Bear with me
I am still trying to grasp what this means. Is it more about poisonous culture of narcissism, or just plain envy on my part.
The other morning I was listening to Howard Stern in the car (relax, Myles was asleep.) I don't make this my habit anymore because it isn't something I want my children to be exposed to. No, that doesn't make me a hypocrite. I have Stern off more than I have him on. I think his interviews, while crass, can sometimes be very funny and revealing (and not just in the way you might think). Also, when I used to have to drive up through New Jersey at 7 am to get to my office in Boonton, I just loved his first hour--all loser, all hour long.
Anyway, he was interviewing this French Raelian woman who was talking about some sort of anti-American/anti-Iraq War protest they were going to conduct in DC and Los Angeles which involved all the Raelian ladies getting naked. They were getting naked as part of the protest because in their nakedness, all class and culture disappear and all are truly equal, blah blah blah.
This is the point I really cannot shake.
Now, this used to be something that you would see in a lot of art, with nakedness being some part of an egalitarian statement. I think this was once true, but anymore, even naked, you can tell something of a person's class and culture.
Bear with me.
There is an increasing gulf in Western commercial culture between class divisions even among the naked. I mean, there is a difference between someone who has a spare $65 and access to a gentle Brazilian woman and the average Wal-Mart shopper. There is a difference between Britney Spears and your choice of Louisiana hick-girls who gave birth last month, too. Louisiana has the dual distinction for having among the highest poverty rates in the country as well as the highest obesisty rates. Even Sarah Jessica Parker noted (and was ignored) on Oprah a few years back that the only reason she looked as good as she did so soon after the birth of her son was because she could afford the trainer and the in-home care to allow her to work out hours a day to be able to wear the Carrie Bradshaw outfits. Oprah kept downplaying the role of the trainer in the work-out, saying it wasn't the trainer who was on the treadmill, but SJP repeated what she said and said she kind of regretted getting so hot again so quickly because she knew it would send the wrong message. She kept saying, cosmetic reasons were not important, staying healthy is the most important thing, especially after having a baby, and the trainer helped her get into Sex and City shape without sacrificing her health or her son's health because she was nursing.
And I haven't even begun to bring up all the wonders of plastic surgery.
So you see what I am talking about, but I don't know if this is just purely observation or the beginnings of a cultural rant (see below if you need one). I guess right now it is something I am noting. I could go totally Christian beserk on this, which I may end up doing anyhow, because I do wonder at people who pursue such treatments--if you are a married woman, are you doing these things because men other than your husband might see you naked or at least view you sexually? If you are doing this to keep your husband "interested", what is so wrong in your marriage that the normal physical passage of time shown on our bodies disgusts him so? What is he afraid of? What else is he interested in?
Please don't think I am casting some sort of downward look from my highly vaulted naturalness (read that fat and saggy if you like). I'm not. I can understand the facelifts; many women close to me have pursued this with various results. Most of them did it to "feel better about themselves." They achieved that. Even Gabriel Garcia Marquez noted in Love in the Time of the Cholera that women and men age differently. Men are shocked to find themselves married to an old woman before they even show much sign of aging, but then, practically overnight, they are senile and wrinkled, cared for by their more capable wives who now look like their daughters by comparison. I can understand the waxing thing if you wear bathing suits that necessitate that sort of grooming.
But basically I am somewhere between amused and alarmed that even naked, class differences can be obvious.
The other morning I was listening to Howard Stern in the car (relax, Myles was asleep.) I don't make this my habit anymore because it isn't something I want my children to be exposed to. No, that doesn't make me a hypocrite. I have Stern off more than I have him on. I think his interviews, while crass, can sometimes be very funny and revealing (and not just in the way you might think). Also, when I used to have to drive up through New Jersey at 7 am to get to my office in Boonton, I just loved his first hour--all loser, all hour long.
Anyway, he was interviewing this French Raelian woman who was talking about some sort of anti-American/anti-Iraq War protest they were going to conduct in DC and Los Angeles which involved all the Raelian ladies getting naked. They were getting naked as part of the protest because in their nakedness, all class and culture disappear and all are truly equal, blah blah blah.
This is the point I really cannot shake.
Now, this used to be something that you would see in a lot of art, with nakedness being some part of an egalitarian statement. I think this was once true, but anymore, even naked, you can tell something of a person's class and culture.
Bear with me.
There is an increasing gulf in Western commercial culture between class divisions even among the naked. I mean, there is a difference between someone who has a spare $65 and access to a gentle Brazilian woman and the average Wal-Mart shopper. There is a difference between Britney Spears and your choice of Louisiana hick-girls who gave birth last month, too. Louisiana has the dual distinction for having among the highest poverty rates in the country as well as the highest obesisty rates. Even Sarah Jessica Parker noted (and was ignored) on Oprah a few years back that the only reason she looked as good as she did so soon after the birth of her son was because she could afford the trainer and the in-home care to allow her to work out hours a day to be able to wear the Carrie Bradshaw outfits. Oprah kept downplaying the role of the trainer in the work-out, saying it wasn't the trainer who was on the treadmill, but SJP repeated what she said and said she kind of regretted getting so hot again so quickly because she knew it would send the wrong message. She kept saying, cosmetic reasons were not important, staying healthy is the most important thing, especially after having a baby, and the trainer helped her get into Sex and City shape without sacrificing her health or her son's health because she was nursing.
And I haven't even begun to bring up all the wonders of plastic surgery.
So you see what I am talking about, but I don't know if this is just purely observation or the beginnings of a cultural rant (see below if you need one). I guess right now it is something I am noting. I could go totally Christian beserk on this, which I may end up doing anyhow, because I do wonder at people who pursue such treatments--if you are a married woman, are you doing these things because men other than your husband might see you naked or at least view you sexually? If you are doing this to keep your husband "interested", what is so wrong in your marriage that the normal physical passage of time shown on our bodies disgusts him so? What is he afraid of? What else is he interested in?
Please don't think I am casting some sort of downward look from my highly vaulted naturalness (read that fat and saggy if you like). I'm not. I can understand the facelifts; many women close to me have pursued this with various results. Most of them did it to "feel better about themselves." They achieved that. Even Gabriel Garcia Marquez noted in Love in the Time of the Cholera that women and men age differently. Men are shocked to find themselves married to an old woman before they even show much sign of aging, but then, practically overnight, they are senile and wrinkled, cared for by their more capable wives who now look like their daughters by comparison. I can understand the waxing thing if you wear bathing suits that necessitate that sort of grooming.
But basically I am somewhere between amused and alarmed that even naked, class differences can be obvious.
Comments
As for the naked thing, you make good points. But also, doesn't this woman think that the mere fact that a person would be willing to get naked in public at all already has a lot to do with his/her culture?
She was French and Raelian? Talk about a double whammy. :-)