The Occupy Wall Street operation that started over a month ago has turned into a movement, in part thanks to the awful actions of the New York Police Department of two weeks ago, and thanks to a healthy abundance of attractive, or dare this blogger say, “hot” women. So many that this space ran a blog post and video called Occupy Wall St Women Are Hot, Where’s The Plan?
A point that really bothers a blogger named Erin over at the blog Jezebel. Just got her all pissed off.
Erin said, obviously not bothering to learn if anything else was written or vlogged about the Occupy Wall St. movement at Zennie62, “Says a blogger called Zennie 62, in a post about how he doesn’t really get what they’re protesting. ‘The Occupy Wall Street Movement has something the Tea Party could never claim to have: hot chicks at its protests quoting Goethe. This woman, photographed by David Shankbone during the protest at Wall Street, looks like a cross between Laura Croft and Norma Jean.'”
Then Erin goes on a rant that only indicates the massive insecurity problem she has in dealing with the fact that she’s a woman. God forbid a guy even says that she, or other woman who happens to protest at Occupy Wall St. events, is “hot” because it can mean nothing but bad things in Erin’s mind.
Erin points to some man at one of the protests as being a “weirdo” because he made a video of a number of women he considered “hot,” then wrote something very telling: “.. who, I’m sure considers himself a “nice guy” took a 4 minute long video of a bunch of women at the protest, filming them as they talked and creepily zooming in on their hair or features or earrings as they passionately enumerated their reasons for camping out in Zucotti Park. Watch it if you, like me, have always wondered what the world looks like to a hormonal 14 year old boy who just discovered women.”
That paragraph was just plain silly.
It implies that women don’t go to protests or events, look at a guy, and say “He’s hot.” It paints any man who dares think of a woman in sexual terms as having a problem. It also smacks of some weird attempt to re-wire men just because Erin undoubtedly doesn’t like guys “hitting” on her and saying she’s hot. From what she wrote, I’d expect a punch in the groin if I said she was just plain good-looking, let alone “hot.”
What I’m sick and tired of are some people (and certain men included) who have declared war on straight male sexuality. The examples of this effort to desexualize society are rampant, and generally express themselves in blog posts like Erin’s.
Cultural Change, Race, And Hotness
All of this, today, is a stark contrast to a part of 80s lifestyle that invited the open male expression of appreciation for the female form. The serenading scene in Top Gun, where Tom Cruise famously sings “You’ve Lost That Lovin Feelin” to Kelly McGillis marked the period. A time when it was OK for a guy – a certain type of guy – to express that he thought a woman was great looking and desirable.
Now, you might say that Tom Cruise is now married with kids, and Kelly McGillis is lesbian. To which I counter that doesn’t mean you can’t as a guy or gal say McGillis is hot. The point is, some of us in this society are just plain confused and scared when it comes to straight men and human sexuality in a modern, racially diverse age.
Now buckle up, because this is going to get deep.
Consider that during the 80s, interracial relationships were still not approved of by enough Americans to remind anyone in such a relationship that the country was still massively fucked up. Today, not only are interracial relationships far more common, but the dynamic of how black men, in particular, relate to white women has changed. The current generation of black men doesn’t have the fear of approaching white women or any woman not black, that generations past had.
But that fact doesn’t mean all women who are not black are comfortable with it.
Show me an American woman who complains about guys saying she’s hot, and I’ll show you a woman, commonly white, who has issues with someone black and male openly complementing her. (And as a test, ask that same woman what she thinks of Italian men, who are noted for their open expressions of love for women. If she says “I Love Italian guys,’ you’re dealing with someone who has a race issue, because they should not exclude black men.) Now, what’s changed is that some women, commonly white, black, Asian, or Latino, love that openness that black men typically show.
Why?
Because it happens to come at a time when some white men who a white woman would think is “for them” turn out to be Gay.
And if the man’s not Gay, he’s married.
Or, if not Gay or married, then the white guy who’s eligible just may be plain lacking in social skills – the classic nerd who’s afraid to talk to a girl. Endearing to some women, nerve racking to others, that “type” of guy is more common today than ever before. (And there are blacks guys like that too – me for one when I was in my teenage years. But I learned if you want to make something happen, you have to speak up.)
So when all of that is combined with the parental message of “get married and find a guy who’s white” the end result is a woman who’s confused and angry. And at times that confusion and anger is aimed at any guy who doesn’t fit their racial pattern but dares complement them and say “You’re hot!”
But, fearful of being considered racist, the woman will expand her displeasure with the advances by guys of color to include all men – or at least put out the image that such is the case.
I told you that was deep.
Fortunately, America today is not dominated by women who have such issues, but they are still around in healthy numbers and undergoing a daily cognitive dissonance they’re fearful of acknowledging.
What does all of that have to do with Occupy Wall St?
Everything.
Occupy Wall Street Reflects Our Culture
The bottom line is that Occupy Wall St. does draw “hot chicks” but that’s an indication of how widespread our economic problems are, and how they’ve come to impact the same set of women that may be facing the kinds of cultural issues I refer to.
That same set of economic problems also draws a woman who has no problem being called hot, yet knows damn well you’re going to listen to what she has to say, and just because of the power of her voice. A confident woman.
In other words, Occupy Wall St. has come to reflect our confused and fluxuating set of cultural norms, and all of the ways we’re trying to cope with each other as the World around us changes. It’s a fact that the economic issues that gave rise to Occupy Wall St have attracted women one usually doesn’t see at protests. But frankly it’s drawing a lot of people we don’t commonly see at protests: a rag-tag mix of all kinds of Americans. A cultural stew that caused by mother to observe “Those are the people who voted for Obama.”
That reminded me of the great movement that swept Barack into office. A happening, if you will, not unlike Occupy Wall St, and with the same crazy cool mix of people, and abundance of hot chicks. For anyone involved in the Obama campaign, like myself, the talk was always about “how good everyone looked.” But that was only a short hand way of describing an incredible set of talented, fun, smart people who wanted to change the World. A large number of couples and marriages, and just plain hookups, happened during that very magical time when Barack was rising during the Democratic Primary.
Were Obama Women hot? Yes, they were and are still. And being smart, talented, and engaging goes into what makes female hotness to start with.
Can a photo communicate all of that? Damn right, it can!
So Erin at Jezebel, please chill. Obama women are Occupy Wall St Women.
Occupy Wall St. Women are hot.
Karen A. Brown