Need More Cowbell?
Submitted by Boys and Schools Blog
So, this is admittedly completely off-topic, but I found an excellent time-waster today in the form of Nerve and IFC’s list of the 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time. Alas, not all of the entries have working links, but enough of them work to put a serious dent in your afternoon. I could try to drag this back on-topic by discussing Christopher Hitchens’ work about men and comedy (short version: men are better at comedy than women), but not only do I not want to touch that claim with a ten-meter cattle prod, but I’m not entirely sure that Hitchens himself isn’t being a tad controversial purely for the sake of controversy there. Of course, I did once write an essay for a college scholarship about why there were so few great female lead guitar players. (Yes, I had forgotten about Heart. No, I did not forget about Courtney Love or Lita Ford.) But that only because that kind of pop culture riffing is a lot of fun to do–not because I think there’s any great insight to be found there about the battle of the sexes.
So, to drag things back on topic, albeit kicking and screaming, I’ve heard a bit of the outrage about the provacative Miley Cyrus picture for the cover of Vanity Fair. Seeing as I get up every morning and thank God that my house has so far been untouched by the Hannah Montana craze, I wasn’t exactly aware of the issue at first, but it seems that Ms. Cyrus has made quite a name for herself as a wholesome Disney ‘tween star, and that the Vanity Fair photos are not exactly compatible with that image. I do know that parents of girls are upset (and rightly so in my opinion) that a major celebrity (and role model) who has been marketed to their pre-teen daughters as a wholesome “regular girl,” seems to be going down the same tired sex-kitten path that Britney Spears, Lindsey Lohan, and company have travelled. And I do sympathize with this view–I don’t like the message we send to young women that this kind of early sexualization is something to be admired or emulated–or that it somehow is connected to being glamorous and popular. But I don’t think that this is just a problem for young women. I think we should also be aware of how these same messages affect young men. Because if we are teaching girls that this is what they should be, then we are also teaching boys that this is what they should expect and admire as well–and I don’t see that as any healthier for young boys than it is for girls.
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