Opposition to making the vaccine required under law has many different facets; the religious conservative perspective is that protecting girls from a disease that can only be contracted by sexual activity promotes “promiscuity.” Others believe that parents should be able to choose whether their daughters receive the vaccination or not as opposed to the state lawmakers. Other countries such as Australia have already approved administration of the vaccine as a requirement; in Australia, all 13 year old girls in Australia must have the vaccine. So why haven’t we jumped on the HPV vaccine bandwagon in the U.S.?

 The answer is complicated. To me, it seems like somewhere along the way the goal of preventing death by cancer has gotten lost and the concern is more about preserving young girls’ innocence and condemning sexual activity. Doesn’t the religious conservative perspective suggest that HPV is only contracted by promiscuous girls? Promiscuity has nothing to do with contraction of HPV–according to the Center for Disease Control, 80 percent of women will contract HPV infection by the age of 50. The assumption is that the security of being protected by the vaccine will induce girls to sleep around without a care. The invention of this new vaccine seems, to me, a powerful way for girls and women to take control of their own health. Suggesting that the vaccine will cause promiscuity also suggests that girls don’t have the power or agency to make smart decisions about their own sexual activity. While I can understand the argument that parents should be able to decide what is administered to their children, I can’t see very many parents turning down something that could save their daughter’s life one day.  It seems contradictory and dangerous that a consumerist culture like ours, which targets young girls with sexualized dolls and television shows, would at the same time not take measures to protect them.

From the Axe website:

“The Bom Chicka Wah Wah phenomenon is spreading across the noses of women everywhere. When girls smell new Axe with added Bom Chicka Wah Wah they find themselves losing all inhibition…and you’ll see the most discerning of women losing control and erupting with tunes of lust.”

The site also features an all-girl “band” called the Bom Chicka Wah Wahs. At first I thought the Bom Chicka Wah Wahs were real but their only hit is called…appropriately…”Bomchickawahwah.” The fictitious group is of the burlesque variety, something akin to the Pussycat Dolls but with even less actual talent. (Although I have been guilty of singing “Buttons” and “I Don’t Need a Man” by PCD at the top of my lungs…). The BCWWs are all decked out in fishnets and lingerie dancing on top of a bus, and then the ad launches into the BCWWs’ journey into the nostrils of a woman, where they wreak havoc on the “Common Sense” sector of her brain and turn her into one of them. This is one of those things that must be seen to be believed:

This music video was kind of disturbing in its implications–obviously the BCWWs and the concept as a whole are a bit of a joke, I thought. And the lyrics are a MUST HEAR…something about looking for a man and acting so profane…and oh, the lyrics also say that Bom Chicka Wah Wah is “the libido’s mantra.” Learn something new every day!

Talking to some female friends, I found that many of them thought something along the lines of “that stuff actually works.”

“Yeah, but it wouldn’t make you actually like JUMP someone because of the smell, right?”

“Well, actually sometimes it does…that stuff smells GOOD. It’s amazing. They must put like pheromones in that shit or something.”

The Axe commercials and the current “Bom Chicka Wah Wah” pitch is a perfect embodiment of the male gaze. Although Axe is a men’s deodorant spray, the advertisements tell nothing about its actually deodorizing value, only that if a guy wears the stuff, girls will supposedly come up to you on public transportation and start wildly gyrating and saying “Bom Chicka Wah Wah.” Obviously the commercials and concept are intended with humor–Axe does not obviously disable a woman’s common sense.

The commercial induces curiosity not just in male consumers, but female consumers as well. Just as men might want to try the product to see if it really makes girls lose all self control, women might find themselves wanting to get a whiff just to see if it has any actual effects. Axe was the first in a group of three or four similar products that all feature commercials in which a man uses the spray and are subsequently pursued by tens, hundreds or even thousands of women. While some of the commercials are funny, and while scent is a very powerful mechanism of attraction (hence the huge perfume and cologne industries), the success of these products is dependent upon the exploitation of women as powerless over their own actions and unable to control who they are attracted to. Many advertisements use this same concept–if you wear this, if you use this tooth-whitening kit, if you use this conditioner, if you get these highlights, the opposite sex will be attracted to you. I’ve seen commercials in which a woman turned heads with the shininess of her hair, or the glossiness of her lipstick, but rarely will you see a man in an advertisement pursuing a woman so relentlessly and overtly as in these Axe and other similar commercials. While scent is biologically integral in attraction, I think these kinds of commercials take away the concept of women’s agency and having the power to choose who you’re attracted to. And furthermore…what exactly is Bom Chicka Wah Wah?

Unfortunately, I also couldn’t find any other videos with women addressing the issue of domestic violence first-hand. However, it seems that we hear about women’s struggle from an unlikely source–men. In my experience, men are much more comfortable addressing the problem than women. One video that portrays a domestic violence situation is Aventura’s Hermanita (Sister). The premise of the video is that the woman’s husband is physically abusing her, but she continues to suffer because she cannot find the courage to leave him. Her brother is telling her story and trying to convince her to leave. Eventually we see a funeral scene and assume that his sister has been killed at the hands of her dominating husband. But at the very end appears a young woman at the funeral, and then there is a flashback of his sister pulling a gun from a box. We realize that she was the one who murdered her husband. (The video is beautifully done, and it makes sense even if you do not understand Spanish).

Again, it is exactly what Melissa said; either women tolerate the abuse or kill the abuser. I think that it is not that the entertainment industry does not want to address the issue; it is that we do not seem to hear it from the abused women’s point of view. Either a man is singing about his abused relative, or a woman sings from the point of view of a friend (Eve, Dixie chicks, etc). Maybe we are not ready to hear what an abused woman has to say because society does not tolerate when a battered woman stays with her abuser.

ABC

• Mr. and Mrs. Smith: based on the blockbuster movie
• Cashmere Mafia: “Sex and the City creator Darren Star is back to New York in this new dramedy pilot, about four female executives, friends since college, who support one another through the trials and tribulations of work, family, and everything else life in New York City throws at them.”
• Women’s Murder Club: “A series of mystery books by James Patterson was the inspiration for this new series, which tells the story of four women who work together to solve some of the most confounding murder cases out there. Their jobs as a homicide detective, a medical examiner, a newspaper reporter, and an assistant district attorney give them a formidable range of skills, and their strong friendship provides basis for the teamwork that’s necessary to crack each case.”
• The Middle: “This new comedy series uses a mother’s point of view to shed light on the lives of a middle-class family in the Midwest.”
• Untitled Rina Mimoun Project: “A lawyer, Annie (Alyssa Milano of Charmed), and her infant son move from Boston to her hometown of Charleston, SC where she must deal with her eccentric family while adjusting to her new job at her father’s law firm.”
• Football Wives: “Based on the cult British soap Footballers’ Wive$, this remake chronicles the exciting and dangerous lives of three wealthy women, Donna, Tanya and Chardonnay, all wives to superstar footballers. Updated for the US by Ugly Betty’s Marco Pennette, ABC’s remake promises to retain the trashy, high-camp drama of the original series, whilst adding its own unique charm and flare to the premise.”
• Judy’s Got a Gun: “A woman seeks balance between her life as a single mom and her job as a suburban detective.”
• Traveling in Packs: “Three single women decide they’re sick of being alone…so they all move in together!”
• Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office: “Can a ‘nice girl’ make it big in the world of bloodthirsty corporate sharks? This new comedy aims to find out!”
• See Jayne Run: “A tough-as-nails investment banker strikes an indelicate balance between career and motherhood.” 

CBS

• Untitled Stiller & Taylor Project: “A comedy about a famous actress struggling to balance her fame and career with the demands of her close-knit family.”

NBC

• Lipstick Jungle: Based on the novel by Sex & the City writer Candace Bushnell, “Lipstick Jungle tracks three powerful career women who are willing to do almost anything for success in the business world. Their thirst for achievement is sure to get them where they want to go–but at what personal cost?”
• Winters: “In a traditionally male-dominated world, one female police officer finds her place at the center of this new drama for NBC.”
• The Bionic Woman: “Jamie Sommers is a young woman working as bartender and raising her teenage sister, Becca. When she is hit by a car and seriously injured. Her only hope becomes an experimental and top secret procedure. But this salvation comes at a high price.”

FOX

•  The Return of Jezebel James: “Amy Sherman-Palladino, creator of Gilmore Girls, brings us this multi-camera comedy about how two estranged sisters who are polar opposites try to raise a baby together.  Boston Legal’s Parker Posey was cast in the lead role in this comedy pilot as Sarah Tomkins. Sarah is an intelligent, optimistic and determined woman who has it all. She’s a successful editor of children’s books with a very helpful assistant Buddy (The Good Shepherd’s Michael Arden) who keeps her life together. Also she has a steady, no-strings-attached relationship with businessman Marcus Sonti (Gilmore Girls’s Scott Cohen) a confirmed bachelor.  At the same time Sarah’s father, Ronald (Trump Unauthorized Ron McLarty) always reminds her that although she has the perfect job and boyfriend, something is missing in her life. When Sarah comes home from work she feels alone and she is also not getting any younger, so she decides to get pregnant. But the doctor soon tells her that she cannot have children, so Sarah begins an alternate plan. When she can’t find anyone she can count on to have the baby for her, she turns to her estranged sister Coco (Six Feet Under’s Lauren Ambrose). Coco refuses at first, but when Sarah mentions that she has turned Jezebel James, Coco’s imaginary childhood friend, into a story book, Coco begins to take her sister’s idea more seriously. Coco thinks about her current living status on her friend’s couch and decides to go ahead with her sister’s plan.
• When Women Rule the World: “FOX takes a look at what would happen if gender roles are turned upside down. Participants will go to a remote, primitive location where they will be tasked with creating a new society where women are in charge and men are subservient.”
• Revenge: “Fed up with the trials and tribulations of dating life, three female friends set out on a mission of justice against all the men who’ve done them wrong.”
• The Hot Years: “Four hard-partying young women plow headfirst through their twenties in this age of online dating, celebrity exploits, and sexual experimentation…but they’re about to realize that if they want to grow up, they’ll have to make some major changes.”

The CW

• Crowned: “Crowned is an eight episode reality program where mother-daughter teams compete to win a beauty pageant title.”
• Gossip Girl: “Based on the popular book series of the same name, this drama gives viewers a peek into the world of privileged teenagers on an elite private school in New York City.”
• I am Paige Armstrong: “After becoming fed up with her boss’ morally suspect wheeling and dealing, a brilliant and idealistic congressional aide does the only thing she can to fight ‘the man:’ run against him!”
• Hell on Earth: “Dawnn Lewish, Kim Coles, and Lamont Thompson star in this comedy about a spoiled, bratty girl who is killed in a bus accident and granted a second chance at life…as a normal girl from a working-class neighborhood.”
• M.I.L.F. and Cookies: “Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, among others, will executive produce this comedy pilot about a group of sexy single moms all living in the same apartment complex. The story will be told through the eyes of a very observant security guard.”

And as a side, I was kind of disappointed by the lack of nonwhite characters, but especially nonwhite leads, in these pilots.  There were some pleasant surprises (like while looking around some more online I found out that there were many more Asian/Asian-American characters than I had expected [e.g. Lucy Liu in Cashmere Mafia and Lindsay Price in Lipstick Jungle, both seemingly exactly the same show, oddly enough], and there was the one about a multigenerational Latino family, as well as Frangela), buuut I’m willing to bet that the more ‘colorful’ ones won’t get picked up.  See this LA Times article about how ABC wants to tell a story of race relations through Cavemen…even though it canceled The George Lopez Show.

“Since You’ve Been Gone”

“Before He Cheats”

After watching these videos and thinking back to “Goodbye Earl” it dawned on me that female performers hardly ever discuss serious domestic violence issues in their music. Its fascinating that “Goodbye Earl” was such a popular song considering our society’s unwillingness to discuss domestic violence- a problem always dealt with behind closed doors. Because of our tendency to want to remain removed from situations of domestic violence, female pop stars focus on less pressing issues…like cheating boyfriends. According to our standards, it is okay for a woman to attack a cheating boyfriend -we even find that funny- but it is not okay for a woman to even discuss domestic violence with anyone outside her home. Aside from the Dixie Chicks, the only other artist who has addressed the problem is Eve. A few years ago she released “love is blind,” a song about a friend who was killed by an abusive partner. She too thinks of killing her friend’s husband, but never goes beyond dreaming.

“Love is Blind”

I think what is most interesting about Eve’s “discussion” of domestic violence, and its consequences, is that it is much more based on reality than “Goodbye Earl.” Honestly, in this case specifically, how many people actually think of and get away with murder? Women are more likely to continue suffering at the hands of their abusive partners than to build up the courage to leave or kill him. The fact that tolerating the abuse or killing the abuser are the only two options viable for women is a disturbing reflection of our judicial system and society. The entertainment industry has the power to change society’s relationship with domestic violence, but has shied away from the responsibility. I wonder why, considering musicians- past and present- have never shied away from controversy.  

As I watched this video, I can’t help but wonder if Lady Sovereign’s statement that “just being herself” really is the meaning behind girl power. She rejects the feminine, the conformity of female-hood and adopts a more androgynous or mannish look. But her message is still girl power to me – the “I can be anything I want to be” girl power that the Spice Girls kick-started. What do you think?