I have known Imas for at least 5 years. When I met her, she was newly arrived in Bali from Java and was working long hours for ridiculously low wages at a restaurant in Sanur. During the ensuing years, much has changed, and Imas is now engaged to marry an Australian man.
I ran into Imas and her daughter at Plaza Renon this morning, where the young girl will take part in a fashion show.
Honestly, this sort of thing has always seemed a bit weird to me. These small girls are covered with makeup and put into short shorts and high heels and are taught how to walk and display themselves as women. One can hardly avoid noting the obvious 'sexification' of the children. This would seem to be sending all the wrong messages to modern women about what is and what will be important in life.
On the other hand, what remains quite important in Indonesia is a woman's prospects for attracting and marrying a worthy man. This remains in large part the "goal" of the female--marriage, family, security--and is to be gotten through dangling the proper bait rather than through accomplishment or independence or even love. Love is a ways down the list. Practicality comes first.
It is amusing to watch these girls strut on the elevated walkway, pose and move with elegance, and then rejoin their friends on the sidelines and behave again exactly like plain old little girls, decidedly less than sophisticated or elegant.
Of course, their mothers will say that they are simply proud of their beautiful daughters, and there's nothing wrong with that. Still, the lipstick and the eye shadow and the fake lashes and the coochie-cutters and the stiletto heels ... I don't know. To me, it just seems somehow sad.
I ran into Imas and her daughter at Plaza Renon this morning, where the young girl will take part in a fashion show.
Honestly, this sort of thing has always seemed a bit weird to me. These small girls are covered with makeup and put into short shorts and high heels and are taught how to walk and display themselves as women. One can hardly avoid noting the obvious 'sexification' of the children. This would seem to be sending all the wrong messages to modern women about what is and what will be important in life.
On the other hand, what remains quite important in Indonesia is a woman's prospects for attracting and marrying a worthy man. This remains in large part the "goal" of the female--marriage, family, security--and is to be gotten through dangling the proper bait rather than through accomplishment or independence or even love. Love is a ways down the list. Practicality comes first.
It is amusing to watch these girls strut on the elevated walkway, pose and move with elegance, and then rejoin their friends on the sidelines and behave again exactly like plain old little girls, decidedly less than sophisticated or elegant.
Of course, their mothers will say that they are simply proud of their beautiful daughters, and there's nothing wrong with that. Still, the lipstick and the eye shadow and the fake lashes and the coochie-cutters and the stiletto heels ... I don't know. To me, it just seems somehow sad.
No comments:
Post a Comment