I wish I looked like her. I also wish I could write with such clarity and authority and KAHUNAS as she does in the provocative online opinion column in Glamour magazine, Why is everyone getting naked?, where she does a much better job of defending women and their bodies than does Piers Morgan in his recent Twitter war with Kim Kardashian West.
While Mr. Morgan's comments fall on a spectrum between moralizing and pomposity, Rashida Jones approaches the "new era" of female sexuality in a different way. She is certainly critical of all the skin-showing and teeth-licking and bootie-twerking that goes part-and-parcel with visual depictions of womanhood via pop stars (role models???), but not in order to say 'shame on you' or 'what would your local feminist say about those pasties?' Rather, she's saying what many of us very-post-adolescent, not-nearly-as-susceptible-to-blatant-marketing-gimmicks (we hope!) adults are cluing in to: how homogenous and BORING. Is this the sexy the next generation is bringing to the table? *Eye roll*
These beautiful, talented young women aren't revealing all to celebrate their bodies; "2013 was the Year of the Very Visible Vagina" because someone is making MONEY off of their baring all...and more...and as much as possible via the magic of social media. I might not be falling for it, but I'm not the one buying pop music - adolescents are.
(Aside: When my kids heard Katy Perry's "Roar" in the film Madagascar 3, we bought them the track. How does one respond to a 6-year-old asking, "Mummy, why is Katy Perry lying naked on a pink cloud?" Thanks a freakin' lot, Katy!)
Now, when someone as uncool as me says, "Reject the 'norm'! Cover up! Take a thesaurus to the word SEXY already, and figure out how it factors into your real life!" no one thinks to consider that I'm actually younger than Rashida Jones (!). Jones has an audience and a tone that, I think, makes a thoughtful person more receptive to her message. She doesn't sound like your teacher (ugh), and she does NOT sound like your mom (double-ugh).
Rather, she sounds like someone with a justifiable bone to pick. She and I are children of the 90's - your retro music :) - and we "grew up on a healthy balance of sexuality in pop stars" (balance being the key word Jones uses), and she's reflecting on its ultimate demise.
Yet Jones' 'ancient' status amongst adolescents doesn't diminish her approachable yet critical stance. She's "catching up on pop-culture stuff" and expertly wielding slang such as "Instamessage" and "Twerk-a-thon", appealing to fellow celebrities on Twitter to #stopactinglikewhores, and renaming 2013 (via expert alliteration, no less!) the Year of the Very Visible Vagina. LOL! Her style and tone - nostalgic for what was and bemused straight on through to hostile towards what undeniably is - make her someone worth considering.
I will admit to being somewhat uncomfortable with her tweets though. She knew the risk she was taking - that she would find herself under an attack that might mute her message - yet she pounced, got defensive, toned down her message, and finally deflected by "calling on all men to show me dat ass." Not a shining example of how to change the landscape...
Thankfully, this column, as well as its follow up "The Twitter Backlash" were on point: in Rashida's own words, "This isn't showing female sexuality; this is showing what it looks like when women sell sex." And since very few of us are ever called upon to sell such a commodity, enough is enough already.
What do you think: Should liberated women bare all via social media? Is it "slut-shaming" to suggest a different expression of liberation and sexuality?
P.S. Here's the colour-marking I did to get ready for my blog entry :)
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