Pop Pornification

A welcome piece by actress ("Parks and Rec," many movies) and avowed feminist Rashida Jones on the "pornification" of pop-culture--and what happened when she express these views earlier on Twitter.  Of course she was hit for "slut shaming"--even though the most frequent images she cites are G-strings, stripper poles, and, how to put it, bending over and sticking out tongue.    "Let me say up front: I am not a prude. I love sex; I am comfortable with my sexuality. Hell, I've even posed in my underwear. I also grew up on a healthy balance of sexuality in pop stars. Yes, we had Madonna testing the boundaries of appropriateness, but then we also had Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Cyndi Lauper, women who played with sexuality but didn't make it their calling card. And for every 2 Live Crew 'Me So Horny' video girl, there was Susanna Hoffs singing tenderly about her eternal flame.

"Twenty years later, all the images seem homogenous. Every star interprets 'sexy' the same way: lots of skin, lots of licking of teeth, lots of bending over. I find this oddly...boring. Can't I just like a song without having to take an ultrasound tour of some pop star's privates?"