Lady Problems (Archbold & Douglas)

            Pat Archbold wrote “The Death Of Pretty”. His tone in this article is very hostile toward the thought of pretty being taken over by hotness. He uses strong language such as “hate” and the fact that “pretty is dying” and innocence “isn’t valued” anymore. He defines the combination of beauty and innocence as pretty, stating that it brings out the better in men such as the instinct to protect and defend. Views back in the day are very different from now. Archbold claims that pretty is cherished and hotness is a commodity and a consumable. Girls do not want to be seen as pretty anymore they would rather be hot with a loss of innocence, no longer be thought of as a “good girl”. He used a great example to bring his view to light, the movie Grease. How the female character was this pretty girl but to get the attention of a boy she changed herself to this hot female, “destroying the innocence and pretty.”

            Author Douglas of “Fantasies Of Power” has similar views. Although, Douglas writes more about what it means to be a feminist and about what she finds wrong in society today.  She states that the word feminism has become a dirty word in today’s time. She leans more towards addressing feminism and girl power and what the represents but she does indeed speak of girls’ desire to be “hot or in other words seen as “sexual commodities”. She also speaks on how it is degrading as well as proves that much sexism still exists. Women are still oppressed by men. She uses some examples as well in her article such as the Spice Girls, Ellen DeGeneres’s show – to Victoria Secrets and MTV. Her tone of voice actually seems quite similar to that of Archbold’s: Hostile, blaming, complaining. They would get in a heated passionate conversation if ever having dinner, Blaming men and the media mostly.