Mandy Moore

I do not necessarily categorize myself as a feminist, but I do indeed hold certain feministic values and opinions, especially regarding the way in which women are sexually objectified in both the "real world" and in the media. It literally sickens me the way women are sexualized by men, as if we are simply objects to be used to gratify their every sexual whim and desire. Disgusted by the overt, gratuitous, and completely unnecessary sexual imagery in magazines, movies, and on television, I am finding myself growing more infuriated with the misogynstic attitudes of today's society with each passing day. The portrayal of women as purely sexual beings in music videos, and perhaps most pervasively in videos such as "Girls Gone Wild", not only sickens and infuriates me, but it really makes my heart break every time I see them because it reminds me of the incredibly slippery downhill slope we are on. Commercials, movies, advertisements....they are all predominantly focused on glorifying sex and manipulating women to believe the myth that physical attractiveness and sexuality are the most, if not the only, important attributes for females to strive to attain. Girls are starving themselves, getting plastic surgery, and stuffing their chests with silicone all in an effort to be more pleasing to the male eye. We are expected to fit into a ridiuliously unattainable and quite pathetic mold, all because society teaches us that we should behave and look a certain way. Ok....I'm on a tangent right now, and I'm getting way off track. My point is this. I saw Mandy Moore perform her new song "Extraordinary" on The Tonight Show the other night. She is not only insanely talented, but a million times more gorgeous than her stick-thin, anorexic, fake-breasted counterparts. She is curvacious, healthy looking, and a perfect example of the natural female form. She is the kind of starlet America's young people should be admiring because she personifies the healthy, confident self image that girls need in a world that tries to convince them that they are never good enough, nor skinny enough to be truly accepted. Anyway, that's that. I just really admire Mandy Moore because she is strong enough, confident enough, and comfortable enough in her own skin to break out of the mold that we are all expected to conform to.