In the wake of the election, well to be honest even before,
I saw a troublesome trend in the treatment of Melania Trump. As a former model,
she was had taken some provocative photos as part of her job. This led to the
slut-shaming of this woman in comparison to women like Michelle Obama,
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and other First Ladies. She was immediately written
off as unintelligent and being less than in terms of class because she was
expressed her sexuality in this way. I think that this sets a dangerous
precedent for young girls.
So why do we continue to do this? Why do we find it
necessary to tear women down for being sexual entities? There are probably a
couple of reasons for this impulse.
One of the first things to examine is the idea that
sexuality and intelligence are mutually exclusive traits. This idea affects
both men and women, but it is particularly dangerous for women in multiple
ways. First, we tend to look at sexuality and its expression as an instinctual
impulse. It’s why we tend to excuse men talking about women in sexual ways as
“boys will be boys.” We treat male sexuality as something that men cannot
control, like they are animals. In contrast, we expect more of women when it
comes to the expression of their sexuality. They are expected to control their
urges and instincts. Therefore, a woman who expresses her sexuality is viewed
as less intelligent. Because in this perspective she is less intelligent, it is
easier to look at her as a sexual object rather than a thoughtful human being.
It makes it easier to make the leap to the pervasive sentiments in rape culture
that somehow a woman dressing in a provocative way was “asking for it;” it’s
one of the main concepts that makes victim-blaming so prevalent.
The next area of consideration is the emphasis on purity.
From a young age, girls are often conditioned to believe that their self-worth
is tied to their sexual purity. This emphasis on purity tends to lead to body
image issues because girls feel that their bodies are something of which to be
ashamed. Dressing in a “modest” way the means by which a girl maintains her
purity. It also encourages the discriminatory practices in school dress codes
in order to avoid “distracting the boys.” Additionally, it can be difficult for
girls to understand how to properly express their sexuality when they begin to
have those impulses. Feelings of a sexual nature are encouraged to be
repressed. This can become incredibly problematic should those girls experience
sexual assault. It is more difficult to not only admit that this happened, but
it can lead to additional trauma. Elizabeth Smart spoke about the dangers of
this emphasis on purity when talking about her own experiences and subsequent
issues in dealing with the after effects of such trauma.
The final area that I want to consider is the way that women
are conditioned to be in competition with one another. I believe that this
really begins to rear its ugly head when we start to tear down Melania Trump
for her past pictures as a model. From a young age, we seem to taught that we
are constantly in competition with other women for attention, whether it be in
the classroom, the workplace, or in relationships. We then begin to insult
women for a variety of reasons, sometimes doing so in the name of preserving
female dignity or feminism. The truth is that these insults are
counterproductive to the cause of feminism. The tearing down of other women for
being sexual beings is a tactic that keeps women from supporting one another.
It is a divide and conquer strategy. Melania Trump was an adult who chose to
take those photos that some may view as provocative because of the overt
sexuality on display. We may jump to the conclusion that she was being used and
objectified for the sexual gratification of men. While this may be the truth of
the situation, it is not for us to condemn her for it. We must instead affirm
that she is entitled to do with her body as she pleases as long as it is a
consensual act. She has the autonomy to decide how much or how little of her
body that she wishes to show. Finally, she is her own person; to compare her to
the First Ladies that came before is unfair.
We need to stop propagating the notion that women cannot be
intelligent and sexual and that female body is something that we need to be
ashamed of and hide. We owe it to the next generation to keep moving the rights
of women forward. This means believing that they have autonomy over their body
to show as much or as little as they like. So let’s stop slut-shaming public
figures for provocative dress, no matter who they are.
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