Sexism

There is and always has been a lot of sexual hypocrisy in the United States. Whether it is attributed to some lingering Puritanism or more contemporary causes, such as fear of HIV, Hep C and other STDs, this sexual hypocrisy is acted out constantly in entertainment media. The on-line porn industry is huge. Some of it is the usual territory of organized crime, but much of it is now a cottage industry. A housewife with an HD camera on a laptop can do a solid on-demand porn business from her guest room. 

I believe this latter reality in economically challenging times has undermined the high road of feminism. A recent flap over a Robin Thicke pop video by self-identified feminists rang false. Popular women's fashions over the past decade have mimicked the wardrobes of curbside hookers. Protest parades of women dressed this way have been seen by so-called feminists as some assertion of women's rights. Please. This sucks the air of credibility out off any protest over a cheesy-teasy flirtation video by Mr. Thicke, whose surname seems strikingly appropriate in this context. 

A response video on Youtube to Thicke's portrays homophobia by three women who declare to very gay (acting) male models that they really want to have sex with women. So, these feminists have decided to objectify gay men in response to being objectified by straight men. Now doesn't that make sense? Of course not. Sexuality is seldom sensible. 

Sex for sale is the problem. A society which has adopted money as the measure of human worth will merge objectified sexuality for profit. The great hypocrisy of this age, with its veneer of born-again religiosity of many stripes, is the oppression of prostitutes by governments in cities across the United States. Female entrepreneurs are marketing sex rehabs for forced retirees of the world's oldest profession. These born-again Puritans, mostly old prostitutes and former drug addicts, decry all prostitution as human trafficking. 

In a previous time, feminists decried all pornography as degrading. Today a feminist may well defend her right to masturbate on camera for cash to supplement her income or walk into any bar dressed like a hooker. The net result of all of this is the total erosion of the meanings of the words "feminism" and "sexism". The reality is that the whole society is sexist. The media are sexist. Government is sexist. Human beings are all sexist, in the basic sense of sex-consciousness. This isn't bad; this simply is. Sexuality is one of the most elemental drivers of all animals who rely on it for reproduction and/or a sense of safety. 

Religion has stood in the way of human beings adopting a universally healthy attitude toward sexuality. All major religions are patriarchal and misogynist. As long as society seeks to control the sexuality of women and confine it to reproduction, all members of society are diminished to confining roles which inhibit the greater good of the species.