A National Diagnosis

Is there such a thing as a collective diagnosis? Rather than individuals having symptoms of a disease, could a country manifest those symptoms? As an older woman, living in a sex obsessed culture, I am growing weary of seeing women clad in bikini panties and bras designed to promote one’s décolleté. One advertisement promotes the sale of bikini panties and a bra by three women clad in only bikini panties and a low cut bra boldly walking across the screen, and it can be seen at any time of day.

I am tired of seeing women in low cut dresses barely designed to cover their breasts or derrieres when sitting. I am tired of soap operas whose “stars” bounce in and out of beds with abandon.

We are a society with few restraints. Where are the mothers who explain that certain behaviors and modes of dress are inappropriate? Or perhaps they still do but are drowned out by our sex-obsessed culture. Where are the social norms that establish standards of behavior? Are there arbiters of taste anymore? Or does anything go as long as it is SEXY?

I was, and am, a feminist. Desiring equality of men and women. But I never understood feminism as being a movement to establish the sameness of men and women. Men and women are not the same. I thought that the women’s movement would bring about equal pay for equal work and equal opportunity. I did not foresee that it would lead to everyone at every age trying to look “sexy” and young!

There has not been an equivalent response from men. It is not men, as a general rule, who flagrantly flaunt their bodies. Why should they? Their fantasies are being fulfilled daily, by feminine nudity on television, the movies, magazines and the Internet

When will more women seek to break down barriers and achieve goals that have been considered for men only? Surely our minds are as important as our bodies!