Politics & Policy

Fems Find Flesh Flaunt Flawed

Pausing in battle, the modern woman on a quest for gender equality faces her final foe: herself.

The enemy had always been outside of her, embodied in the rules and restrictions which made her subordinate to men. Generations after the women's suffrage movement began, today's ladies have improved their status in society. A woman can enter the same occupations as a man (well, except for male underwear model) and is entitled to the same rights. Now that women are no longer defined by their sex, discussion has emerged over how to define themselves. Women wonder how feminine and sexy they can act before that is all they are recognized for. Young women are at the center of the debate.

"I think that women should enjoy their sexuality, but they shouldn't be reduced to that, " says Professor Carol Sternhell, associate chairwoman of New York University's Department of Journalism and founding director of the university's women studies program for undergraduates. "It's hard ... Women are faced with a lot of contradictions."

Though all feminists believe in the empowerment of women, the argument over what part sexuality plays in this goal still continues. Some say that to embrace their sexuality is to further objectify women. Others insists that after proving their equality to men in the intellectual and business worlds, women are entitled to take hold of their own sexuality in the way they dress and behave. Young women enjoy the privileges won by feminists of the past and are more comfortable with their sexuality than their mothers' and grandmothers' generations. Most believe that sexuality should be a non-issue, though they recognize the negative connotations associated with it.

"It's very easy to judge when women are embracing something they've never embraced," says Meaghan McCormick, 19, of California. "It does contribute to objectification when it shouldn't. We're quick to say 'whore' and 'slut.'"

Philethea Duckett, 19, of Long Island, New York, says, "In an ideal world, it would be OK [to dress how you want]," but she worries that the media degrade women.

Soon after women gained the right to vote, they discarded their corsets and long skirts and began flaunting their new rights, flapper-style. With short hair, boyish figures and naked limbs, the young lady of the early 20th century was flirting with her sexuality and the definition of her sex. She felt compelled to de-feminize herself with strapped-down breasts and shapeless shifts. Since then, women have begun to wear even less, while accenting their feminine curves, and continue to spark controversy.

"A lot of popular female artists expose too much skin," says Cynthia Simon, 19, of Queens, New York, who believed that this type of representation of women by the media failed to promote gender equality. Although most young women agreed that female celebrities were less than demure, their opinions differed in regards to culpability.

"I think that female celebrities have kind of brought into [that]," says Jennifer Cunha, 18, of New Jersey. "[It's] the celebrities themselves ... the media doesn't have any control of it."

Christina Conde agrees to a certain extent. "People like Jessica Simpson aren't helping us, but there are people who are using their prestige positively," says the 20-year-old Floridian.

Some young women believe that covering-up is the answer. McCormick says that's exactly what women must do if they want society to accept their expressions of sexuality. "[Covering-up] is still something that we need to do. To break the system that we're in, we have to work within it."

This might have been what the power woman of the 1980s had in mind as she broke the glass ceiling in manly clothing that mimicked men's suits. She was about to share the corner office with her male contemporaries, but it seems that to be a woman on equal footing with a man, she had to downplay whatever set her apart.

"It was like, 'We want to look as much like men as we can so we'll use big shoulder pads," McCormick says with a laugh. "We've come a long way, though. We can wear form-fitting suits now."