Marina & the Diamonds

One of the most striking parts of Orgasm Inc. was the reactions to the before and after photos of women that got their vagina's reconstructed through plastic surgery. The quote that stuck with me was "they look like 12-yr-old girls." The ideal woman is one that is forever young, and it's scary that some parts of a woman are expected to look so young. 

This somehow reminded me of one of my favorite artists, Marina & the Diamonds! Her first album plays and critiques the idea of the "ideal woman" and misogyny in the world. "Girls" is a song in particular that does this, with one of the reoccurring lines "Girls are not meant to fight dirty, never look a day past thirty." We've discussed in class, especially after the Jean Kilbourne speech, how once a woman "passes her prime" when it comes to beauty, she is useless to society. Advertisements use this image of the ideal woman to sell anti-aging products to try to keep woman looking as youthful as possible. In Orgasm Inc., we see that this anti-aging craze has gotten to an even more incredible level with the option for woman to get their vagina's cosmetically fixed to look younger. 

One of the many reasons that I love Marina & the Diamonds so much is the feminism in her pop music. Her answer to how society wants her to act is that she is "not gonna bend over and curtsy for you." This type of subtle yet apparent feminism in pop music is exactly what I feel artists should be doing, especially when music is such an influential part of our culture. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O2W18RE6nI