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.
Tila? Who? Never heard of her.
There are worse things on TV than Tia. I think the show is garbage, but this pig pile on her is unfair.
Every now and then I get cases of wonder-lust. Sometimes pretty bad cases. Stories like this lovely young woman seem to cure me very quickly. Now, I have to go do what ever my wife wants me to do.
Yeah, but that’s FR for ya - pick a symbolic Piñata of the Day and take yer best whack at it. ;) God forbid we actually focus on making the government smaller or lowering taxes or anything that would actually make a real difference.
If people don’t like Tia, don’t pay the cable bill.
A big part of me thinks that her bisexuality is really just a ploy to get more attention - cause for some reason, guys seem to love to see girls doing lesbian stuff. So girls play bi to get the guys’ attention, but still be available to him. It’s a really sick new trend. If someone’s really bi or lesbian that’s one thing, but lying about your sexuality to get attention is a whole new low.
As a college student I can definitely say that this kind of culture has been having, and will continue to have, SUCH a negative effect on girls’ ideas about love, sex, self-image, guys, and conversley the way guys view and treat girls. If a girl wants attention from a guy, why does she feel the need to dress like a slut so some guy can treat her like a sex object instead of, say, going to a LAN party where most of the guys in the room will offer her food, a place on their teams, encouragement no matter how bad she is at whatever game they’re playing, etc? (Oh, and I totally appreciate all those sweet chivalrous nerds out there, hang in there!) But our culture has gotten to the point where it can be considered offensive or chauvinistic to hold a door for a girl, yet if the same guy makes a crude sexual comment as she’s opening the door herself it’s supposed to be taken as a compliment. There really needs to be a massive paradigm shift among the younger population about how they view themselves and others.
Certainly, of course. And if we don’t like the culture we are surrounded by, including drunk drivers and purse snatchers, we can just as well just stay off the roads and sidewalks. Yup, I’m sure that is the logical solution.
susie
so who do you to put in charge to decide what I can watch??
>>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.<<
Proof of my determination to leave no stone unturned I’ve set the Tivo to record the 4AM episode “Under the Covers” - “The remaining 17 contestants move in and share a bed with Tila”
Please show me where I said anyone should be in charge of what you watch. Your TV habits are of no interest to me at all. Please reread my post #16. I don’t have an answer. That doesn’t mean I don’t understand what is happening to our culture. Some people have the foresight of a grasshopper. I can’t do anything about that, and I don’t think the govt can do anything about it. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t point it out.
susie
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The sad part of "reality" TV is that it creates its own "reality" by convincing the confused that this is something other than scripted hype. I say "the confused" because puberty is a temporary insanity all its own.
Young viewers start believing what they watch is reality, their expectations shift to conform with the new mass broadcast "reality" and another impressionable group is manipulated into believing they are behaving normally--unless it is pointed out that these are actors, and this just is not real, nor is it desireable.
The kids who will lose worst are the ones whose parents won't ban or decry this crap.
No MTV allowed in my house.
Where did someone suggest the government get involved?
All show and no stay.
Indeed...
For some odd reason however, I was still broke all the time! Olongapo, Subic City, Angeles City... Leave the boat with a enough in yer pocket, and still have to hit the slush fund the following Monday!
Fell in love a few hundred times over there.... ...and it did not matter what their hair color was!!
Unfortunately, Baby Boomers/leftists have tried to equate any criticism of certain things to be a denial of their free speech. Somehow, I disagree. You aren't guaranteed the right to do and say what you want and be protected from any criticism. If you don't want to hear the criticism, change the channel/thread, just like you told them. Don't wimp out and play the government/censorship/authoritarian/whatever it is card.
I think he means you should keep your opinions to yourself. See, what’s-her-name has the right to do whatever she does, but you are infringing on her rights, or the people who watch her, by giving your opinion. Your criticism is tantamout to Big Brother-style government intervention.
Gee, that never happened before.
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