“Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to.”

– Mark Twain

 

I love the water, although I’m not a great swimmer. Boating, water skiing at Lake Pleasant and just sitting on the patio of the rental condo for our annual stay at Mission Beach (a.k.a. Ahwatukee West) … being near the water refreshes me.

Often though, there is a hindrance to my view. It is in the form of intoxicated young women who feel compelled to show their naked breasts to everyone in the vicinity. This Girls Gone Wild experience began when the first film (of the same name) was released in 1998, spawning a franchise. Pornographer/promoter Joseph R. Francis is responsible for these plot-less films (I confess to never having watched one, but did a little Google research.)

Film crews show up at spring break locales like Rocky Point and Lake Havasu, populated summer beaches and other places where the common elements are booze and girls … bikinis are optional because women can take a T-shirt or skirt off pretty easily, too. Inebriated girls are incentivized to disrobe, dance provocatively and engage in other lascivious displays. Their prize? A GGW hat or shirt. These are supposedly not paid “actors” just a bunch of girls havin’ a little fun.

Over time, a film crew and snappy prizes are no longer required. Some hard-core drinks and a group of eager men can encourage women to shed their clothes anywhere, and voila: it’s show time! I don’t consider myself easily shocked but I’m a bit dumbfounded by this whole phenomenon. I can’t help but believe that the participants have serious regrets when they wake up the next day and remember what they did. “My grandma may see that” or “Someday I’ll have to explain that to my daughter” have to be thoughts that surface.

Recently I did a little informal survey asking if this GGW activity was OK. The results were split. Many people (mostly men) thought it was fine and that people who object are “prudes and sexist, disallowing freedom of expression and the empowerment of women.”

Have to admit I was in the other camp; the ones who feel that it is a huge social statement that many young women so desperately crave attention, validation and admiration that they will go to such extremes to get it.

Sex is everywhere and in everything. Young children are exposed early to the notion that premarital sex is the norm and anything else (like abstinence) makes you a freak. If they watch TV, go to movies or have friends in public school they have a sense of this philosophy. Going to the next step of putting it into action is a piece of cake. Girls can easily lose their way and begin to feel that no one will be interested in them if they don’t have something sexual to offer.

From an aesthetic, selfish point I don’t enjoy being ambushed with an impromptu strip show from the chair on my patio or deck of my boat. If I wanted to see it, I’d find it and buy a ticket.

As a woman and a mom, it breaks my heart to see these premature “women” demeaning themselves and not recognizing the damage they’re doing to themselves and our culture. Not to mention little girls of the future.

 

Diane Markins has lived in Ahwatukee Foothills 25 years. She is a writer and conference speaker. Read more at www.WordsInHighDef.blogspot.com or contact her at Diane@DianeMarkins.com.