As a male, I’ve never been particularly concerned with external forces teling me how to be a human. And as females, the same applies. Conformity is just retarded.

That said, what is rather gorgeous about the Stripnaton is that it is the first time in my 40 years that a woman’s sexuality is uniquely considered their own. Not the one dimensional script that supposedly is male fantasy.

It is possible to be smart, and powerfull and slutty. And to own them all, and transform between them, rather than having to pick one and exploit it.

It’s part of the pendulm swing that encompasses all of what it is to be human. The cost is only suffered by those who regard stripnation as a cultural fad and chose “stripper” as their personea.

But for the larger culture, it means the madonna’s are whores and to draw those distinctions is to increasingly be the guy in a white hood, trying to muster a lynching in the suburbs.

It never made sense to me, the label of whore, slut, etc. I’m a whore and a slut and a human who snuggles. So why is that bad?

Stripnation seems part of that cultral pendulum swing that recognizes humans are the pendulum. And all is ok.

It’s the things we do to ourselves to fit in, to be liked and appreciated, to be desireable, those are the cost. Because of those, instead of a game, and a freedom, the ’strip nation’ ideals become the norm in our society. Playing slut is fun when you do it by choice, but it isn’t fun, or liberating when you have to do it to be normal - because then you have to do something more extreme to get attention. Eventually, that sort of spiral goes too far, and there is a backlash against it, and everything goes back to repression and shame.

Besides, a little mystery is a good thing. When long skirts were required wear for women, a flash of ankle was enough to excite a man (or so say the period romances). Now, ankles are commonplace, and you need to flash rather a lot of leg to have the same effect.

You need to have a balance, in a culture, and the cost of not having that - which is what strip nation seems to be about, in some ways, to me - is see-sawing between extreme liberalism, and extreme conservatism, as well as a loss of personal freedoms, and a devaluation of female sexuality.

That’s what I think, anyway :)

I think it’s often more of an institution than a meaningful personal choice, and I’m not sure it extends past being another sheep in a sexy costume and into more fun in bed, better sexual communication, less shame, less of a tendency to slag off women for their sexuality (etc, etc) in everyday life.

Note that I’m most definitely not saying it harms any of the above either. I’m sure on an individual scale it can go either way. But I also find it difficult to see it as a sign of sexual enlightenment, much though I would love to think that was the main factor.

ouch.

Deanna’s comments on media ideals is well taken, but I also see some diversity in the media ideals themselves, albeit stereotypical ones (your black booty girls, the saucy redheads, hot Latinos and the like).

I think it’s interesting that so many people responded to this post talking about sexuality as empowerment. Viva second wave feministas!

My only real worry about the Strip Nation mentality is perhaps a silly one, but one that I often think about. Given that so many of our thrills have to do with brushing up against our taboos, where will our arousal find those lovely whiffs of the forbidden when everyone’s arse is bleached?

*chuckles*