I'm not The Girl Scholastic, so perhaps I have no way of understanding, but the notion of female empowerment is an odd one to me, at least as a lot of people (apparently) view it. I'll cut to the quick, and post what I'm thinking about:
LOS ANGELES (Sept. 11) - A 22-year-old woman in the United States is publicly auctioning her virginity to pay for her college education, sparking a heated on-line debate about sex and morality. The student from San Diego, California, who is using the pseudonym Natalie Dylan for "safety reasons," said she had no moral dilemma with her decision and found it "empowering."
There apparently is this notion that it is empowering to women to aspire to the sexual standards our culture has layed upon men, that is, for women to no longer aspire to marry, and as virgins. As I understand it, it is the notion of leveling the playing field by removing the double-standard of praising the man who has a large number of sexual partners while diminishing the woman who does the same.
It should be obvious that I agree the double-standard is unfair as it is obvious that I feel that women are running the wrong way, or rather, the easy way. All of this stems from a thousand things, most religious, many practical, and not a few personal, and it's not worth a discussion, because (to be quite frank) you either buy it or you don't. What interests me is that this girl thinks this is empowering, because by my book, she is rejecting the feminist empowerment system in favour of the culturally traditional gender relations, and within that system, making herself a prostitute in the worst sense of the word.
By actioning her virginity, she's acknowledging (perhaps passively) that virginity is something of value and is worth something, which feminist empowerment rejects, as virginity amongst men is looked down upon as undesirable. So she's either acknowledging the importance of virginity for herself or exploiting people who view it as important. The former makes her anything but a feminist and the second one makes her the equivalent of a person who exploits the ignorant because she isn't and serves to gain by it. Like the faith healer who puts on a show for money, or a dirty insurance salesman who wants to capitalize on people's fears and hopes.
Empowering? I can at least understand the feminist position as much as I disagree with it, but her position doesn't even compute. But as someone who finds true empowerment in the life of a servant and a shepherd, some things may be beyond me. But a pole of my female room mates says that I may not be insane.
It should be obvious that I agree the double-standard is unfair as it is obvious that I feel that women are running the wrong way, or rather, the easy way. All of this stems from a thousand things, most religious, many practical, and not a few personal, and it's not worth a discussion, because (to be quite frank) you either buy it or you don't. What interests me is that this girl thinks this is empowering, because by my book, she is rejecting the feminist empowerment system in favour of the culturally traditional gender relations, and within that system, making herself a prostitute in the worst sense of the word.
By actioning her virginity, she's acknowledging (perhaps passively) that virginity is something of value and is worth something, which feminist empowerment rejects, as virginity amongst men is looked down upon as undesirable. So she's either acknowledging the importance of virginity for herself or exploiting people who view it as important. The former makes her anything but a feminist and the second one makes her the equivalent of a person who exploits the ignorant because she isn't and serves to gain by it. Like the faith healer who puts on a show for money, or a dirty insurance salesman who wants to capitalize on people's fears and hopes.
Empowering? I can at least understand the feminist position as much as I disagree with it, but her position doesn't even compute. But as someone who finds true empowerment in the life of a servant and a shepherd, some things may be beyond me. But a pole of my female room mates says that I may not be insane.
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