The Unexpected Raunch Factory
…The irony here is that she is said to be the perfect woman, with the perfect husband, perfect kids and perfect life
By Laura Silva
Since we are born, we are exposed to a demanding culture of explicit information that tells us constantly that been shallow, superficial and superfluous are what should define us and our success. But probably we are not aware of the enormous amount of “subliminal” material that we receive since we are very young. An example of this is the famous doll, which most of us girls had, Barbie. I believe that the Barbie doll defines the raunch culture* in an important amount of profound ways. It tells small girls, when their brains are still developing and open to receiving information without judging and with no criteria of what is right or wrong, that been thin, pretty and showing our body as a sexual object is what we should look forward to; installing the beauty paradigm as a dominant factor in our daily lives. Barbie is the definition of what is wrong on our current society; she is shallow, stupid, famous (for been pretty not for any important achievements), and sexually explicit as a young woman. She has won her way without working, studying or making any effort at all more than been beautiful and married to a handsome man, Ken. The irony here is that she is said to be the perfect woman, with the perfect husband, perfect kids and perfect life. She sells her way by showing her body and lives her life for the eyes of her spectators. She changes if fashion changes, she changes if beauty standards change, and she changes to please others. Barbie may not seem vulgar, trashy or cheap at a first sight; but if you take a look beyond the imaginary and non-realistic idea of what society tells us about her, you’ll see she is as raunchy as it gets. She is creating raunch culture since the beginning of life.
*Raunch culture is a term coined by Adrienne Levy which refers to the over-sexualized culture of the United States of America which not only objectifies women, but also encourages woman to objectify themselves in the false belief that this is a form of female empowerment.
