Female Chauvinist Pigs (2005) Rated R*
Written by Ariel Levy
Who has also done Title1 and Title2
Introduction
Subtitle: Women and The Rise of Raunch Culture
Levy’s critique of modern feminist culture in America argues that America's sexed-up culture not only objectifies women, it encourages women to objectify themselves.
Young women now think it's normal to want to emulate porn stars. Those twisted values are starting to saturate our culture and reach younger girls each day through products like thong underwear made in girls' size 10. While boys and men are a key part of this equation, Levy's book focuses on females who have been co-opted into "chauvinistic" behavior toward other women
FCP is smart, alarming, and extremely funny. Levy has given us an important, lively, shocking investigative report… a call to arms for women and girls who are being sold pseudo empowerment, phony liberation, and fake rebellion – instead of the real thing: freedom. A must-read for young women – and everyone else.
www.amazon.com
www.wikipedia.org
book sleeve
Playboy and its ilk are being “embraced by young women in a curious way in a postfeminist world,” to borrow the words of Hugh Hefner.
But just because we are post doesn’t automatically mean we are feminists. There is a widespread assumption that simply because my generation of women has the good fortune to live in a world touched by the feminist movement, that means everything we do is magically imbued with its agenda. It doesn’t work that way. “Raunchy” and “liberated” are not synonyms. It is worth asking ourselves if this bawdy world of boobs and gams we have resurrected reflects how far we’ve come, or how far we have left to go. p5
Reviews
An Intelligent and Relevant Look at Gender Politics by Gregory Baird
November 18, 2006 www.amazon.com
I discovered "Female Chauvinist Pigs" when its author, Ariel Levy, appeared on an episode of The Colbert Report to talk about her book. I was deeply impressed with her -- an intelligent, funny, confidant, and down-to-earth woman -- and the subject matter of her book, compelling me to go out and buy it. Levy examines the current state of feminism in a society that has been infiltrated by "raunch culture." This term refers to the rise of porn and sexuality into the mainstream, whether through porn star Jenna Jameson becoming a prominent media figure and a bestselling novelist, the success of female-exploitation products like the "Girls Gone Wild" DVD series, women enrolling in cardio striptease classes at gyms across America, or the popularity of instructional lap dance videos and classes. Women have embraced their sexuality as the ultimate expression of empowerment, proclaiming that this is the new face of feminism. But Levy isn't so sure that raunch culture is as feminist as these women seem to think it is, and sets about debunking that belief through a series of interviews and research assignments going back five years. She aims to prove that the women at the forefront of this new movement are not the ultimate feminists but the result of a misguided mutation of the feminist movement that has produced female chauvinists instead of feminists: women who espouse the same stereotypical views about women and womanhood that a male chauvinist would have, sort of like a gay republican. Suddenly women seem to want to be one of the boys and are desperate not to get labeled a 'girly girl' -- the ultimate slander in raunch culture. The way to achieve this, Levy argues, is to dress and act like a stripper. But where is the liberation in this? Men don't have to undress to become powerful beings -- and we certainly aren't under as much aesthetic pressure as women. Instead of liberating themselves, these women are trapping themselves in the very same system that has degraded them for centuries. Wanting to act like a man implies that there is something unpleasant about womanhood that must be escaped from.
The proliferation of sex is particularly troubling to Levy, and in her interviews it becomes astonishingly clear that the women who are pursuing empowerment through a sort of sexual revolution are feeling very empty about their sexuality. Almost all of the women she speaks to admit that they don't get much pleasure out of their intimacies, but keep seeking out meaningless sex for various reasons (they don't want to be seen as a prude, they want to keep adding notches to their belt, they want bragging rights, etc.). What, then, is the point in increasing your sexual productivity if the results aren't gratifying to you? And why go to the extremes of mini-skirts, waxing, cleavage-and-midriff-baring tops, implants, lifts, tucks, and such to attract men if your goal is to develop a sense of self worth? A male interview subject points out that "what girls don't understand is guys always want girls. If every girl dressed casually, you'd still like girls. It's like, you don't have to exhaust yourself." And why emulate strippers and porn stars? Research shows that the vast majority of women in the sex industry are the products of sexual abuse, and in interviews they never mention deriving pleasure from their work so much as a feeling of revenge. Furthermore, strippers and porn stars are paid to simulate sexual gratification -- so how can anyone presume to find sexual liberation in imitating an imitation?
If I have a complaint with Levy's work, it's that she sometimes makes errors in her pop culture references and interpretations. She refers to rapper Snoop Dogg as Snoop Doggy Dogg -- a name he hasn't gone by for years. She also incorrectly identifies the first single from Paris Hilton's album (although I cannot fault her for not wanting to get more specifics on that abomination). These are relatively minor mistakes, but for a young woman like Levy they feel surprising to me. The big one was that I felt that she really misinterpreted "Sex and the City" big time. Yes, the show did start out with Carrie wanting to "have sex like a man" and dealt with sex as a commercial commodity -- but the genius of the show was that its multi-faceted, complex characters really grew and developed over the years, and in the end they all found themselves in serious relationships -- leaving the offensive aspects of raunch culture behind them.
Having said that, I am impressed with the depth of insight Levy offers to her research and her involvement in the subject matter. She makes a very clear, convincing argument (even if I was biased to believe it in the first place), and at the very least she is to be commended for bringing the subject up for discussion (indeed, her thesis is relevant not only to gender politics but to differences of race and sexual orientation as well). It's about time someone did, and thank goodness it was an author with the clarity, wisdom and open-mindedness of Ariel Levy.
Allusions, References and Noteable Notes
First Wave Feminism refers to a period of feminist activity during the nineteenth and early twentieth century in the United Kingdom and the United States. It focused on de jure (officially mandated) inequalities, primarily on gaining women's suffrage (the right to vote).
Prominent leaders of the feminist movement in the United States include Lucretia Coffin Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, and Susan B. Anthony; all of whom campaigned for the abolition of slavery prior to championing women's right to vote. Anthony and other activists such as Victoria Woodhull and Matilda Joslyn Gage made attempts to cast votes prior to their legal entitlement to do so, for which many of them faced charges. Other important leaders included several women who dissented against the law in order to have their voices heard,(Sarah and Angelina Grimké), in addition to other activists such as Carrie Chapman Catt, Alice Paul, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, Margaret Sanger and Lucy Burns.
The woman suffrage movement in Canada had its beginning in 1878 under the leadership of Dr. Emily Howard Stowe. The first municipal franchise was granted to widows and spinsters in Ontario in 1884. During the decade 1890-1900, bills for the provincial enfranchisement of women were introduced into the legislatures of Ontario, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, and Quebec, and were all defeated. In 1928 arose the question of the eligibility of women for the Senate. It was ruled out by the Supreme Court of Canada, and five women from Alberta, Judge Emily Murphy, Mrs. Nellie McClung, Mrs. Louise C. McKinney, Henrietta Muir Edwards, and Irene Parlby appealed to the Privy Council with success. Thus was established in 1929 that women were to be considered persons and had the right to sit in the Canadian Senate.
Women were granted to right to vote in the United States in 1920. Manitoba was the first province to succeed in the enfranchisement of women in 1916; by 1928 women in most Canadian provinces (save Quebec) could legally vote. Australia granted a near-restrictionless right to vote to their female citizens in 1962. Black women in South Africa received the right to vote in 1994.
http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/QuebecHistory/encyclopedia/Canada-WomensVote-WomenSuffrage.htm
www.wikipedia.org
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/suffrage/a/intl_timeline_3.htm
Second Wave Feminism refers to a period of feminist activity which began during the early 1960s and lasted throughout the late 1970s. Second-wave feminism successfully addressed a wide range of issues, unofficial (de facto) inequalities, official legal inequalities, sexuality, family, the workplace, and, perhaps most controversially, reproductive rights. It failed to add equal rights for women to the United States Constitution.
www.wikipedia.org
Third Wave Feminism is a term identified with several diverse strains of feminist activity and study from 1990 to the present. The third wave of feminism is often criticized for lacking a cohesive goal, and it is often seen as an extension of the second.
www.wikipedia.org
Roe v. Wade is the name of a landmark legal case in the United States Supreme Court. The 1973 ruling determined that it was legal for a woman to make her own decision regarding abortion, essentially making abortion legal in the United States. This became a powerful decision for the feminist movement because it was seen as a woman gaining legal control of her own body.
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/abortionuslegal/p/roe_v_wade.htm
Discussion Questions
à Does Levy have a valid argument?
à What weaknesses/oversights are in her argument?
à Should we care? Why? Who should care?
à Who is her target audience?
à Does feminism have a negative connotation in today’s society?
à What is the pay off for being an FCP?
à Jimmy Kimmel: I’m not friends with women
à What examples of pornification/raunch culture do you see that Levy doesn’t mention?
à In what ways is raunch culture a corruption of Second-Wave Feminism?
à What is equality? Does it exist between the genders in our society (examples yes and no)?
Key Quotes/Selections