release of a sex tape), it seems more difficult to resist the advances of boys interested in nothing more than sex, appropriate to wear revealing clothes, and acceptable to behave in suggestive ways that would have been unthinkable even twenty years ago.
The results are devastating. Giving too much, too soon can result in girls confronting emotions including regret, anxiety, guilt, shame, and lack of trust in males. In fact, recent academic research has suggested that even modest sexual experimentation increases the risk of depression for girls, so it’s worth asking: Does the widespread sexual behavior celebrated by teen culture explain in part the CDC’s latest report finding that suicide rates among preteen and young teen girls had spiked by a whopping 76%?
It’s not easy to fight the pernicious messages being purveyed by the culture – but making the effort is important for the mental, physical and spiritual health of America’s girls. And as difficult as it may seem to bring about change, it is possible to create a more wholesome teen culture if people realize that their objections to the status quo are hardly idiosyncratic. After all, concerted effort and dedication on the part of environmentalists have brought us to a point where retailers are beginning to package detergents in smaller, more “earth-friendly” bottles and businesses brag about how “green” they are. Government involvement is unnecessary (and, when it comes to free expression, unwise) when Americans themselves are willing to confront the sexual saturation of the culture and demand something better.
It’s high time for a change. After all, a culture in which someone like Tila Tequila can be vaulted even to the outermost rings of the celebrity galaxy isn’t anywhere that America’s girls belong.
I don’t see a cross dangling around her neck as can be seen on so many members of the MTV crowd. Doesn’t that make everything right and excusable?
Is this the subject?
Guilty.
I was thinking the same thing. I teach at a Christian school. I am often appalled at the way some of the Moms dress to bring their kids to school. Certainly not all of them, but enough of them to make me scratch my head.
Very true. But the difference is that years ago that was 'private entertainment'. Now its mass entertainment.
According to me 3 sons (ages 30, 29 and 28) you’re correct. They have complained to me about the forwardness of girls their age.
The media would never profile NORMAL American young women .... therefore the media promotes celebrity stuntresses like ‘Tila’.
People who believe ‘Tila’ is for real, and that she represents young women in any fashion are the real shmucks.
There was a time when social norms were dictated by the community. When there are no social norms, this is what you get. Unfortunately, it doesn’t just harm children. I don’t have an answer to what can be done about it, because technology has made it impossible to govern, but I mourn the loss of community standards.
susie
It was “mass” ~ just took a different form depending on your neighborhood.
Can you provide independent verification of dog’s #12, s-r?
I have actually seen a couple of episode the show. The show is standard fare for MTV. I don’t find anything particularly titillating about it.
It’s sort of like “The Bachelor” with a twist. There a lot of young women in skimpy bating suits and women do make out with each other, but to the typical MTV viewer, it’s nothing new. I cannot be manipulated in watching it because it is kind of boring with all of the childish behavior.
My only complaint about the criticism of the show, it that it is no worse or better than what has already been shown on MTV.
The “Real world Vegas” was worse than this. Would I want or let my 11 year old niece watch this show, no I wouldn’t.
If such a lifestyle is counterproductive, then over time the wealth will move from the nymphos towards the prudes and the nymphos will be priced out of the market.
It would be nice if people would "behave" for the "right" reasons. But if they start behaving just because all of the visits to the clinic are getting too expensive, and because they need to regain their ability to concentrate on the job then that will be a start.
Yuck.
How sad is it that fame is now decided by having a lot of myspace friends?
She has no discernable talent and is not good looking to me. And yet she is on MTV and has recorded with some well known producers.
She disgusts me in ways I can’t print on FR.
Feminism teaches girls what sex-obsessed pigs men are and then they encourage them to reject femininity and act like men.
It's all so fake, really. Who the hell is Tila Tequila anyway? I'd bet a paycheck she doesn't live in that mansion and isn't rich, and the whole concept of the show is quite ridiculous. She's just some pole dancer that got famous on MySpace and now MTV can titillate the oversexed viewers with the fantasy of moving into a nonexistant mansion with a nonexistant woman. Bonus: flaming lesbianism portrayed as normal.
If you really want to be repulsed, watch the gay edition of MTV Next!, as gay men preen and quarrel with one another over the right to go on a "date" with some unknown gay male. It just has to be seen to be believed.
I think this is the problem. Kids think nothing of this behavior. They should. We should. susie
Yeah, I never quite got that. I think feminism is really just about destroying our culture.
susie
That's her. It's hard to find PG-rated photos of her any more. She's also about 4'10", so there's probably a latent teenage-boy-missed-opportunity fantasy angle involved, too. ;)
Then we should turn the tv off, like I do. People are old enough to make choices as to what to watch.
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