Female innocence, it appears, has a timeless appeal in our society. In 1905, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman wrote a short story entitled “Old Woman Magoun,” which featured the character of a fourteen-year-old girl named Lily whose physical appearance and demeanor seem to match those of a much younger child. Aside from looking much younger than she is, Lily also carries around a ragdoll and communicates with adults in a childish manner, sounding oblivious toward almost every remotely mature topic mentioned. In one instance, a strange man much older than Lily approaches her while she is walking alone and proceeds to speak to her as if she were a small child, referring to her as “little one” and “my dear” and speaking in what the author describes as a “caressing” and “soft” manner (211). The man is genuinely surprised when he discovers that Lily is as old as fourteen and questions why she still plays with her doll. Freeman leaves the conversation between the two at that, and it is not until later in the story that we discover that the man is interested in marrying Lily.
From this point on, the story has a creepy undertone. As readers, we recall the exchange between the man and Lily and reflect on its twisted and seemingly perverted nature in hindsight. The ubiquitous demonstrations of Lily’s innocence coupled with the knowledge that a much older man desires her leaves us readers feeling disturbed and uneasy.
While we might cringe at the thought of a grown man desiring an overly-innocent young girl when we read about it in a story written over a century ago, we tend to overlook that fact that female innocence is still widely idealized and desired in our society today. Take the fashion and beauty industries, for example: two industries which often, either intentionally or unintentionally, use the appeal of sex to sell their products. Many of the female models used in both industries are extremely young and sometimes childish-looking, yet the industries often place them in provocative and sometimes inappropriate outfits, looks, and poses in order to use them in advertisements to sell their products. In 2011, French Vogue used a ten-year-old model, Thylane Blondeau, in multiple spreads, displaying her in scandalous outfits and positions. This case may be an extreme, but when we take a critical look at the fashion and beauty industries as a whole, it is clear that female innocence is abused and often sexualized in order to sell products. Thus, the same type of disturbing phenomenon portrayed in “Old Woman Magoun” over a century ago is still present in our society today, and to a greater extent.
I completely agree with what you are saying. Its weird to notice how often female models are made to look like babies almost, with the wide eyes and pouted lips, while men are portrayed as strong and chiseled. In addition to just looking young, women are considered more innocent in today's society. This innocence fits into the idea of the sexual double standard for women.
ReplyDeleteYou've made some really really good points about society's standards then and now. I think it's interesting too to consider how it may have only been Magoun forcing Lily to be innocent, and that she, undoubtedly like countless guardians in that times society, forced the girls to learn to maintain their perfect, doll like, youthful appearance and manners. While today we have a lot more freedom of individual expression and less rigid standards for a woman's place in society as a whole, our appearances are still being guided and controlled, simply under a different name: the media. While one could argue it's nothing more than an indirect force, the media has set certain standards of appearance for females, particularly stressing youth, sex appeal and flawlessness.
ReplyDeleteLike you said, the standards of appearance have not, and probably can't ever go away entirely. They've simply been amplified and expanded.
I think Benjamin would have a lot to say about how all this relates back to domination and submission. In history the male has always been viewed as dominant, but for there to be a binary there has to be a submissive part, women. The woman is now the opposite of the dominant man, an innocent almost childlike person who submits the the domination. I think that whatever progress women have made when it comes to gender equality is always going to be undermined by the fashion industry and the modeling industry. It makes me sad to think that that standard of beauty hurts so many people. I believe that the advertising and modelling and fashion industry need to evolve and come into the 21st century.
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