Draped in a crimson, skin-flashing robe, actress Megan Fox speaks to us from the crimson carpet on the New York Met Gala Ball.
“I am not afraid to be horny,” Fox, star of such Arthouse classics as Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlessays breathlessly.
“A lady, who’s clever, and is aware of the best way to weaponize her magnificence, there may be nothing extra highly effective.
“I really feel like all ladies ought to embrace the truth that because the divine female we’ve got a whole lot of energy and that, as an alternative of rejecting it, I’m completely satisfied to embrace it and go for the horny.”
The divine what?
It was not the primary time the phrase “divine female” has been uttered in a clip, however it was the primary time I would heard it. Now, two years on, it is all over the place.
On TikTok there are 189.5 million movies that pertain to the divine female. These movies have been seen collectively round 2 billion occasions. On Instagram the hashtag ‘divine female’ has been used over 4.2 million occasions. Social media platforms are inundated with reels demanding that ladies embrace their “divine female vitality.”
The non secular idea of the divine female has a storied historical past that predates social media; in reality, it precedes BC. The divine female has functioned as a feminine equal of the worship of masculine gods that underpin many organized religions.
This worship of feminine gods or goddesses was frequent apply in Historic Greece, the Roman Empire, Mesopotamia, the land of Canaan, Pre-Islamic Arabia, and Historic Egypt. Goddesses proceed right now in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Paganism. Now it dominates the crimson carpet and Tik Tok. Who knew?
Gaia the Goddess of earth is a Greek mythological determine who embodies the historic understanding of the divine female. Generally known as the good mom, she is related to the creation of nature and life. Her defining qualities embody, nourishing desires, defending younger youngsters, caring for crops, and her cosmological powers.
Did Fox know all this when she was on that the majority holy of Hollywood sanctuaries, the Purple Carpet?
The “divine female” she described – and which hundreds of social media reels now have fun – is, not surprisingly, mild years faraway from its historic understanding by means of goddesses like Gaia. Social media strips the idea of its common spirituality, and as an alternative makes it about particular person acquire. In fact, it does.
The distorting lens of the male eye
The reels usually contain ladies sharing a listing of practices equated with the “new wave” of female vitality. These embody performing affirmations, adopting a female model, not sporting a bra, utilizing sensual contact, every day train, dream journaling and so forth. All are prescribed to succeed in the optimum state of divine female.
Megan Fox’s feedback on the divine female and weaponizing magnificence are equally misguided. They gas feminine self-perception by means of the male gaze. Fox hyperlinks feminine magnificence with energy. It is a patriarchal trope which has been undermining ladies all through historical past.
“It is attention-grabbing that we have seen this resurgence at a time of arguably unprecedented problem to normative gender roles and identities,” says Dr Zora Simic, a gender research historian on the College of NSW, including: “Typically these connections develop into extra apparent with the passing of time.”
Whereas there may be nothing sexist about embracing female energies (previous or current), too many social media reels conflate energy with a stereotyped model of femininity.
Era Z has been introduced up on social media. Platforms resembling TikTok and Instagram not solely perform as a communication device, however as an info galaxy stuffed with unchecked messages to be absorbed.
With limitless reels promoting a sexist notion of femininity, feminism itself could also be taking just a few unholy steps backwards.
