messed up
A few months ago I was watching TV while running on my basement treadmill when a news story flashed across the screen. The breaking story? Bikinis for babies.
Needless to say the feminist in me was fueled with fervid anger.Though this might be a relatively minor issue, to me it felt like a symbol of the corruption of America’s moral structure and represented how we try to sexualize everything and everybody.
Why the hell do babies need to wear bikinis? Are they flaunting their pudgy stomachs or exposing their underdeveloped derriere? I was under the impression that they were still unable to even pronounce such a word. Is this how early we need to send the message to girls that they are sexual objects – only a matter of months after they’ve exited the womb?
This is another clear indication of oppression of women. First of all, we should consider why girls are supposed to wear bikinis in the first place. Hmm, I’ll tell you: in order to parade their bodies around to stir jealous emotions among fellow girls and to stir other emotions among their male counterparts. They are exposing themselves as objects, toys for men to play with and then subsequently grow tired of and dispose. This objectification of women demonstrates that America hasn’t come that far in terms of women’s rights. We haven’t progressed that much in this area since the 1920s when the whole fight began.
Say what you will: that I’m overreacting, that it’s just a bathing suit. But I believe that this is wrong. This tiny bikini implies that as a society we don’t want our women on the same level as men, that we are constantly seen as a prize for men. We are trophies and tokens and apparently the training for this mindset is starting earlier and earlier. It seems like we still need to fight for the idea that we could ever be on the same level.
We are not liberating ourselves by overexposure, but only play into the idea that we are sexual objects. When we begin to pride ourselves in ways other than sexual appearance then maybe we change for the better. But until then, we are trapped within the construct that society has made for us, which is perfectly symbolized by a bikini for babies.
