slutty twerkies aka: anything to get attention

dumb twerkies: oblivious to the fact the image simulates a female animal in heat

ignorant twerkies: setting a standard in many a judgemental type of mindset

imo twering is setting (black) women back into submissive sexual imagery for men.

twerkies demonstrate: lack of dignity no class needy for attention

oh i forgot, it's all done in fun

twerking is another of the negative images that seems to be alienating many men of reputable social status to be with associated with women of this group type.

It's really too bad though in the realm of the fact that many people will see this image and associate it with all ________ women (you can fill in the blank space.

i am aware that many african based dances include moving from the waste down. however historically the origin of these moves were done for fertility purposes. duh!historically it's a well known fact that many groups from all over the globe did and fertility dances. however the dances that were done by both male and female was to entice each other to do the mating-thing, aka:copulate.

this ignorance and lack of forethought or knowledge on the part of the twerkies is pitiful and shows off the unaware (possibly uneducated) a pitiable lack of dignity in the character on the part of the twerk-bounce dancers.

my pov comes from finding that the dance was largely started in new orleans and excellerated as a fun "take your mind off your troubles" kind of diversion from all the sadness and loss from the hurricane katrina.

see: Twerking Makes the Oxford Dictionary on the Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

http://www.crunkfeministc...e-katrina/

excerpt:

First, “twerking” ain’t new. Second, twerking would not be a part of the national imaginary right now, if it weren’t for New Orleans.

^ while the article gives kind of a jumbled overview of the twerk, it still is a troubling matter when kids as young as 3yrs are doing this dance. the libido/sexual instinct of a young pre-pubescent should not be encouraged by doing a type of fertility dance.

note: i'm not here to judge, i'm just wondering wtf! and why-tf, and how-tf can responsible adults allow themselves to display such sexual self-exploitation?

[Edited 10/15/13 10:35am]

Glindathegood said:

lastdecember said:

Timmy84 said: But here in lies the issue, where do we allow it to be OK cause an artist has a zillion times the talent to back it up and also, whos to say whos got talent? Lets take a great example of a label pushing sex on a mega talented artist, HEART, from the second they were dropped and then picked up by EMI in 1984 it was do or die, they had people putting them into outfits fashion etc... and here was a band that has about the best female vocalist ever. But even HEART will admit and they rebelled against it as the 80's ended, that they were selling sexual images to push the songs, cause that band was on its deathbed and all of a sudden they have a number one album and their biggest seller ever and numerous top 10 hits. Everyone was getting paid at the label all the way to the road crew, but as Nancy said as Ann's weight became an issue, Nancy was up front and ANN hidden in the back or covered in black, even her own band members asked her sister to speak to her about dropping weight, so they could make more money. So where do we draw the line? because too many these years spawned HEART's most popular work, still played these days, BUT how they did it was it OK? And just because ANN and the band are mega talented is it ok too?

I think the question you should look at is whether the sexual element is something that an artist is being forced to do or being pushed on them against their will and they feel uncomfortable with like your example with Heart or is it something that the artist themselves is choosing to do and is authentic reflection of themselves like for example with people like Prince and Madonna. I don't think any use of sexual imagery should be banned because sex is part of life, we all have sexual feelings and isn't music supposed to be reflecting real life and feelings that people have? Why is a woman presenting herself in a sexual way always seen as misogyny or exploitation? Yes, sometimes it can be, but it can also be a sense of freedom since as women we have always been told sex is bad and good girls can't enjoy it.

I totally agree with you. I think the problem, though, is that in pop culture and ESPECIALLY pop music lately, women's sexuality can only be expressed in one way. That way says that in order to be desirable women have to be submissive, extremely skinny with giant breasts, long thick hair, perfect skin, giant eyes, straight hair, small noses (including for black women) shaved cooter, no stretch marks (so fuck if you had a baby or gained some weight and then lost it). All these songs that talk about women being tamed, getting on their backs, etc. -- I don't see anything like Ginuwine's "Pony" anymore that encourage women to be on top or take any initiative sexually. THAT'S what I think the problem is; it's all geared toward controlling women and not truly celebrating our sexuality. Sure, some women like to be submissive, but you can't tell me we ALL do. I certainly don't. The diversity of our bodies and experiences and desires isn't expressed in pop music. That's a point that I would like for women like Annie or Sinead to make rather than criticizing the women who are trying to get by in a game that's rigged against them from the start.

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And I don't think any of us can truly know how Miley fits into this, since we don't know what she really wants or how much of her career she controls. I think a lot of the problem is that she's just not really a good dancer, so she looks foolish doing things that aren't too different from what a lot of other female artists do. And the damn bears. I do not think the bears helped her at all, and I am fully willing to blame her for that damn atrocity. Don't bring woodland animals onstage with you again, Miley. You're not Snow White.

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Anyhow, I saw an article earlier today where Gloria Steinem made probably the only comment that really needed to be made about this whole situation:

I wish we didn’t have to be nude to be noticed ... But given the game as it exists, women make decisions. For instance, the Miss America contest is in all of its states ... the single greatest source of scholarship money for women in the United States. If a contest based only on appearance was the single greatest source of scholarship money for men, we would be saying, "This is why China wins." You know? It’s ridiculous. But that’s the way the culture is. I think that we need to change the culture, not blame the people that are playing the only game that exists.