In Wendell Berry’s essay “The Idea of
a Local Economy” Berry explores the destructive nature of a total economy as
well as the method to remedy it: a switch to a local economy. Berry defines a
total economy as “one in which everything – ‘life forms,’ for instance, or the ‘right
to pollute’ - is ‘private property’ and has a price and is for sale”. Berry
describes a local economy as one based on neighborhood and subsistence, in
which communities locally produce and exchange as many products needed by their
citizens, while taking into account the effects on the environment and the
interests of the people.
One of the things I realized while
reading the essay was why exactly it’s so hard to enact widespread change in
the current economy we live in. We all want to try and do better, but the
greatest obstacle in our way is that we don’t necessarily know how. Even in
today’s information age, it’s unnaturally hard to find out the true extent of
corporate pollution or what the effects of a certain chemical in our foods are.
Berry elaborates on this in the essay, describing the situation the consumers
in a total economy find themselves in:
Though one is shopping amid an
astonishing variety of products, one is denied certain significant choices. In
such a state of economic ignorance it is not possible to choose products that
were produced locally or with reasonable kindness toward people and toward
nature. Nor is it possible for such consumers to influence production for the
better [7]
I used to be of the mindset that
education regarding the production methods and practices of companies was the
problem. I used to believe that corporations themselves weren’t a bad thing,
but the amount of secrecy regarding their practices was. However, Berry’s essay
has made me consider that maybe the reliance on corporations themselves is the
problem. After all, as Berry states, corporations are not people. Corporations lack
morality and therefore are extremely unlike to put the interest of the people
above the interest of the corporation. Perhaps the solution is not greater
required transparency regarding a corporation’s methods, but the reduction of
corporate power.
I also agree with Morgan that
change goes far beyond complaining or having a change of heart. Every single
one of us needs to act on our feelings and do something that will create
lasting change, especially if we’re going to do something as drastic as the switch
from a total economy to a local economy.
One issue I don’t think we discuss
enough in our culture is the sexualization of girls at increasingly younger
ages and just how detrimental it is. My younger sister is twelve-years-old. Recently,
she was showing me the Instagram profile of one of her friends. In one picture, the girl poses seductively, her lips pouting, her face
full of makeup, in a low-cut top. This girl is twelve.
From the increasingly provocative
nature of girls’ Halloween costumes [1] (especially when compared to the same
boys’ costumes for the same age ranges [2]), to popular, nationwide clothing lines such
as Abercrombie & Fitch marketing push-up bikinis to girls as young as 7-years-old
[3], to the drastic increase in girls represented with sexualizing
characteristics (for example, tight clothes and high heels) in popular girls’
magazines aimed at girls as young as ten (such as the popular Girls’ Life
magazine) from 1970 to 2011 [4], there’s no doubt that young girls are becoming
increasingly sexualized over time.
This increasing sexualization has led to a change in
the attitudes of young girls. Girls are becoming more self-objectifying and more
caught up in their physical appearances. In a recent study conducted on girls
from 6 to 9 years old, girls were presented a doll dressed in clothes that were tight and revealing and another doll
dressed in clothes that were fashionable but looser and more modest [5]. The girls
were then asked which doll looked how they wanted to look, which doll was more
popular, and which doll they wanted to play with. The girls overwhelmingly
chose the “sexy” doll.
This sexualization of girls stems from the rampant sexualization
of women in the mainstream media and pop culture of the United States. Women are sold the notion that beauty is associated with happiness/popularity/wealth/success
and that in order to be beautiful they must look a certain way. This message is
everywhere, from film to television to magazines. With the rise
of social media and the internet, these messages have become even harder to
avoid.
The idea that women’s sexual appeal
is inherently linked to their self-worth is in and of itself an extremely
problematic notion. When this notion is marketed to children who don’t quite
understand the full implication of the message, by companies looking to expand
their audiences to make a profit, it goes beyond far problematic. It’s
disgusting and immoral.
Not only that, but it’s been proven
that this increased sexualization of girls in the media has negative effects on
girls’ mental health. Sexualization in the media leads to increased
self-objectification. The American Psychological
Association released a report in 2008 called "The Sexualization of Girls", which went into
great detail about the negative effects of self-objectification on girls:
Studies also show that
self-objectification is associated with negative mental health outcomes in
adolescent girls. For example, Tolman et al. (2006) found that in early
adolescence, girls who had a more objectified relationship with their bodies
were more likely to experience depression and had lower self-esteem. Similarly,
Harrison and Fredrickson (2003) reported that among Black and White adolescent
girls, self-objectification was a significant predictor of depression, body
shame, and disordered eating, even when controlling for race, grade in school,
and body mass index [6]
The full APA report is
available here, for anyone interested: http://www.apa.org/pi/women/programs/girls/report-full.pdf
It’s
a long report, but it really does a fantastic job of both explaining the
negative effects of increased sexualization of girls in the media and describing
approaches to lessening the influence of sexualization we can all take in our
own lives. Honestly, I believe being aware of and knowing how to
counteract these influences is vital to anyone with young women in their lives,
especially those of us who have younger sisters or those of us who might have daughters
someday.
Works Cited:
[1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/25/sexy-halloween-costumes-for-girls_n_2011943.html
[3] http://abcnews.go.com/US/abercrombie-fitch-padded-bikini-top-year-olds-parents/story?id=13236904
[4] http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11199-013-0321-0
[7] http://www.cliffarnold.com/localeconomy.pdf
I think that the sexualization of our culture is a prime example of how corporations are not moral. They are machines that are created for the sole purpose of making money and to thing of them as a person is irrational. They are not going to change their ways as long as they are making a profit, regardless of how detrimental their operation is to the environment or to the well being of their customers.
ReplyDeleteLike Jared said as a culture we are so focused on the way people look and it can sometimes turn women into sex items in order to sell a product, like it was said in The Idea of a local economy how we do not realize how much harm we have on something with the carelessness we do.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete