Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Say what?

While strolling the mall today, I saw this large poster and was struck absolutely speechless.


My inner feminist doesn't know whether to be:

1.) impressed by this enterprising group of women for being able to garner the attention of the American public and take it all the way to the bank. (Let's face it: the women of this show are the reason people are tuning in. The men are definitely the supporting players to these scene stealing ladies.)

2.) disgusted with the way they are going about it. It seems a little shameful to me for the way Kris Kardashian is pimping her daughters out (she is their business manager, too) in micro mini skirts/dresses. Are those dresses or lingerie? And yes, a few of her daughters are adults and not so fragile that they can't speak up for themselves, but the two youngest on the left side are only 14 and 16 years old.

I don't want to be judgmental, and I certainly don't want to be a woman who is critical of another woman's success. On the contrary, the fact that this cast of women are so wildly successful and raking in the big bucks is admirable. I just wish they weren't doing it in a way that is actually so degrading to women.

Thoughts?

9 comments:

Jenny "Yenny" B. said...

tracy- We must share the same brain to some extent as I posted an article on the K's a few months ago on FB. It discussed how they raked in around $40-60 MILLION in 2009 or '10..for their faces, legs, booties, charmed lives, etc. My question was the same of the mom. At first reaction I am disgusted by her and her family pimping. But then I think if my daughter was an adult and adamant on this career (seeking fame with no merit other than celebrity) wouldn't I want to be as involved as possible...vs. protesting cluelessly from my pity party at home while someone else exploited my kids? I have huge issues with the minor girls..they should not be shown..and must they al be dressed in lingerie inspired "dresses"? What bothers me more is that this image is forced upon me and my daughter so that in promoting modesty I am surrounded by images like this one that chip away at my message! Ugh!!! I have so much more and yet know I am preachin' to the choir!

Tracy said...

Thanks for sharing your thoughts here, Jenny. It was definitely an "in your face" kind of poster (not to mention the life-size posters of Kim in the Sketchers window dressed in a sports bra and short shorts). I hadn't thought about the way it would be undermining a modesty message to my kids because my boys are still so young. What I do think about, though, is that when my husband goes to the mall, he'll have these images thrown in his face, too, and he's one of the good guys that actually would prefer not to see those images.

Katie said...

Oh, Tracy, I agree with you. It breaks my heart to see the two youngest girls pimped out like that. Are girls, no longer girls?

Pascha said...

agree, agree, agree...its a sad state of affairs. the #2 is where I'm stuck... I just find that young girls are no longer young girls. I grew up happy to have Dr.Pepper flavored lip smack at that age but these girls are wearing lipstick, 5" stilettos and baby dolls for their tall slender frames. Again, its the target for Hollywood all about that 'appeal' towards audiences. Pity.

J said...

It's hard, and as the mother of a teen, it's really hard. She wants to wear the cute clothes that her friends wear, and we have many battles. Sigh. She recently bought a baby doll dress that is so darling on her, but very short. I told her she can wear it if she puts shorts on underneath, in case a breeze comes along. But the heels? No way on the heels. See? It's hard. And she got my boobs, which means that a lot of cute tops show cleavage, so we're always battling about how much is appropriate. Being chesty myself, I truly understand the frustration. Sigh.

Now regarding the Kardashians, I'm still not sure who the heck they are, or why they're on TV. Yes, good for them for making money while they can, because someday (hopefully) this reality TV fad will be over, and they won't be able to make so much this way. Then again, aren't they famous for being rich already? Paris Hilton has been trying to clean up her image lately, and apparently, it's not working.

The older women here are fine. Do what you want, and if I don't like it, I won't watch. But yeah, 14 and 16 is too young to look like you're hanging out in your nighty.

kmrf said...

It's a heart issue- Is Jesus in the heart or not? Who cares about modesty? What difference does humility make? None with out Jesus in it. I guard my heart and the body it reside in because the Lord and Master of the Universe lives in it. For heaven's sake someone somewhere be the love of Christ to these Ladies.

Sharon said...

Agree with everyone here. None of this stuff is really going to result in anything lasting.

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va3ani said...

Just when I thought we were making progress, we see things like this. Women worked so hard, for so long, to gain respect and not be judged as sex symbols, now we seem to be taking some giant leaps backwards. What a shame!

I have been noticing this more and more. Recently my city has been visited by the "Lingerie Football League" ( http://www.thespec.com/sports/article/561726--nearly-naked-athletes-blur-definition-of-sport ), and now our paper has an article about "Bikinis, babes and basketball". ( http://www.thespec.com/news/local/article/577884--bikinis-babes-and-basketball )

I am so disgusted and disturbed that these women who are participating don't seem to care how they're portrayed and for what reason. What a horrible shame.