Article by Leanna Daley
I came across this book after my lecturer suggested it for one of my assignments. Although at times I found it extremely conservative in relation to the female body, it was quite enlightening with the idea that raunch culture itself has given rise to a “New Feminism”. Women themselves become the “Chauvinist Pigs”.
“Prevalence of raunch in the mainstream has diluted the effect of both sex radicals and feminists, who’ve seen their movement ‘s images popularised while their ideals are forgotten.”
Focus is put onto popular media with programmes such as Sex and the City and Girls Gone Wild, plus magazines such as Playboy. It critiques how this new feminism creates a myth of female liberation. What I noticed within the book is how feminism itself started out as a political movement but then certain groups started to form within it causing women to separate. The effect is where to place yourself within feminism. I found that I was more confused as to what type of feminist I am, and If I am one at all?
It’s not as simple to say that men are to blame for sexualising females and objectifying them. Women play an integral part too, some even being the producers of it, such as Christie Hefner the CEO of Playboy.