The Socratic Scribe

As you can see from the title of the post, I'm going to be discussing something pretty big, but it's so big that I need to break it into parts, examine each piece, and put it all together to see how each piece affects the next, and to reveal just what a tangled web we have weaved. I think what I'll do in this post is to try to come up with an outline of what I'll be addressing in each post and what the goal is of this series of thoughts. So, I'm going to attempt to organize all of these thoughts right now:

I) Human Trafficking/Sexual Slavery
A) Statistics
B) Deconstructing and Defining the Following Terms
1) Slavery
2) Freedom
3) Force
C) Supply and Demand Theories
D) How We Are ALL Feeding DEMAND for Women as Sexual Objects, thus Contributing
to Trafficking

II) Objectification and Its Implications
A) Deconstructing and Defining the Following Terms
1) Objectification
2) Degrade
3) Derogatory
B) Forms of Objectification
1) Pornography
2) Sexually Degrading Speech
3) Sexual Degrading Environment
4) Objectification in the Media
C) Implications of Objectification
1) Women Valued ONLY as Physical Objects, Other Aspects of Their Being Ignored
2) Increasingly Negative Relationships Between Men and Women
3) Women Valuing Themselves ONLY as Physical Objects
4) Lowered Self Esteem, and In Turn Higher Vulnerability

III) Women: Making it Worse for Ourselves
A) Deconstructing and Defining the Following Terms
1) Prostitution
2) Hooking Up
B) Women's Rights: Getting Equal or Getting Even
1) Playing Power Games
2) Sugar Daddies and Gold Diggers
3) Dangerous Sex
4) Women as the New Pornographers
C) Implications
1) Relational Disconnect
2) STDs
3) Propagation of Objectification and an Environment of Sexual Usury

IV) Men: It's Your Problem Too
A) Addressing Excuses for Degrading Behaviors
1) It's "Natural"
2) Just Enjoying Women
3) Too High a Drive to Control
4) That's What Women Want
B) Rewiring Your Hard Drive
1) Jesus Calls us to be MORE and BETTER and Overcome Our Sinful Desires
C) When Is an Action Sinful or Harmful
1) Define Sinful
2) Define Harmful
3) Analyze Various Situations

V) Sex, Love, and Lack Of
A) Sex Without Love
1) Valueless
2) Fragmenting
3) Unsatisfying
4) Encourages Objectification of Women
B) Sex With Love
1) Value
2) Wholeness
3) Satisfying
4) Encourages Full Appreciation of Women

VI) A Snapshot of Our Society
A) Sexual Attitudes and Habits of Women
B) Sexual Attitudes and Habits of Men
C) Teenage Sexuality
D) Dangerous Trends
E) Sexuality and the Media

VII) Creating a Healthy Environment for Women and Ending the War Between the Sexes
A) Education and Honesty About Sexual Issues
B) End Objectification
C) Nip Unhealthy Sexual Practices in the Bud
D) Quit Playing Power Games
E) Women Need to ReValue Themselves

Okay, so that was a LOT of stuff to think about. This was the first time I have been able to somewhat organize these thoughts. Like I said, there is so much I am going to address over the next several posts, but it is SO important. If women truly want to be equal, and truly want to be respected, we have to tackle all of these issues. And probably more. The first step to stopping a problem is to acknowledge it. This means that you have to at first be made aware of it. Once you are made aware, you can learn about it, analyze it, and then address it. We really need to see some major changes in our society over the next few years, because we are so quickly slipping into the deep end and we don't seem to know how to swim. Next time I'll start with my talk on Human Trafficking and Sexual Slavery. Why this issue when so much I will be addressing has to do with relationships and sexual norms and media and society? Because sexual slavery is the accumulation of all of these attitudes and practices and it reveals the degradation and dehumanization of women at its worst. You'll see the relationship between sexual slave and master mirrored in many relationships that you see everyday in our society. Women think they are asserting themselves and are putting themselves on equal footing with men, but all they are doing is perpetuating unequal treatment. I'll leave today with the lyrics from a few popular artists and songs. You'll hear these on the radio, and I'll be discussing these in particular in later posts when they become more relevant. But I just want to leave you with a real awareness of just how real and how important the issues are that I'll be addressing. Also, as a side note, I will not be censoring these lyrics. We don't need to sugar coat what we are constantly being exposed to. We need to address them head on.

Ke$ha - Blah, Blah, Blah

"Ba-da-da-da-ba-da blah, blah
Coming out your mouth with your blah blah blah
Just zip your lips like a padlock
And meet me at the back with the jack and the jukebox
I don't really care where you live at
Just turn around boy and let me hit that
Don't be a little bitch with your chit chat
Just show me where your dick's at

Music's up
Listen hot stuff
I'm in love
With this song
So just hush
Baby shut up
Heard enough

Stop ta-ta-talking that
Blah blah blah
Think you'll be getting this
Nah nah nah
Not in the back of my
Car-ar-ar
If you keep talking that
Blah blah blah blah blah

Boy come on get your rocks off
Come put a little love in my glove box
I wanna dance with no pants on
Meet me in the back with the jack and the jukebox
So cut to the chase kid
'Cause I know you don't care what my middle name is
I wanna be naked
But your wasted

Music's up
Listen hot stuff
I'm in love
With this song
So just hush
Baby shut up
Heard enough

Stop ta-ta-talking that
Blah blah blah
Think you'll be getting this
Nah nah nah
Not in the back of my
Car-ar-ar
If you keep talking that
Blah blah blah blah blah

(3oh! 3)
You be delayin'
You always saying some shit
You say I'm playin'
I'm never layin'
Sayin' "Blah, Blah, Blah."
'Cause I don't care who you are
In this bar,
It only matters who I is

Stop ta-ta-talking that Blah blah blah
Think you'll be getting this
Nah nah nah
Not in the back of my
Car-ar-ar
If you keep talking that
Blah blah blah blah blah"

3Oh!3 - Don't Trust Me

X's on the back of your hands,
Wash them in the bathroom to drink like the bands.
And your setlist (setlist),
You stole off the stage,
Had red and purple lipstick all over the page.
B-b-b-bruises cover your arms,
Shaking in the fingers with the bottle in your palm.
And the best is (best is),
No one knows who you are,
Just another girl alone at the bar.

She wants to touch me (Woah),
She wants to love me (Woah),
She'll never leave me (Woah, woah, oh, oh),
Don't trust a ho,
Never trust a ho,
Won't trust a ho,
'Cause a hoe won't trust me.

Shush girl shut your lips,
Do the Hellen Keller and talk with your hips.
I said, Shush girl shut your lips,
Do the Hellen Keller and talk with your hips.
I said, Shush girl shut your lips,
Do the Hellen Keller and talk with your hips.

Adrienne Bailon - Big Spender

Boy, I can be that every thing that you need
If you can give me all your money, baby, you can have me, yeah
Boy, I can be that every thing that you need
If you can give me all them dollars, baby, you can have me, yeah

Simple things in life will fulfill
I like the diamonds, I'm a material girl you see
Fast cars and a love making noise
I need that money, come and buy me something, honey

Expensive lip gloss and my, my finger nails
My hands, they're flying in the window expecting brand new wheels

If, if, if, if you're a big spender I can be your love toy
If you're a big spender take me home to your mama, boy
If you're a big spender you can give me your number, boy
If you're a big spender I can be your material girl

Live in your material world
I'll be your material girl
Live in your material world
If your life is expensive, boy

Katy Perry, 3Oh!3 - Starstrukk

Nice legs, Daisy Dukes,
Makes a man go (whistles),
That's the way they all come through like (whistles),
Low-cut, see-through shirts that make ya (whistles),
That's the way she come through like (whistles),

'Cause I just set them up,
Just set them up,
Just set them up to knock them down,
'Cause I just set them up,
Just set them up,
Just set them up to knock
Them down

I think I should know how to make love to something innocent without leaving my fingerprints
Out,
Now,
L-o-v-e's just another word I never learned to pronounce,
How do I say I'm sorry 'cause the word is just never gonna come out,
Now,
L-o-v-e's just another word I never learned to pronounce

Tight jeans, double d's makin' me go (whistles),
All the people on the street know (whistles),
Iced out, lit-up make the kids go (whistles),
All the people on the street know (whistles),

'Cause I just set them up,
Just set them up,
Just set them up to knock them down,
'Cause I just set them up,
Just set them up,
Just set them up to knock,
Them down

I think I should know how to make love to something innocent without leaving my fingerprints
Out,
Now,
L-o-v-e's just another word I never learned to pronounce,
How do I say I'm sorry 'cause the word is just never gonna come out,
Now,
L-o-v-e's just another word I never learned to pronounce

Push it baby, push it baby,
Out of control,
I got my gun cocked tight and I'm ready to blow,
Push it baby, push it baby,
Out of control,
This is the same old dance that you already know,
Push it baby, push it baby,
Out of control,
I got my gun cocked tight and I'm ready to blow,
Push it baby, push it baby,
Out of control,
This is the same old dance that you already know

I think I should know how to make love to something innocent without leaving my fingerprints
Out,
Now,
L-o-v-e's just another word I never learned to pronounce