What do you think that a podcast on youth fads called Nymphet Alumni, by three self-identifying former 'nymphets' (Humber Humbert's word for the girl he is constantly raping), does in regards to the sexualization of girls? Does it further normalize tween rape, exploitation and trafficking?
I just want to say all this has been going on much longer than SM and Sephora. We didn’t speak of it in vernaculars, but there were often newspaper columns by well meaning
psychologists, columnists and Dear Abby/Ann Landers asking what all this supermodel aspiration was doing to our girls. How in the day, it was beauty magazines muddying the self esteem waters. It’s so much more complicated today with an excess of input and output, not to mention the ballooning of the “wellness” and beauty economy. Still, the basic problems remain. We must hope sanity reaches girls, women and anyone drawn to the myth of “beauty” as a way of deconstructing or reconstructing themselves, even if just one person at a time.
Well, of course. I’ve been writing about that history for many many, many years! But also: the same core obsession has different consequences on individual girls today as products are different, procedures are plenty, lives are largely digital, etc and today’s specific issues are worthy of discussion on their own
Good point! The products ARE different, with more potential long term consequences. With young women today (who are very often quite ignorant about the past, no fault of theirs necessarily but nonetheless…) I think it’s incumbent upon anyone with perspective to reinforce the fact that their quest is or was the same quest of most every woman of every age since the dawn of, well, soap. The aloneness the youngest generations feel is so compelling to me I always feel the need to speak up. We’re in this together!!
omg i was SO excited to see you as the guest on one of my fav podcasts! loved this episode btw!
*frantically adds to long saved lists of podcasts* Thanks for the heads-up !!!!
What do you think that a podcast on youth fads called Nymphet Alumni, by three self-identifying former 'nymphets' (Humber Humbert's word for the girl he is constantly raping), does in regards to the sexualization of girls? Does it further normalize tween rape, exploitation and trafficking?
I just want to say all this has been going on much longer than SM and Sephora. We didn’t speak of it in vernaculars, but there were often newspaper columns by well meaning
psychologists, columnists and Dear Abby/Ann Landers asking what all this supermodel aspiration was doing to our girls. How in the day, it was beauty magazines muddying the self esteem waters. It’s so much more complicated today with an excess of input and output, not to mention the ballooning of the “wellness” and beauty economy. Still, the basic problems remain. We must hope sanity reaches girls, women and anyone drawn to the myth of “beauty” as a way of deconstructing or reconstructing themselves, even if just one person at a time.
Well, of course. I’ve been writing about that history for many many, many years! But also: the same core obsession has different consequences on individual girls today as products are different, procedures are plenty, lives are largely digital, etc and today’s specific issues are worthy of discussion on their own
Good point! The products ARE different, with more potential long term consequences. With young women today (who are very often quite ignorant about the past, no fault of theirs necessarily but nonetheless…) I think it’s incumbent upon anyone with perspective to reinforce the fact that their quest is or was the same quest of most every woman of every age since the dawn of, well, soap. The aloneness the youngest generations feel is so compelling to me I always feel the need to speak up. We’re in this together!!