Friday, September 12, 2008

Dear Diary 3

Dear Diary,

I just got my issue of Vibe magazine and it really made me sad. Ciara is on the cover and she's naked. There are also three naked pictures of her inside the magazine. As a black woman and a mother, I went through so many emotions when I saw the pictures. At first I was disgusted, then I was angry, and now i'm sad.

Is this what it has come to? Butt-naked on the cover of Vibe magazine?

I've heard Ciara say many times that she understands that she is a role model for young girls and want to be a good example. I'm still trying to understand how her naked spread in Vibe furthers her role model status.

I understand that this young lady is coming of age and becoming a woman, but she can't have it both ways. You can't call yourself a role model for young girls and turn around and pose nude in a magazine. I don't want to hear that she wants girls to be proud of their bodies. That is real nonsense.

The issue is not only why did Ciara feel the need to have put her body on display. Why did Vibe feel the need to have a naked woman on their cover? I don't think their sales are lacking. I just don't get it. I held that magazine in my hand and stared at it in disbelief. I felt bad for Ciara. I'm not a big fan of her voice, but I do think she's a talented young lady. I don't get why she would do something like that.

I have a daughter and even though she's 23 years old, I think she would think of her father and I before she did something like that. I can't help but wonder how Ciara's parents feel. I think I would be devastated if that was my daughter because I just would not want her to go that route.

We live in such a sex crazed society. There's that saying that sex sells and, unfortunately, it's true. It's hard to raise a girl these days. There are so many things she has to watch out for. We have to teach our daughters that they are more than t and a. We need to instill love of self and confindence into our daughters.

I would love to sit down with Ciara and the editors of Vibe and ask them why the nakedness was necessary. Would they editors put a naked man on their cover?

We as women have to do all we can to insure that the next generation of us are strong Black, Latino, Asian, White......women. It's important for the survival of our society.

Until tomorrow....

3 comments:

A Free Spirit Butterfly said...

I am speechless as well. I don't read the magazine so I'm wondering if is it on the grocery store shelf or do you have to subscribe to the nude issue? What will our young women think of her now? I know that she will regret this decision much later in life. I'm 44and I have made peace with the many misguided decisions that I made in the past and none of those consisted of nude photos. What she doesn't see now is the fact that she can't take it back. As long as there is google, she will forever be exposed. I pray that when she decides or if she decides to marry and have children that she will find the words to explain the need to have bared it all. I'm a "firm" beleiver that my "beauty" is deep within. PS. I'm with you, Writing creeps through my vains just as freely as the oxygen I breathe. Peace & Blessings!

Strongblkwmn said...

Thanks for visiting.

The issue is on news stands now. The more I think about it, the sadder I get. I really wish young women put more thought into some of the things they do.

The Fitness Diva said...

You have to realize that men run this media.
If you've noticed, Black females nowadays are given no other options when it comes to promoting their music, movies, etc, than to get half naked and get into magazines which feature them mainly as sex objects and body parts.
I feel sorry for all the young female entertainers that have come out in the past 10 or so years, because they have been led to believe that this is the norm. And the men running their careers, their agents, producets, managers, etc, lead them down this same path over and over again. I doubt very much that Ciara had complete control over the decision. You have to fault the owners and directors of Vibe, King, and all those other urban magazines for these displays. They always have a concrete idea of what they want on the cover and in the mag, and I think that if an artist doesn't want to play ball, she doesn't get the gig.

Remember back when Chaka Khan, Aretha, Diana Ross, Gladys, Sister Sledge, A Taste of Honey, CeCe Winans, Teena Marie and all those other singers came out years ago? They never had to promote their records by showing their T & A in and on magazines and being these ridiculously over the top sex vixens in videos. It would have been frowned on.

These girls out here now don't have a clue that it's just not supposed to be like this.