Cultural Interest: Sex or Quality Stories?

I guess I should be happy that I'm getting a spike in traffic right now. The frustrating thing is, though, that yesterday the post I wrote a long time ago about Victoria's Secret models has gotten over nine times the traffic the post I wrote yesterday about family has gotten. For those of you who have forgotten what post I'm talking about, here is the link to the original post.

Now, while I admit that my writing has faltered in quality a bit over the last month due to a medication I'm trying out for my fibromyalgia, overall what I write is pretty good quality. Conversational, yes, and so a little more casual than some people like, but overall, decent quality. I also admit that I like couture fashion and, therefore, support the fashion industry. I am so frustrated, though, with the fact that 90% naked underfed women are getting this much attention for walking in a straight line down a catwalk and back up the catwalk while I work my butt off and go essentially unnoticed unless I have a post in which I am 90% naked (not something I'm really into).

I don't necessarily want to be famous. I don't want "celebrity status." I don't want to have to hide from paparazzi. I just wish that our society cared more about quality work that actually matters instead of 5'11" girls with concave stomachs who wear bedazzled wings and lingerie. I know this sounds like a massive case of envy, but it's not. I've done the super-skinny thing, and I'm fine. I don't need to do that anymore. What this little penned outburst is about is that our society doesn't care about what we need to care about when it comes to thriving and not just surviving (cliche, I know, but it's what I mean).

I think when Hurricane Sandy tore up the Northeast we all saw how people of every tax bracket and political party and race and sexual orientation came together and helped the people who needed help, no matter who they were. Going back even further, I think we all saw the nation come together right after the 9/11 attacks happened. The thing is, though, it shouldn't take a catastrophic event to bring people together for a common cause.

Now I know that fashion isn't something we all need to come together against or anything crazy like that. But I do know that there are better ways than watching unrealistically skinny women walk around in next to nothing to discover your fantasies. That's Victoria's Secret's "thing" whenever anyone says anything about their print ads or their runway shows: "It's about fantasy." Gag me with a spoon. That's absolute bulls#!t, in my opinion. I worked for them for a summer and their schtick to sell overpriced lingerie is by attempting to make you look like the girl in the ad.

By taking a quick look around, it seems to me that I'm on the outside this time. Sex sells and just because I don't like it doesn't mean it's going to change. While I understand it's not going to change, I am disappointed. I don't mean to sound snobbish, but I guess I just expect more from people than I should.

Goodness, I've allowed myself a rather excessive rant. As always, thank you so much for reading and continuing to support my site. I'll see you tomorrow!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

Teachers: Is Your Personal Life Really Yours?

Sarah Jones, teacher and cheerleader.

Yesterday's abysmal court ruling that gave the BenGal dancer/teacher Sarah Jones only 5 years probation after she had sex with a student made me think about what teachers are allowed to do outside of school. I thought about it and came to a couple conclusions:
1. I would have felt incredibly uncomfortable if I had a teacher in high school who was a cheerleader/dancer on the nights and weekends. I would have felt like she was a role model for me; someone put there by the school board to show me a good example of an adult. There definitely would have been a huge influence on my dressing and actions if I had known she was a dancer, because I would see showing 90% of my body and shaking my boobs and butt to thousands of people both at home and on national television as an acceptable thing to do. "If my teacher can do it, why can't I?" would have been a pretty logical leap for a teenage mind.
2. If I had a child who had a cheerleader/dancer as a teacher, I would be very upset. If I ever have a child, male or female, who has a teacher who moonlights as a slutty dancer in clothing the size of a postage stamp, I would question the school board's decision of hiring her.

In Kentucky, according to KRS 161.164, teachers are not allowed to be part of political campaigns because they don't want the teachers using their authoritative positions to influence students. I spent two hours this morning looking for where the KRS laws mention stripping or dancing while being a teacher and they don't exist, as far as I've found. So, the state doesn't want teachers influencing their students (most of whom cannot vote) politically, but it's fine to influence the students' (most of whom in middle and high school are starting to experiment with sex) sexual behavior . I really disagree with this.

I looked at three Kentucky county teacher contracts this morning: Jefferson, Boone, and Kenton. In all of them, there was some version of this sentence: "The private life of a teacher is not the concern of the School Board unless it affect's the teachers responsibility as set forth in KRS 161.120." In Section 1, Part c of this statute, it says, "Committing any act that constitutes...immoral conduct." Who decides "immoral"? I think dancing/cheering in extraordinarily revealing clothing on weekends is immoral. But obviously, the Board doesn't agree with that, because Sarah Jones was a teacher while she was a cheerleader.

Teachers have long been regarded as pillars of the community. I am a third generation teacher in my family and in my immediate family alone, there are 5 teachers. I see education and teaching as the noblest of professions because there would be no leaders, no engineers, no doctors, no lawyers, nothing, without teachers. It is my opinion that we need to restore the integrity to the teaching profession. Just like a politician's life is not their own (see Bill Clinton or anyone else who has done something in their personal life and gotten destroyed for it), neither is a teacher's life. When you enter the teaching profession, you become a role model for thousands of students. You are teaching the next generation about values, about academia, about social relations, and everything else. Overall, teachers see students more than parents do during the school year. I absolutely do not feel comfortable entrusting my children to people who sell their bodies on weekends (yes, nothing physical is happening, but you're baring your body to the world for entertainment). I don't care if it's "dancing" and some people consider it "athletic" and "not sexual" as I know some of you will respond. It is highly inappropriate for our students to be exposed to that mentality in a public school.

For the record, for those of you who know me and remember that I was a ballroom dancer for a few years and wore incredibly revealing costumes, I would not continue that sport as a teacher. I think that, too, is excessively revealing and too sexual to participate in publicly in competitions on my weekends as a teacher. I know that this is an amazingly conservative view, but the reason I have this opinion is that our children are exposed to so much sexual media all the time outside of school that I feel like school should be one place that is safe from that. Girls especially are so influenced by sex, "being sexy," and working to "look good." School should be a place for academia and not sex or having sex-related distractions, such as an entire class knowing their teacher bares (almost) all every weekend in front of a 50,000 person stadium.

Kids are impressionable. Let's work on giving them good impressions.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi