OSU's Jennifer Lewis On Gender Balance, Submission & Women's Power
/
Taryn Andreatta On Artistic Nudity, the Female Body, Feminism & Divinity AOC Sensual Rebel
Jennifer Lewis of Columbus, Ohio is an Anne of Carversville guest contributor, one of several women who will share her thoughts on Taryn Andreatta’s editorial ‘The Offering’. Jennifer is pursuing a combined masters/doctorate degree in social work at Ohio State University.
First of all the pictures are gorgeous but I’m not sure that if these were in vivid color I would feel the same. I believe black and white/sepia tones always bring a more artistic vibe to these kind of shots. But when they are in color we lose the value of art and start looking towards nipple color or distracting details. For both men and women. At least that is what I have found to be true.
Second, she is 100% CORRECT. Women will always have the power. We might not make as much money or get the same respect (we should, but that’s a different story) but we will always have the power to create life. Men know deep in their minds that women hold the key to furthering their genetic line and giving them children. They have power in other realms but lets face it: creating a life is far more meaningful to our animal instincts than getting that new client. They know that, we know that, our natural beings know that. (Note from Anne. I wrote my senior thesis in high school on CP Snow’s The Two Cultures’ and test tube babies, so my view on this forever female reproductive power is different from Taryn’s or Jennifer’s.)
Katy Perry | Jenny Cage & Tom Betterton | InStyle Magazine October 2011 SN Living
I am so completely into the notion that men are naturally attracted to certain aspects of a woman. And it is true, our voices, scent and curvature draw most men in. It’s as natural as the sun rising and falling. They need stimulation to their senses. They want to see, hear, smell (and yes taste) a feminine woman. Now let me be clear, I am not a Barbie. I do not do my hair everyday, I wear makeup once every 2 weeks and I typically wear jeans and an old t shirt. But what do I do when I want to feel good about myself or get some extra attention from my boyfriend? I put on a dress, curl my hair and my eyelashes and find my high heels. We, as women, want to feel powerful but not just so we can be equals to men. We want to feel pretty AND intelligent AND powerful.
With that being said I also think that this combination works both ways. We want to feeling amazing, men are most attracted to us when we are, in fact, feeling amazing. I do not believe this causes a submission/dominance issue. I think it goes both ways, we just don’t realize it. Yes sometimes women are dominated by men but men are also dominated by women. It’s a power role. Men dominate us by making more money and being stronger than us. But we dominate them by being fearless in our call for equality and our fearlessness in our sensuality. This is the way it needs to be in my opinion. Sometimes women need to be submissive to men, never in a violent or dangerous way but in a way that a man needs to feel like a man sometimes. And also, a woman needs to feel like a woman. There are roles, and I do not believe that these roles need to be 24/7 set in stone (I will never be a housewife and have dinner on the table by 6 I assure you) but sometimes they need to be there for the sake of helping our inner animals.
Niko & Joshua with Katy Perry | Carter Smith | ‘Fantastic Voyage’ | ELLE March 2011 SN Living
I must write on a much less intellectual note that one of the many reasons I love Katy Perry is that she plays with her feminine side. Sometimes she is sexy, playful and definite man eye candy. But then she is also singing/talking about being empowered, finding courage and beauty within yourself and letting people know that being yourself is so important. I think that’s how women get by: sex symbols (never objects) when they need to be and strong, fierce lionesses when things need to get done. Which most of the time we can do far better ourselves than asking men for help. As long as there is a balance between these two sides I think it works out just fine. ~ Jennifer Lewis, Ohio State University
