Yikes!

I don’t disagree with the author’s premises, but that she is knowingly allowing her daughter to market herself to billions of male eyeballs? What is the end goal?

Along with teaching her daughter the reality of how men’s brains are wired she also needs to teach her daughter to be responsible with the power she wields. Posing and dancing sexually for the voyeurism of millions is not responsible. It’s not only dangerous, it’s training her daughter that it is OK to use her sexuality as a commodity.

“Contemporary feminist thought is correct to identify the male gaze as the default way of seeing, but has largely overlooked the fact that the gaze places power squarely in the hands of women, not men. The young teenage girls in my basement, along with most of the other teen girls on TikTok, are expert in controlling how others will see them because they first see themselves in this way, as desirable, sexy, sweet, cute, hot, innocent, seductive, or alternately, as unsexy, serious, asexual. Men are subjected to how a woman sees herself: how can they not see a woman as a sexual object when she first creates herself as such? Berger is wrong to state simply that men act, for sight is something that acts upon them. To prevent his eye from alighting on a young woman who nurtures her own desirability with the craft of the average young teen, how can a man act but as he does: gazing, desiring, sexualizing? There is something ruthless in the girls’ looks, a hardness which accompanies their sense of growing power. Sometimes this is in conflict with their youthful innocence, and at other moments it adds a sharper flavor to their beauty.”

The author references and shows an 1844 painting by Felix Trutrat and continues:

“The growing awareness of the erotic power represented in Trutat’s painting is on display in my house as the teenage girls dance and sway and giggle. They are not in the least bit interested in the boys or men who might be watching them. They are interested in their own beauty and sexiness. “The beauty of the female is the root of joy to the female as well as to the male,” wrote CS Lewis. “To desire the desiring of her own beauty is the vanity of Lilith.” This quote, from Lewis’s science fiction novel That Hideous Strength, distills the Instagram/TikTok phenomena, much derided among progressives and conservatives alike, that sees girls and women catering to the male gaze (progressives hate this) by sexualizing themselves (conservatives hate this). “

Yep, Carrie Underwood is great, and that one song of hers one of the best. I’m not sure what is New Country anymore. I’m a bit out of the loop. While still working I would listen to the local country station (WCTY) driving in which had a wonderful pair of DJs who were entertaining and I got a sampling of the latest music. I occasionally listen now to SXM “Prime Country” which features artists from the late 80’s to about 2010. I think Underwood falls into that category

That was interesting. I think. I kind of assumed Mexico would take off towards the end, but it really was astounding to watch from 1970 onward.

I’m not sure what it’s saying, though. My guess is it’s cumulative immigrants, year on year? Not national heritage. i.e., only actual immigrants count, not their offspring or offsprings’ offspring and once you are counted you stay counted? In other words; each year’s total combines all preeeding years’ totals?

The Quillette article is behind a paywall. I’m curious to know where it went. My wife and I would not have allowed our children to film themselves and friends at a sleepover and post the videos online. I’m hoping the author’s judgement gets wiser in the paragraphs behind the paywall.

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDcln5ZDnOA

I had a tree at one of my homes that grew tall, thick shoots from the root system. Sounds like what you are describing. I had to take a chain saw to them every few years, but they always came back. It was a gorgeous, very healthy tree otherwise.

Thanks for the information on clock boy. That sure smelled of a scam at the time. I hope the young man was able to escape from his parents’ control and is thriving.

I recently wondered about Elián González and what became of him. I figured no sense in DuckDuckGo’ing as Cuba likely is keeping information about him under wraps. Your post just prodded me to search…

It appears U.S. media has kept tabs on him. He’s got a fairly long wikipedia page. He earned a degree in Industrial Engineering and, in 2020 was reported to be expecting his first child with his fiance. “González was nominated by the municipal assembly of Cárdenas to run as its candidate for the National Assembly of People’s Power in the 2023 Cuban parliamentary election. He was elected unopposed along with the CPC’s slate of 470 candidates… In an interview with CNN en Español he blamed his mother’s death on economic impact of the United States embargo against Cuba, which he held to be responsible for the economic underdevelopment of the country. González also claimed to be happy that he did not stay in the United States, arguing that he would have been manipulated into becoming a ‘performer’ for the Cuban dissident movement and the American media. He also claimed ‘I don’t profess to have any religion, but if I did my God would be Fidel Castro.'”

Why hire someone who is not interested in your product and does not appreciate your products’ consumers to market your product? The recent Bud Light fiasco and this Miller Lite ad aren’t massive failures because they are led by women. They are massive failures because they are led by the wrong kind of women.