This Week's Buzz...

...is a new feature at The Cotillion.

We are going to try throwing out a topic a week for discussion. The ladies of The Cotillion invite all and sundry to chime in for a rousing discussion: we hope to provoke, amuse, and above all, to solicit a variety of viewpoints on interesting issues of the day.

Rules of Engagement are simple: no ad hominems. Attack the argument, not your opponent. We aim for civil but brisk and engaging discourse. Track back to this post with your ON TOPIC post or leave a comment if you don't do trackbacks and let's get this party started!

THIS WEEK'S TOPIC: One Step Forward, Or Two Steps Back?

Feminism was supposed to free women from outdated and demeaning gender stereotypes; to empower us as people and put us on a more equal footing with men. Yet now, when women have more education, money, and power than ever before, we seem to have surrendered to the very culture we once viewed as oppressive and sexist. Have women finally transcended sexism and if so, why aren't men jumping on the same bandwagon?

Will women ever view ourselves as more than the sum of our body parts?

V-day and the Vagina Monologues: the portrayal of women as walking vulvas

The rise of porn culture and standards of beauty: am I normal?

The increase in breast enhancements, designer labia, purely cosmetic 'rejuvenation' of the intimate areas to 'look younger down there'

The spring break phenom: pressure on women to engage in promiscuous sex.

We await your take with interest....

The American Princess chimes in with But Officer, They're Two Brains! and [gulp!] quotes MoDope to make her point:

It took only a few decades to create a brazen new world where the highest ideal is to acknowledge your inner slut. I am woman; see me strip. Instead of peaceful havens of girl things and boy things, we have a society where women of all ages are striving to become self-actualized sex kittens. Hollywood actresses now work out by taking pole-dancing classes.

A lot of women now want to be Maxim babes as much as men want Maxim babes. So women have moved from fighting objectification to seeking it.

No matter how its justified, its true. Although Ms. Dowd insists that this is some form of retaliation against the no-bra Seventies sisters, and unshaved armpits (which don't even look good on the French), I prefer to believe that this is not a reaction to feminism, but a symptom of feminism. What started as a quest for equality has morphed into a self-centric individualistic theory that has stolen women's feminine nature along with their souls.

And Florida Cracker asks:

Who says feminists don't have a sense of humor?