Pop Culture

After reading Valenti's "Pop Culture Gone Wild" I have aspects of the reading that I agree and disagree with.  Valenti definitely makes her writings one-sided; therefore you have no way of choosing to go against what she is saying.  For me, that is okay but for others it may be more difficult to read based on that reason alone. She writes about what society classifies as "pop culture" and how it greatly influences people's perspectives of women.  She employs the concepts of "being sexy, yet virginal" as well as "being available, but never attainable".  These are two contradictions that make no sense and, in my opinion, are not reality but acted out.  She gave the example of "availability and unattainable" when it comes to women on Maxim magazine.  They allow their bodies to be available to the general public to do whatever with, but men know that the woman on the cover is unattainable.  If we were talking about the reality of this, if a man were to chase a woman in real life and if the woman kept being unattainable, the man would get frustrated and give up.  One of the issues I have with Valenti's writing is that she generalizes women into "us" and the thing she speaks of applies to everyone.  Many of the stereotypes of women do not apply to me personally and I couldn't be happier with who I am.  I agree with the majority of Valenti's proposals, specifically when she talks about her opinion on Playboy and Maxim.  She does not understand why or if women who choose to participate in these magazines realize what they are setting themselves up for.  If women do not follow this trend throughout their lives, such as getting jobs in the porn industry, they may be setting themselves up for failure; just for some male attention?  This may be true if future employers depending on the employers views on magazines like that.  I completely agree with Valenti on what women are thinking when they decide to do something like that.  While feminists are trying to prove women to be strong and provide themselves with equality, you have women laying naked and exploiting themselves to men.  This annoys me because women who are in the porn industry also want equality and to appeal strong and independent, but they are putting the wrong message out there.  This also allows the pop culture stereotypes to seep through generations, causing young teenagers to believe that is how women are supposed to act and be portrayed.