What is Sexy?

When I looked up "sexy" in Google images

these pictures are a few of what popped up.

 

What I gather from these photos is that whatever "sexy" is,

it entails suggestively lubed up ready-for- sex 

20-something young women.

          In perusing a 2007 CosmoGirl! I came across an article titled "What is Sexy?" that had images of Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton, and Britney Spears scantily clad floating around.  It addresses the limits to which the "if you got it, flaunt it" mentality has been pushed in our sexually driven culture. The fame-from-sex-tape phenomena, popularity of crotch flashing, and the amount of half naked women parading around advertisements and magazines today forces me to look at what sexy is in American pop culture and who benefits from its propagation.  A great way to see the sexualization of our society and who the movement targets is by looking at the trend in television shows "aimed at your [teen] age group with smart female lead characters (like Gilmore Girls, and Veronica Mars) [that] are being canceled, while shows that survive (like America's Next Top Model and The Hills) focus mainly on girls' appearance and hookups."  While this is not an obvious way to manipulate young girls, it does lead girls to start and "believe that as a girl, it's your sexual power- not your talent, brains, or ambition- that counts most."  Points I particularly found valid:

Sexy has become defined by our culture as objectification, which means girls in particular are turned into objects.  We're seeing that this exhibitionism is not empowering-it can be oppressive. 

Experts say that seeing your body as a sexual object not only affects how you dress, but how you act.  "A teen girl today is encouraged to show off her body in a way she may not be comfortable with." This distorted view of sexiness suggests to boys that girls should be up for anything sexually and may lead girls to "get physical with guys when she may not really want to."

Girls who strive to achieve this narrow version of 'sexy' risk defining themselves only by their appeal to guys, while their interests and talents and desires go unexplored and unnoticed.

In 2007, the American Psychological Association released a report concluding that girls exposed to sexualized images from a young age are more prone to three of the most common mental health problems for girls and women: depression, eating disorders, and low self-esteem.

73 percent of you [teenage girls] say seeing celebs and models who dress sexy makes you feel like you need to dress sexier too, and 77 percent say seeing those images make you feel like you're not sexy enough. 

I truly love the openness to female sexuality that is accepted in American culture today, especially when I think back to the conformity and limits placed on women from my Mother and Grandmother's generation.  But I can't help but feel that what those women fought for in proving that they are sexual beings whose bodies are important and sacred, is being lost in this male focused sexual depiction of women.  Instead of female sexuality being expressed in its many and vast forms based on female sensuality and yearnings, women are depicted in few variations on the male fantasy.  Or, at least the hetero-centric fantasy that men are supposed to desire.  For girls to focus on emulating sexually explicit celebrities who flaunt their body parts for scandalous fame, skewed messages are being sent out to young, evolving, and maturing females.



Let's take back our bodies and define sexuality based on our own wants and needs without being side tracked by the oppressive and self-hating images on display.



I define sexy as confidence, self respect, self love, self expression, comfort, and sensual poise.  Things that are natural are sexy. A sense of humor is sexy, as is an intelligent conversation.  Boldness and vulnerability are sexy.  Books are sexy.  Laughing is sexy.  Freckles are sexy.  

Personal Growth Is SexE.