Young paying the price for the old?

[Dahlly]

Could the young be identifying as ‘they’ as a protection mechanism against the overtly sexual world that the we have created? And can we really blame them? The Daily Mail has an article today about JLO introducing her daughter Emme, as ‘they’

Emme has a mother who is in her 50s, who is beautiful and extremely sexy. That’s her brand, that’s her day job. She will have seen her mother in hair and make-up everyday. Punishing her body to remain slim.

I can’t imagine growing up in that environment and not feeling completely inferior to this projected image of femininity. Particularly as a young teen.

By the looks of things, Emme now identifies as ‘they’. I think she knows she will never live up to her mothers image, so has removed herself from the ‘competition’ and removed her female self.

I find that so sad but in all honestly, in that position I could easily see myself as a young teen doing the same thing. Is Emme paying the price for her mother’s celebrated beauty? Are young girls using a non-Binary identity to protect themselves from this path?

*This isn’t a comment on JLO personally, her parenting or how she chooses to dress. She seems like a very supportive mother and she is an extremely astute business woman, who wants to promote female empowerment(There is another article today about her request of the female symbol pictogram being rejected for her super bowl performance!).

Article Daily Mail Article. JLO and Emme

Pressure to look beautiful. To look like the gorgeous girls on love island. It’s become the norm with a certain look to the extent that a 14 year old girl must wonder why they don’t look like the tik Tok girls, etc. Everywhere you look there are such “beautiful” girls. It must be very difficult for non confirming girls.
I know at 14/15 I wore big jumpers. Yet still felt my sole aim in life was to have a boyfriend. I didn’t. As I have a look that says piss off and still does.

A question that interests me is: when attempts are made to drive a wedge between older women and younger women, who benefits?

Do younger women benefit from being indoctrinated into disregarding older women’s voices and their experience of life? Or are they disadvantaged by that both in the short term and longer term?

If younger women are indoctrinated into disregarding older women’s voices, whose voices do they listen to instead? The interests and views of the multi-millionaire/ billionaire owners of mainstream media and those whom they give a platform to? The interests and views of the billionaire owners of tech industries and social media companies?

We all live in a deeply misogynistic world. There are industries making millions / billions out of the commercial sexual exploitation of women. As soon as there is a thread on this site about prostitution, you can guarantee there’ll be a flood of posters arguing how empowering it is for women / themselves / women they know. As soon as there’s a thread about pornography, there’ll be a flood of posters arguing that it is normal / harmless / great fun. Supposed local online newspapers (reach) now regularly run items about a woman making money on Only Fans.

That is the world that young girls are growing up in. They are growing up in a world where young children are given technology which gives access to images of violent sexual abuse of women and girls. They didn’t create that world. Neither did their mums. Not even the very small number of women in the public eye with a successful career based on their looks, who are in the unusual position of having managed to maintain those looks and their career despite being over 50 and having given birth to and brought up a daughter.

So well put @LoobiJee 👏 🙌

I should add that I don’t actually know anything about the mother and daughter you mention.

But you mention the mother’s brand.

I would observe that being “non-binary” is also a brand these days.

I wouldn’t assume that the motivations behind a child in a family whose family business is focused on being in the public eye, bear too much resemblance to the motivations of the average 13yo in a bog standard secondary school in the UK - other than that they are both living in the same world of the over -sexualisation of and the commercial exploitation of women and girls.

Spot on @LoobiJee

I believe the tactic is called divide and conquer. I doubt any female will ever truly benefit from it.

We never had a way to opt out of puberty. This generation thinks they do.

But yes, I can imagine being compared to (or feeling like people would compare you to) J-Lo would be pretty awful.

This kid is a twin. Not surprising it's the female twin who is a they.

It is an obvious need to consider why there is this huge explosion of young girls who are absolutely desperate not to have to be females in this society and who instead would like to be part of the opposite sex class, or exempted from being either sex.

And as we endlessly try to point out on this board: this entire ideology is rooted in a belief that females must be trapped within stereotypes to be permitted to be female, that a female has no right to choose a sexuality that excludes a male who wishes it to have access to her body, a female has no right to privacy, dignity or to be away from the eyes and unwanted behaviour of a male person if that male person refuses it to her, that a female's duty is to meet and serve male interests regardless of her own needs, feelings, wishes.

Place this in the context of decriminalised rape, the sheer volume of sexual harassment, assault and even rapes happening daily at school largely brushed under the carpet, the 3 people a week dying at the hands of domestic partners and the enormous volume of domestic abuse and violence, and that it is considered wrong and unacceptable to mention that all these people are women and yes. You cannot blame a young girl for wishing to be part of the class with all the power, who gets to have boundaries and control and to have their voice heard and to be allowed to say no. You only have to listen to TM such as Whittle and TW such as Hayton to pick up on the extreme sexism underpinning their beliefs, and it is all about male people having power and control and female people being there to serve them, under their command.

And this is it when ever 'cis' is inflicted on women: it means 'embraces subordinated position and a life serving more important people'. Children do not have the life experience and confidence of older women to say a resounding fuck off, I am and will be a woman any way I choose and your boxes and issues with stereotypes are your problem and not mine.

Then add in the tremendous pressure around appearance, being slim, made up, the right clothes, the pressure to send pictures, the relentless pushing of adults to remove protections and boundaries and normalise the sexualisation and exposure of kids to all this?

And yes. What sane female would want to sign up for all this shit if there's an alternative? And you're too young, too naiive, too trusting and too lied to to see the whole picture of the future it will lead to?

Absolutely spot on.

I think that even if sexual objectification isn't technically worse, it is more relentless in the time of social media.

I also think the idea of choice has changed. The normalisation of plastic surgery, for example. Years ago the group of people with large noses/wrinkles/flat chests would be seen as the default - with anyone changing their appearance seen as making an unusual choice. Then we had a period of equating the two decisions, as if boob implants and living with a flat choice were equally normal decisions for those without a cleavage.

Now, we have a narrative that people are choosing to age gracefully, embracing their curves or "flaws." This feeds into the idea that not surgically altering your appearance is an active choice, rather than the default.

Therefore, being a bog standard woman and having all things female happen naturally is something people are seen to embrace and choose.

There is a huge difference between women 20 yrs ago who came to the conclusion they were not women and girls today who are repeatedly asked if they are boys/girls/enbies. The latter feel like they are being made to choose womanhood.

You ask people every day if they really like their nose how it is and you'd see a huge spike in nose jobs, this is the equivalent.