by Amanda Puddicombe

Created on: July 16, 2008

As a person that has gone through several stages in life, like most people, I have serious issues with the popularity and existance of series such as "Girls Gone Wild". The majority of women who end up in these videos are at a point in life where they don't have a solid idea of who they are or how their actions will impact them in the future. In addition to exploiting women who are often barely old enough to make their own decisions, this series teaches young males to find amusement in women portraying themselves as sexual beings.

A major issue comes into play here in the fact that society promotes such exploitation as entertainment. In a generation where women are brought up to feel like the world is their oyster, media outlets continue to use a woman's sexuality to make her look inferior. It is obvious in viewing this series that society has not advanced to a point where a young woman can make a lapse in judgement, appear in a video like "Girls Gone Wild", and people simply get over it. Women still become labelled as sluts in our society for such behavior, and videos like this only help to fuel negative stereotypes for what society deems as negative female behavior.

The gender issue will always be a hot topic for me, personally. This debate goes back to debates about equality that women have argued over for years. Until "Guys Gone Wild" comes out and meets with the same popularity as this series, women will continue to be degraded by these films. I am certain that many male readers will read my viewpoint and totally disagree with it. I, on the other hand, think this series stands as a form of degradation for women.

If a reader really wanted to explore the title of this piece, "Girls Gone Wild" in itself is barbaric. When people think of anything in the wild, they automatically think of animalistic, primal behavior. Some may argue that this thought is too deep, but I wonder about the powers of subliminal messaging such as this. No matter what the title of this series however, I will continue to argue that its a form of exploitation for women. Until women stop allowing this to happen themselves, like anything, the series will continue to exist and people will continue to profit from it. In this case, their exploitation is just as much their own responsibility as it is the way of the beast.

To conclude, I am obviously not a supporter of this series. Some may call me a feminist, but I view myself as a humanist. In today's society, there are so many better outlets to entertain oneself that maintain equality between the sexes, and force nobody to degrade themselves for another's personal enjoyment.

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