Female Chauvinist Pigs

In Female Chauvinist Pigs, Ariel Levy attempts to dissect the reasoning behind the "raunch culture" that has swept our nation. Why do women take pole dancing classes, go to strip clubs, get bikini waxes, and walk around in skimpy clothing? Though I personally do not think those actions are harmful to women, I do agree that the reasoning behind such actions comes from insecurity more often than empowerment. According to Levy, that insecurity stems from a desire to be perceived as "like a man" instead of "like a woman." Modern women want to be free sexually, which is wonderful. However, many end up landing themselves in some pretty degrading acts, such as Girls Gone Wild, along the way, all under a guise of sexual empowerment. These women want to be able to do whatever they want just "like a man."

This is a problem for two major reasons. First, they are not behaving like men. Men are not flashing their naked bodies on camera, or drastically altering their bodies by getting implants, or taking classes on how to be a male stripper. They do not have to do those things to be perceived as sexy. Yet women somehow feel the need to do so. It is a double standard that women are imposing on themselves: they want to be sexy for men and they want to be like men. Where does that leave them? With their bare breasts all over television and still feeling unfulfilled because they haven't acheived the sense of freedom they desired.

The second reason why this is a problem is a point that I had not considered before reading Female Chauvanist Pigs. In striving to be "like a man," women are admitting that there is something wrong with being "like a woman." And it is there that she coins the phrase "female chauvanist pig." It describes women who lead Playboy and Girls Gone Wild, who admit that though they may contribute to degradation of women, they are living in a man's world and therefore must behave like a man to win. It describes women who flock to strip clubs with their male friends in order to be viewed as one of the guys. It describes women who identify themselves as "not like other women" to give themselves a greater feeling of empowerment. These women feel that if they play by men's rules and they act like men, they will come out on top. But what they don't realize is that by setting masculinity as the goal, they are contributing to women being viewed as inferior by nature. As Levy states, "it can be fun to feel exceptional, to be the loophole woman, to have a whole power thing, to be an honorary man. But if you are the exception that proves the rule, and the rule is that women are inferior, you haven't made any progress."

Levy's book made me realize that in a way, I have been a female chauvinist pig in my past. Before I openly admitted to myself and others that I was a feminist, I always wanted to be one of the guys. I have been told that I am a textbook case of penis envy. And it's true. Though I don't actually want to be a man, I have always been very jealous of men. If I was like a man, I would never be told that I should submit to another person's will. I would never be told that when I got married my husband would be my provider. I would never be viewed as timid, or gentle, and therefore not taken seriously. In my mind, men have the upper hand, so why would I not want to be like a man? But what I should have been focusing on then, what I do focus on now, is not trying to prove that I am more masculine than other women, but instead trying to prove that gender does not determine one's behavior. Instead of wanting to be like a man, I should be wanting to eliminate the view that being like a man is superior.

Some women think that they will only achieve equality by behaving like a man. But instead we should be moving towards everyone behaving like people. That is when we will achieve true equality.