October 22, 1999

Approaching local elections notwithstanding, my thoughts have been returning to one of those TV programs that plays amateur videos. One I saw last week featured lots of rowdy crowds, emphasizing college students on holiday sprees. The particular clip that haunts me was of kids on spring break down in one of the Florida beach resorts. Where the Boys Are it wasn't.

Naturally the booze was flowing along with the youthful hormones, but these scenes made even the late Sixties' blasts look almost quaint. Naked young women were up on a platform, presenting what can only be described as gynecological studies set to music. As might be expected, the male audiences were cheering them on, but what struck me most was that the women appeared to be oblivious to the very real latent danger in such a pack-mentality setting.

Believe me, I don't think that females who parade around in provocative clothing are "asking for it," as used to be said. And I know psychological research indicates that rape is not about sex, but is rather about control and domination. My sons have been raised to know that "no" means "no" and a woman's attire is not an invitation to a pass, as I hope a whole generation of guys has learned by now. This is what the young women of today also have been taught. It's all so enlightened, but does it really serve them well in preparation for the real world?

Sometimes I see self-confident girls walking along, midriffs and pierced belly buttons bared, flaunting the effect they're having on the testosterone set, but outraged if any of them respond verbally. Truly, they think it's their right to expose most of their bodies in public and that politically correct sexual doctrine will provide a sort of force field of protection from the baser instincts of the male animal. Would that it were so, but I fear for some of these free spirits, banking on everyone else being on the same constantly updated social studies page.

I want to stop and tell them to leave something to the imagination, to revel in their youthful loveliness, to dare to be wholesomely unmade-up, and to experience the power of caring more about what they think of themselves than what reaction they can provoke in others.

More importantly, these young women should be encouraged to develop their interests and talents in a non-sexualized setting. The constant intrusion of the schools' sex ed agenda and trashy mass media are going to produce more and more tragic Patsy Ramseys and Amy Fishers.

© 1999 Cynthia Hahn