Naked Ambition
Women's success in the music industry more than ever seems to turn on showing
some flesh. Karen R. Good isn't too impressed with what's been sashaying across
her screen lately.
As family legend goes, when I was 2 or 3, my Aunt Nita once found me standing in front of a gold-trimmed mirror, panties pulled down, the hem of my dress tucked under my chin. I turned to her, smiled, and proudly declared, Look at my v***na!
Almost 30 years later, I was reminded of that moment when *Christina Aguilera
flashed her ass at me one night on TV. I was home alone, channel surfing, and
though I'm no prude, I may have actually made that Home Alone face, you know-
hands on cheeks, mouth agape. Christina was performing at some awards show rocking
a bikini with chaps. After she switched her booty offstage, I was like, damn
That's a lot of information.
Nowadays, women in the music industry are spraying their punannies all over
the place. Historically, there have been female artists from Josephine Baker
to Madonna, who have shown skin artfully. But lately, I'm catching the whiff
of desperation. Mariah Carey and her batty-riding period; Lil' Kim trying to
keep up with the white girls. Jeez Louise. Suddenly it's not about who you are,
what you're saying or if you're talented. And maybe that's the point.
When Aretha was queen, I don't remember my mother talking about anything but her voice. But today's reality is succinctly summed up by Babyface on an episode of Lifetime Television's Intimate Portrait featuring Toni Braxton. "[If you] want to be a star," he said "that requires more than just singing." Which is to say that even if you can sing, there's no gurantee anybody will listen. But if you're willing to show yo ass, rest assured, everyone will look. I mean Toni, Britney, and Janet didn't start dressing like they had next on the pole at the local strip club because they were suddenly "not little girls anymore".
Some of this is about exploration and power and feeling oneself, sure. But some of it is women buying into propaganda and submission. I've seen too many naked chicks in videos, gyrating at a party, around a boy, about a boy. Ho hum. What fella's want women to understand is that we're either flucking or we're of no use to them. All 10,000 of them say the same common-ass thang. With all our talk about empowerment through sexuality, I'm getting the feeling that as my friend Stephanie says, "we're selling the p***y for pork chops."
Know that I champion feminine expression in all it's fluidity. Style and provocation arouse me. What I hate is women being played the fool for a damn dollar and some attention that is, at best fleeting. Get us to competing, talking that tired young-girl talk 'bout who can f**k the best an' sh*t. I'm not judging. But please, ladies, keep something for yourselves. Nothing could be more degrading than getting to a point where people find your punanny boring. Because what's left after that?