Save vs Confusion = Failed

I am very conflicted when it comes to women’s issues. On the one hand, I believe that sexualized images and videos of women for the purpose of selling something to men is degrading and works against sexual equality. On the other hand, I believe that women have the right to present themselves sexually if that’s what they want to do. And finally, on the third hand… I truly enjoy seeing scantily clad women. So, where is the line? Is there a line? I’m not really sure anymore.

I’m also not sure how to react to the anger out there. Recently a twitter conversation happened that went too far, and in my opinion, both parties were somewhat at fault. It started with a female expressing her objection to a company for using provocative images in an ad. She was angry and made that quite clear. The co-founders of the company reacted quite poorly to her anger. I think she should have started out a little more reasonably, but the problem is that there is so much anger over this issue that I understand her reaching the boiling point. The co-founders have since apologized for the way they reacted and say they have learned some valuable lessons about dealing with such volatile issues. They say they oppose any kind of sexism and will actively work against it in the future. They seem quite sincere, which isn’t always the way these things turn out.

I understand the objection to using women in a sexual way to sell things to men. But what about sexual scenes in movies, television, magazines, or (of course) porn? Are these objectifying women? Men and women? Should we eliminate all of these things? I certainly hope not. I enjoy those things a great deal. Do I think they make it harder for women to be treated equally? In some cases, yes, absolutely. And in those cases I think it’s only fair to stand up and point it out. The problem lies in the fact that some people have a much more strict idea of where the line is, and when it’s been crossed, than I do. So, who gets to decide?

I wish I was writing this as a preamble to the solution that I have so wisely come up with, but unfortunately, I’m simply putting my confusion out here for everyone to see. I normally encourage everyone with an opinion to respond to my thoughts in the comments, but I’m afraid the only ones willing to are going to be the angry people from both extremes of this issue. Oh well, if you are angry and still make intelligent reasoned arguments then I will be thrilled to hear from you. If you are narrow-minded and spewing hate I will stomp on your comment like the waste of space that it is. The people that I am especially eager to hear from are the ones who have calmly studied the issue and have some insight, or at least, some opinion on the subject.

I will close this by saying that I have respect for all people, regardless of sex, color, religion, sexual orientation, occupation, economic status, etc, until they prove to me that they don’t deserve it. Though the pessimistic side of me doesn’t believe it is possible for us eliminate prejudice, a small, bright, hopefully spot in my soul dreams of the day when kids don’t believe any of this actually happened.