Turning her back on a strict Catholic upbringing, Germaine Greer became
feminist's leading avatar of free love. As a graduate student at
Cambridge University, she often posed nude for underground magazines,
and indulged in group sex escapades she would later describe as a
"bloodsport."
In 1970 Greer published The Female Eunuch. The book claims that the
sexual repression of women robs them of the dynamic energy they need to
attain gender independence and selfhood. Hence, sexual license is the
sure path to female liberation.
Many years and several abortions later, Greer finally renounced her
advocacy of sexual debauchery. But in typical feminist fashion, she
recanted her own promiscuity not by way of offering an apology, but
rather by blaming it all on men.
As an international best-seller, The Female Eunuch influenced the sexual
mores of an entire generation of women. Thanks to the likes of Madonna,
Britney, and Janet Jackson, Greer's free love philosophy is beginning to
permeate our culture.
Just look at the way women are parading around these days. The examples
I'm about to describe are not what I read about, saw on TV, or heard
third-hand from the neighborhood gossip. These are incidents I have
personally observed during the past several months.
At the office, well-educated women don the sheerest brassieres and
tight-fitting sweaters. Do they really need to prove to their co-workers
that they don't suffer from inverted nipples?
A singles event is held at a community fair. Each participant is given a
number to post on his or her lapel, so interested persons can make
contact. One young lady decides to cut to the chase - she pastes the
number directly over her crotch.
The epidemic of immodesty has even spread to teenage girls.
At a girls' high school soccer game, a close-fought game ends. Rather
than walking to the nearby dressing room, the girls strip down to their
sports bras in front of hundreds of shocked onlookers.
For its Fall fashion line-up, J.C. Penney's is now selling T-shirts for
girls sporting these slogans: "I'm hot," "What's with those twins?," and
"Pick me up, coffee shop." Right across the aisle, pubescent girls can
buy thong, hipster, or bikini underwear - all three for just $12.60.
And then there are untold numbers of women who can't seem to find a
single top in their wardrobe that covers their brassiere. Or they don't
realize that if they wish to don a fluorescent pink bra, a thin white
T-shirt really won't do.
I could give other examples, but I think you get the point.
What makes this discussion surreal is way these women use a combination
of narcissism, victimology, and pop psychology to justify their
newly-found lewdness.
The other day I came across an
internet
discussion in which a woman with
a DD cup admitted to coaching her soccer team wearing a tank-top shirt.
Referring to her half-exposed breasts as "a symbol of my embraced
femininity," she feigned amazement that so many women were asking her to
cover up.
Going on the offensive, she went on to say that she had discovered a new
variety of sexual harassment, in which "women are sexualized and
degraded by other women who fear their confidence." To make her case
bullet-proof, she wrapped herself in the mantle of victimhood: "I just
don't feel that I should be subject to disrespect because of jealousy."
So why are we allowing a growing number of sexually-precocious women to
degrade our public morality? It seems we are being seduced by the mantra
of moral equivalence and non-judgementalism. As a result, decency is
being evicted from the public arena.
Professional men don't parade around the office wearing underwear so
tight that co-workers can figure out their religious upbringing. And men
don't walk down the street with their flies open, proclaiming this as a
symbol of their "embraced masculinity."
Now, the Axis of Eve, a women's rights group, is planning a mass panty
flash at the upcoming Republic National Convention. Event planner
Natasha Eve is organizing this stunt to demand "accountability in
government."
Please, Ms. Eve, keep your drawers on. People have better things to do
than looking at women's underwear.
