The Decade In Femininity
COUGARS & MILFS.
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Peak Year: 2008
Our culture's obsession with the "older woman" dates back to, you know, Oedipus or some shit, but the fetishization of older women's sexuality made a come-back this decade with a couple of catchy new nicknames: "Cougar" and "MILF." When Sarah Palin hit the national scene in 2008, she got her own acronym about people wanting to have sex with her: "VILF." The terms have been playfully embraced by some in the over-40-mom set (CougarChannelTV, anybody?) but beneath the jokes, the terminology reflects our culture's lingering discomfort with older women having sex. "Cougar" paints older women who have sex as predators, as no one would want to pursue them; "MILF" assumes that no one would want to fuck any old mom. "Cougar" and "MILF" also work to extend extreme beauty standards to older and older women, who must choose elective plastic surgery or risk being denied sexuality. The cougar phenomenon inevitably devolved into the "Housewives" craze, which celebrates ostensibly attractive (actually: rich) older women without jobs.
Ambassadors: Demi Moore, Sarah Palin, Housewives ("Desperate" & "Real")
Uniform: Whatever your teenage daughter is wearing.
Activities: Dating younger men, being the "cool mom," dieting.
—
BISEXUALS.
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Peak Year: 2009
Don't think bisexuality counts as a trend? Tell the entertainment industry. In 2003, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Madonna sealed a VMAs performance with a kiss. The aughts would bring plenty more instances of staged, for-profit bisexuality, from Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" to T.A.T.U.'s manager's admission that the bisexual couple in the band was inspired by "men looking for underage sex." But the decade also ushered in the rise of the authentically bisexual It Girl—where a performer's relationships with women and men became just another aspect of her celebrity instead of a marketing gimmick. Lohan's relationship with Samantha Ronson brought the starlet the most favorable tabloid fodder of the past few years. And Lady Gaga's admission to Barbara Walters that she has had sexual relationships with women helped to reinforce Gaga's subversive artistic image as well as her gay rights advocacy. (Megan Fox, who claims to be a bisexual woman who won't have sex with bisexual women because "because that means they also sleep with men, and men are so dirty that I'd never want to sleep with a girl who had slept with a man," isn't doing anybody any favors, however).
Ambassadors: Lindsay Lohan, Lady Gaga
Uniform: Elaborate wig bows, platform armadillo shoes, balloon body suits—uhh, they don't really have a uniform.
Activities: Dating women and men.
Britney photo via samlavi, Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0
3:06 pm
what about hipster girls? emo girls? why the focus on pop culture as opposed to real peoples culture? is it just the corporate sale that makes it "official"?
6:50 pm
Marcotte's quote you cited is interesting:
"If we don’t want women relegated to window dressing in comedy, they have to play deeply flawed characters, because comedy is built around laughing at deeply flawed people navigate the world, making light of our own flaws and making us feel superior.”
I agree witht he first half of the sentence - I long to see (and love to see) flawed women as (s)heroes in films. I long to see women as real characters in films and not just a Supermodel/Mom to - as you've put it - apatovian losers.
But even in comedy, I don't always feel we're "feeling superior" to enjoy a comedy. I like the flawed women in comedies when they're accepted and celebrated and loved, despite being - gasp! - real people. God knows the many versions of the male trope - the Homer Simpson-eque bumbling buffon - has been given enough affection and tolerance.
Oh and I love how you say it's "petering out" to become a wife and mother! This feels awesome to read.
8:14 pm
FS, Amanda avoids discussing hipster chicks & emo girls b/c she isn't into self-revelation. Amanda Hess likes to make fun of other women, & men in general, but Amanda is too big a pussy to come close to anything that affects her personally. Those of us who know Amanda know that she likes to be a robot-like observer, outside the scene, just taking notes. Even while she's having sex this is true.
Amanda Hess is smart, but scared, so becomes remote & robotic. That's the story behind the story.
8:15 pm
If you want to know the real Amanda Hess, read this entry.
Amanda avoids discussing hipster chicks & emo girls b/c she isn't into self-revelation. Amanda Hess likes to make fun of other women, & men in general, but Amanda is too big a pussy to come close to anything that affects her personally. Those of us who know Amanda know that she likes to be a robot-like observer, outside the scene, just taking notes. Even while she's having sex this is true.
Amanda Hess is smart, but scared, so becomes remote & robotic. That's the story behind the story.
5:49 pm
"However, hipsters often compensate for the perceived femininity of their alternative lifestyle by adopting a series of hyper-masculine traits, only “ironically”—ironic mustaches, ironic racism, ironic Pabst consumption."
I do think its odd to exclude a feminine figure like Zooey Deschanel (500 Days or Yes Men), Rilo Kiley, or hell even MIA.
"her sex-obsessed, marriage-ready, Manolo-wearing, brunch-eating, Cosmo-swilling coterie of overgrown city girls, there are some women who take the lifestyle to heart"
Reading and rereading this quote made me really think. I wonder if there really is a way to condemn hyperfemininity without sounding as though you are attacking women and femininity more generally. Is the danger of Sex and the City that people take it to heart or that people really do like frivolous things?