Would you open the door to a stranger in your underwear…or less?  There’s a reason I ask. I am trying to understand a thought-provoking new trend on social media that women are facilitating and even encouraging. Maybe it stems from the belief that they are empowering themselves. But, when older women start buying in, who are supposed to be wiser, stronger & more immune to marketing forces — it sends a message worth analyzing.

The trend? Women sexually objectifying themselves, “opening their doors” via degrees of public nudity on social media — which is the big world neighborhood filled with strangers.

Is this new trend pushing women backwards? Could it give our daughters and sons, too, a warped message? Does it say: If women want to be recognized, they’ll just need to strip because the value women bring to conversations is limited — unless accompanied by their scantily dressed bodies?

Regarding this trend, I’ve heard women defend it: calling women “brave” when they post underwear or naked images. They are “empowering themselves,” I hear. Yet, back to my opening question: I don’t think they’d open the doors to their homes undressed. Also, when I ask men, they don’t understand why any woman would share undie photographs for the world to see. They’re largely speechless, with none viewing it as empowering and also saying it would be weird if guys did it.

Naked, underwear, skimpy outfit photos posted online, are a form of clickbait — whether conscious or subconsciously motivated. More so, this is actually a collective unconscious buy-in to the longtime marketing strategy: Sex sells. So, as long as we can keep women buying into this message — the marketing strategy is protected.

Porn is on the rise. Womanhood is being questioned. Neither empowers women: Both demeaningly strip us of power and make women appear to like and/or be aroused by abuse in some form or another.

My thoughts here are not to cast shame. But they are, as always, written with hopes to start a thoughtful conversation on a difficult but thought-worthy topic.

What do you think? I’m curious and looking for perspectives.

®Silver Disobedience 2023