January 19, 2015
Why do we think we are better than Women who try to be Sexy on Social Media?
It's been a brutal week for women posting sexy images on Instagram. First, there was this highly inflammatory article originally written by Orlando J. Orlando that asserted that posting sexy pictures on Instagram made women look "cheap". The post received over 2000 comments and climbing from people on both sides of the argument.
Next Miley Cyrus was shammed this week over posting a nearly full frontal nude on her Instagram Account. She narrowly avoided breaking the popular photo sharing sites terms of service by strategically covering her lady bits with bubbles.
For the full version you will have to pop over to Mileys Instagram account mileycyrus
By now we are all aware that former child-star and Disney Princess Cyrus lives in what amounts to a media circus. The tabloids were quick to jump on the story screaming sensational headlines like "Full Frontal" - and the expletive laden rants that have racked up thousands of comments on blogs and social media platforms attacking the star seem to be primarily from other women. One could argue that there is a "full frontal" assault on Miley and any other woman for that matter who chooses to express their sexuality in these public forums - "slut shaming" has morphed into "nude shaming" in a vicious one-two combination of righteous indignation.
This issue touches a nerve here at BodyRock, because our critics routinely accuse us of producing "Fitness Porn" and have attempted to bring shame to something that only exists to inspire people to lead healthy active lives and to provide free daily workouts. But enough about us.
There seems to be a pervading school of thought that if you wear sexy clothes (or no clothes at all) or flaunt your body it signals a lack of intelligence, morals, talent or all of the above. There is an imaginary line in our culture that separates that good girls from the sluts and heaven forbid anyone trespasses because what is waiting for you on the other side is the equivalent of a stoning - not by ISIS or some radical group - but rather by other women on social media.
It might just be possible that there are women out there who are both smart and able to combine their intelligence and physicality to create success in their chosen field. Many of the women that have "crossed the streams" of smart / sexy have large followings - particularly evident in the entertainment industry. Millions of people actively follow these women and yet more than half the comments from these same followers are ruthlessly negative. We slut shame the very women we so actively follow. We choose to opt-in to follow and consume the content these women produce and then get hysterical over the pictures that appear in our social feeds. It's a bit crazy isn't it?
Maybe we just enjoy being outraged. Maybe it's an authentic concern about the message all of this is sending to our children. Maybe it's the same historical oppression that has always clamped down on women seeking to control their sexuality. What do you think it is?
For the full version you will have to pop over to Mileys Instagram account mileycyrus
By now we are all aware that former child-star and Disney Princess Cyrus lives in what amounts to a media circus. The tabloids were quick to jump on the story screaming sensational headlines like "Full Frontal" - and the expletive laden rants that have racked up thousands of comments on blogs and social media platforms attacking the star seem to be primarily from other women. One could argue that there is a "full frontal" assault on Miley and any other woman for that matter who chooses to express their sexuality in these public forums - "slut shaming" has morphed into "nude shaming" in a vicious one-two combination of righteous indignation.
This issue touches a nerve here at BodyRock, because our critics routinely accuse us of producing "Fitness Porn" and have attempted to bring shame to something that only exists to inspire people to lead healthy active lives and to provide free daily workouts. But enough about us.
There seems to be a pervading school of thought that if you wear sexy clothes (or no clothes at all) or flaunt your body it signals a lack of intelligence, morals, talent or all of the above. There is an imaginary line in our culture that separates that good girls from the sluts and heaven forbid anyone trespasses because what is waiting for you on the other side is the equivalent of a stoning - not by ISIS or some radical group - but rather by other women on social media.
It might just be possible that there are women out there who are both smart and able to combine their intelligence and physicality to create success in their chosen field. Many of the women that have "crossed the streams" of smart / sexy have large followings - particularly evident in the entertainment industry. Millions of people actively follow these women and yet more than half the comments from these same followers are ruthlessly negative. We slut shame the very women we so actively follow. We choose to opt-in to follow and consume the content these women produce and then get hysterical over the pictures that appear in our social feeds. It's a bit crazy isn't it?
Maybe we just enjoy being outraged. Maybe it's an authentic concern about the message all of this is sending to our children. Maybe it's the same historical oppression that has always clamped down on women seeking to control their sexuality. What do you think it is?