Come on Barbie, Let's Go Party

This imagine is simply a little side note to the more major blog posts going on in these two sections. Every Sunday (and sometimes late on Saturday nights), Frank Warren posts anonymous secrets that have been mailed to his home. While the topics range from secret candy habits to suicide prevention, this particular one caught my eye--and I don't think it's only because we've been reading about this revolution in which "gender blending in sexual politics" is occuring (Wykes 132). As Naomi Wolf states, "women must want to embody [beauty] and men must want to possess women who embody it. This embodiment is an imperative for women and not for men" (Wolf 12). However, men are now "beginning to aspire to previously feminine concerns for 'looks'", which may be stemming from the "leisure and pleasure industries, which have increasingly targeted male beauty and body consumers through advertising" (Wykes 132). When I was in middle school, I used to rant about how some of the "popular" boys were chubby, had bad skin, had braces, etc. and all the "popular" girls were stick thin, straightened their hair, and were already wearing makeup. It bugged me, even then, that the standards that men and women were held to were so different. But, as stated by both Wilkes and this post card, the tides are turning--well, at least they may be evening.