The Virgin Whore

On the persistence of women as commodities: "The Theory of the Leisure Class" (1899), by Thorstein Veblen. The bartering of women is an "archaic survival" from primitive culture, refined but not reformed. Blarg.

She does have a couple really good songs. And huge tracts of land!

People can believe contradictory things due to compartmentalizing. This also has the advantage of fragmenting the mind to make it easier to manipulate. I am amazed at the plasticity of women, that they can morph to fit fashion. For example, the nude beauties of the 40's, 60's, 80's, and today appear to be somatotypically different, and not entirely due to genetics and nutrition. I am haunted by a WWII photo of twin midget women submarine welders. And by recent photos of Cher as a blonde in which she looks like an Aleut Indian Spirit Mask. But while marketing might be able to convince people that they want a Big Mac and to bed Ms. Spears, sometimes my palate craves other than bubble gum. Virgin whores are probably not a good idea, except for ritual purposes, as women are like a black iron skillet, the cook better when well seasoned. It's still a good policy to look for one with low-milage, and kick her tires a couple of times, check the headlights. Make sure the radio plays more than one tune. Mud flaps are a plus.

i have a theory that all swedish coed disco pop bands deliberately choose names that begin with "A" so that they will be in the record bin next to abba. ace of base, the a-teens, alcazar, army of lovers, aqua (well, they're danish) -- i find this kind of sinister.

Ah, Levi-Strauss. It's not often that the old masters make it into this type of discussion anymore. Having said that, I would argue that Miss Spears ebullient insistence upon her questionable virginity plays into the incest taboo, and that this is part of what makes her so popular. She is young, yet curvaceous; sexual in her movements, yet declaritively untouched. For marketing purposes, her stance on abstinence makes her palatable to the consuming family, unthreatening to younger girls who are such victims of peer pressure ("I am a virgin, yet so is Brittany,") and acceptable to the parents of those girls ("She's a good role model.")

Yet, as you point out, this same declaration of innocence is what inflames the desire of our theoretical and stoic Father. While he may not admit or even be aware of it on a conscious level, the combination of the Slut and the Virgin is attractive, because of her very youth, the fact that she proclaims her virgin status while performing movements just short of pole-dancing, because it plays on the edges of his morality. The incest taboo prevents these feeling toward his young and attractive daughter, but NOT toward her idol. He is free to fantasize about her, and his daughter's idolization of the teeny-bopper provides a dark edge, a transgressive rush, the multigenerational proxy for his hidden desires. So few taboos remain; this is one of the strongest. But I think Strauss' examination of incest is flawed, not least because of his assumption that branching out into civilization is a goal. The a priori assumption that there IS a purpose behind the taboo, even if it is not the commonly accepted one at the time, is countered by several historical and anthropological accounts, not the least of which is co-titan in the field Bronislaw Malinowski's The Sexual Life of Savages. Cross-cousin marriage (p.80-82), that is marriage between a man's son and his sister's daughter (the only type of arranged marriage in the Trobriand Islands at the time of Malinowski's study!) may not have been nuclear family incest, but it's a close second: I would argue it's sibling sex through proxy. In cases of actual brother-sister incest, both perpetrators were usually killed by enraged crowds, unless, and this is important, they were members of the same privileged class that engaged in infant betrothal of cross-cousins (pp474). I think this problematizes Strauss' argument. Hell, even the English Royal Family had it's share of inbreeding. Though the fact that it is generally the upper classes is interesting.

From a Marxist perspective, through the lens of Irrigaruy's argument, Brittany is, I would think, transparently a prostitute. Exchangeable use value lies in the entertainment value she affords, both to fan and father alike. The idea of exchange value is probably best thought of as potential energy, or money in a Marxist sense; it can be swapped back and forth between parties, but as soon as use enters in, you've got something closer to barter. I can spend $30.00 on a coffeemaker, but I cannot make coffee with 30 one-dollar bills. You draw some interesting points around the balancing act she performs between virgin and prostitute; as this is a way in which she makes it palatable to pay out $20.00 for a CD. As the cost of a CD $0.06 to press, plus the price of her recording contract for the record company divded by number of albums (less royaltes) is "use-value," any other additional segment of the price is what Marx in Capital called the production of "surplus-value," i.e., what the record company charges to make a profit. Perhaps her insistence on the untouched hymen adds value somehow, adds what might be called mysterious value, a bolstering reason for surplus value, which is what advertising is all about.

On a personal note: As a former student of anthropology, I found this refreshing, yet nostalgic. This has promise. With a few problematizations of both incest and Marxist value ( I recommend Capital, if you are interested,) this could be the basis of an interesting cultural studies paper. I know, you said rhetoric, but it's all interdisciplinary these days You may want to consider older stuff on Madonna, of which there is loads. There may already be stuff on Brittany as well; I've been out of the loop.

On a further personal note, as a former student of anthropology who now is unemployed after working in Information Technology; unless you're pre-law, your B.A. in Rhetoric is worthless, but it looks OK on a resume.

I wrote about Levi-Strauss' book "Totemism" in anthro class long back, mostly for that cross-cousin thing; in the book, he covered a "cross-cousin matrilineal bifurcating system," which I though sounded plenty spiffy, and also disproved the universality of the Oedipus/Electral as being more dependent upon authority rather than paternity for the reason that the maternal uncle is the disciplinarian and the brunt of the fixations and phobias. The pirate radio movement isn't haven't a lot of success, but maybe the satellite radio setup will permit independent radio to thrive, but here, most of the media get bought-up by a few holding companies with the result of the music market being driven by the same demographics as the rest of the markets.

WHORENUN

Like LeatherNun?

I'm "behind" you all the way!!!!!! as it were.

Eliza: Please enter your name:
User : Terry
Eliza: Nice to meet you Terry, and a pleasant noon. Please tell me your problems.
User : Hello there!
Eliza: How do you do Terry?
User : I am doing fine, what about you? How're you doing?
Eliza: Getting better all the time, don't you think?
User : I'm not so sure, I didn't get any sleep.
Eliza: How many hours would you like to sleep every night?
User : I need to sleep at least 8 hours.
Eliza: Have you considered sleeping in a dormitory?

Eliza: Please enter your name:
User : Terry
Eliza: Nice to meet you Terry, and a pleasant noon. Please tell me your problems.
User : Hello there!
Eliza: How do you do Terry?
User : I am doing fine, what about you? How're you doing?
Eliza: Getting better all the time, don't you think?
User : I'm not so sure, I didn't get any sleep.
Eliza: How many hours would you like to sleep every night?
User : I need to sleep at least 8 hours.
Eliza: Have you considered sleeping in a dormitory?

You wouldn't say that if you were here.

I wrote an anthro paper last year about counter-cultural resistance to assimilation in the media, with a whole paragraph about thingsihate.

I've got nothing to say on this whole matter, youse guys have it well under control. But, keep going, 'tis interesting stuff.

I liked that old original Dutch Pirate Radio Ship, I think partly for the pirate part. There is an offshore "micronation" now that has radio and an internet company.

Sodomite Ninjas

More sodomite ninjas

Or, why when I post--over and over--I can't see it? AAAUGH.

Oh, that's not the most interesting thing about Sealand. No, the excitingly juicy thing about Sealand (from a theoretical point of veiw) is HavenCo, a "data haven" in the Gibsonesque sense of the phrase.
They located it on Sealand, because, for those who don't know, Sealand is an off-shore (in international waters) platform originally built for anti-aircraft cannon to watch for Jerry's orange crates crossing the briney. The micronation has no laws governing data, or for that matter copyright. You can have huge RAID volumes of stolen cracked copyrighted DVD titles on their co-lo servers if you like, as long as you pay for the space: the only thing which Sealand has laws against is child porn, not copyright infringement. Acceptable Use Policy rules out spam or hacking from their servers (the founders are all geeks, who traditionally detest the one and love the other, go figure.)
And they have flat-out said that if anyone comes to them for information contained in their server rooms (hollow concrete towers, which will be (if they are not already) filled with nitrogen and accessible only via an airlock,) they will tell them to fuck right off, then attempt to stop unlawful boarding, then as a last resort (and according to customer request) slag the server, rewriting several layers of random ones and zeroes across the hard drive until it cannot be salvaged. The server rooms will rarely be entered by employees in full scuba outfits to fix/upgrade hardware and wiring. The nitrogen prevents fires and unauthorized personnel.
Last I had heard, there were no rules, but the child porn, spam, and hacking (which leaves traces) I can live without. It sounds like geek paradise, but unfortunately they ain't accepting resumes.

hrum

Yes, but I would imagine that even within certain limits and cleaving unto moderate standards of accetpable use, a penny might be turned. And perhaps new media icons, such as eXtreme Britney or the like. There was an old light ship that used to sit outside the San Francisco Bay that got bought and moved to Half Moon Bay for party condos, but it had three sets of radios, generators, and so on. Something like that parked of the US NW coast would be fun. I don't know what the rules are about floating micronations, or ships flying the flag of a micronation. The three sets of radios, one set was running, one set on for backup, and one set cold. From looking at the pictures of the Sealand King, he doesn't look like a pirate.

That's so incredibly amazing, I'm at a loss for words. So I'll let the Grand Exalted High Makkah of Raspar, a non-existent but real-sounding country, speak for me:

"It's rough with a new country. Do you realize the entire population is still packed up in crates?"

I'm "behind" you 100%!!!!!!

And the Statue of Liberty was still packed-up in a crate like a virgin whore.

what the hell ARE those dancing man-whore creatures? Why, God, why?

Yes indeed! Free Trade = Steel Import Tarifs. Very marketable to republican voters in the rust belt who can easily hold two contradictory ideas if you pay them but can't walk and chew gum at the same time. And stop putting hormones in the beef, dammit!

Yes, it's obvious that the damned Right-wing commies are now in charge, not only with the steel, but no laissez faire with the trees and wood products, either. For specialty steel, I'd rather have Swedish steel, Japanese steel, or Ruhr Valley steel, but no! America is good for lots of cubed-up cars. World Trade Organization, ha! Yep, America is something. Like the War on Terror, many people think that America IS the terroristic bully on the block. John Ashcroft singing "Let the Eagle Soar!" Should be an inspiration to us all and Britney should start wearing one of those skimpy Red, White&Blue G-Strings with a Star-Spangled halter top, and rhinestone platform shoes. Jose, can you see? Long live Babylon!

Yes, the Ministry of Truth can issue contradictory pronouncements.

What's all this about Seeland?

LESS POLITICAL DEBATE AND DISCUSSION, MORE FARTY BUTTS

i agree wholefartedly. academic circle jerk sessions just bring back bad memories of Father Flannegan and his birch rod.

Uh!

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who is confused and frustrated about Britney's tradition of doing interviews and swearing up and down to be a totally chaste little innocent catholic schoolgirl, then doing live performances dressed like the world's most expensive stripper and holding a WRITHING ALBINO PYTHON, which is such a blunt LOOK PENIS metaphor that even people who can't spell "symbolism" know exactly what it's implying.
It's not like they just found a fucking albino python lying around in the prop room and said "Hey, let's accessorize with this baby!" either. They had to plan this in advance, bribe the hell out of several patchouli-ridden nature conservatists, and then probably sedate the damn thing so it didn't crush Britney's head during the performance or try to crawl into her vagina or both.

I wouldn't care so much if my little sister didn't watch her videos all the time. It disturbs me she's watching a video which is essentially a sweat-coated Britney writhing in the center of a giant mass of male Sears Catalogue casual-wear models to the "tune" of her song, which basically is saying she's some guy's whore and the media doesn't understand because she's a big girl now and then there's a chorus which has her panting repeatedly in it. I take every opportunity to let my little sister know "See what she's doing there? That's called 'being a stupid slut'."

It's the hypocrisy that gets me. DAMMIT EITHER BE CLEAN AND NICE OR JUST GET WITH THE ANAL SEX VIDEOS ALREADY. And Justin Timberlake is a fag who beats women to feel better about liking it in the butt. His butt, I mean. I'm sorry about this whole post, they fucking disabled all chat on the firewall here.

You might have a B.A. in rhetoric, which nowadays is equivalent to a highschool degree twenty years ago; however, your article is one enormous non sequitur. Read Freud's essay on the taboo of virginity, get a clue, earn a degree in anthropology or even literary critism, then try again. I thought your essay was written by a child. Had you, which you haven't, read any criticism on basic feminist theory, you would have realized that your entire "article" is very old news and cliche.

Try reading some essays on Hitchcock's films and you will know that you are stupid, rather than ignorant.

Read Baker's book -- Spermwars -- and learn something about the science of desire and sexual attraction. Clearly, Spears is not desirable because of your chimera -- that is, she is some admixture of virgin and whore. Are you Roman Catholic, by the way? Regardless, you can still get psychological counseling.