Black Leather and Lace

Thanks in part to Beyonce's half-time burlesque performance at this year's Super Bowl, I've officially declared the Women's Liberation Movement, the defining cause-celebre of my youth, a train wreck!

To be honest, I was never a big fan of the feminist revolution, fearing it's leaders were throwing the proverbial baby out with the bath water.  So while I supported gender equality, I cautiously watched from the sidelines as my contemporaries rallied around the ERA, defiantly marched on Washington, and triumphantly burned their bras.

I began to wonder a few years back, if the wheels hadn't slipped the track when the painted, powdered and plumed, Madonna shot to super-stardom.  Apparently, along with gender equality, and reproductive freedom, we have a God-given right to publicly express ourselves, intellectually, and sexually. Who knew?

The train rolled further along.

My suspicions were affirmed last year when Lady Gaga writhed her way through a stilettoed S&M parody on the American Idol stage. Clearly, cultural acceptance of what was once considered deviant behavior had evolved right along with the feminist agenda.

Considering the brouhaha surrounding Janet Jackson's purported costume malfunction, (dubbed, Nipplegate) at the Super Bowl in 2004, I was frankly surprised that the NFL would deliver another sexually-explicite half-time performance.

Silly me!  When one considers the demographics of the viewing audience, how can one blame the NFL for giving the consumer, exactly what HE wants - provocatively clad, beautiful, young women, spreading their legs to the strains of throbbing music.

Leather and lace!  Um-um!  Just listen to them slobber on ESPN!

As far as the feminist movement is concerned, correct me if I'm wrong, but radical feminism was supposed to free women from the sexual, intellectual, and economic bondage of their male oppressors?

I would dare to guess, that Madonna, Lady Gaga, Janet Jackson and Beyonce are among the wealthiest entertainers of their perspective generations.  I suppose we should celebrate their success - modern women, daughters of the feminist revolution, make good!

Certainly these women have learned how to successfully compete economically on the world stage - literally - in front of millions, but escaped male bondage?  They're selling the same old product, packaging it differently, and making a whole lot more money!

Three cheers for the feminist revolution!  Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to turn on Lifetime, pour myself a Skinny Girl cocktail, light up a Virginia Slims, and wait for the fourth book in the Shades of Gray series to be published.