Just The 'Girl Next Door'?

Three women sharing one man in an almost polygamist fashion, skimpy outfits, suggestive photo shoots…Ariel Levy would have so much to say! Levy describes female chauvinist pigs as, “women who make sex objects of other women and of ourselves” (Levy 4). There is no denying that in the world of Playboy, women are certainly helping to make sex objects out of themselves, despite what Hugh Hefner may say. As an avid and shameless fan of reality television, I have seen nearly every episode of “Girls Next Door,” a show following the lives of Hugh Hefner’s three girlfriends and their adventures at the Playboy Mansion. Kendra Wilkinson, my favorite of the three, is portrayed as a young, sexy “tomboy” who happened to find herself at the Mansion. She parties with the girls, plays sports with the boys, and never stops laughing or shaking her booty. What would Levy think of such a woman?

As described by Levy, Raunch Culture is essentially what feminism and women’s’ sexual liberation has turned into. Women are no longer hiding their bodies from men and demanding rights, but rather flaunting their assets as a way to proclaim their freedom and sexuality. Female chauvinist pigs are often guilty of this behavior themselves, and encourage it in others. Nonetheless, their connection to “feminism” isn’t always strong; many females feel the need to distance themselves from “girly girls” and instead to act like one of the boys to gain a sense of power.

Unfortunately, Kendra Wilkinson seems to embody all that Levy despises: a habit of taking her clothes off for male attention, and the need to prove herself a tomboy to be recognized as something more. In an article on pr.com, senior editor Allison Kugel interviews Kendra, who has now left the Mansion and become a wife and mother. Even Kugel, in her opening description of the interview, felt a need to distance herself from “girly” qualities by saying, “From a love of the same television shows and a shared tomboy sensibility, to a disdain for shopping, Kendra and I had a lot in common.” After discussing Kendra’s relationship with her new husband, Hank, Kugel asked her about her love of football (her husband plays for the Philadelphia Eagles). “I feel like I have the same mind as guys, more so [than girls]” she said. Kendra went on to describe her disdain for dressing up, shopping, applying make-up, etc. However, anyone who has ever watched her show knows that to be false. Wilkinson even “dresses up” for sporting events she participates in; she sported a tiny skirt and beanie when she was shown golfing. But, as Levy said, “what is cool is for women to take a guys’-eye view of pop culture…” (Levy 92).

Perhaps Kendra’s love of football and sports is a way to both connect to the male gender, and show that athleticism and sexiness can in fact go hand in hand. As harmless as that may seem Ariel Levy sees it differently. “If you really believed you were both sexy and athletic, wouldn’t it be enough to play your sport with your flawless body and your face gripped with passion in front of the eyes of the world?” she asks (45). In addition to Kendra’s “sexy athleticism,” her disdain for girly tendencies is ultimately harmful to the third wave of feminism (if that’s what we are in). Though not all women are in to painting their nails and shopping for new jeans, those women who feel the need to distance themselves from those activities are portraying womanhood as “something to escape from, something less than manhood,” whether they truly hate those activities or just pretend (Levy 112).

As the interview continued, Kendra revealed that the first piece of furniture she had in her new house was a stripper pole. And not just an ordinary stripper pole, but a Kendra Wilkinson Sport Pole that is for the purpose of working out. “Working out,” on stripper poles has become popular in our culture as female sexuality is further and further explored and accepted. As a woman talking to Levy said, “I could never be a stripper myself, but I think it would be so sexually liberating” (Levy 97). Somewhere along the lines of women’s rights, suffrage and sexual liberation, taking your clothes off and dancing on a stripper pole has equated to liberation and power. It is the result of a sort of “why try to beat them when you can join them?” attitude that has evolved in our culture, and is shown through women like Kendra Wilkinson. Rather than showing off your mind, athletic ability or wit, women feel more empowered by showing off their bodies and sexualy through their attendance at events like CAKE parties, where they can view and demonstrate “feminism in action.” Real feminism in action, however, would require women flipping the stereotype upside down and treating men like pieces of meat, not copying their same behavior and making comments about their fellow females’ body parts.

At the end of the interview, Kugel jokes with Kendra about a massager at Brookstone that (apparently) everyone knows is really a vibrator. This sort of banter is exactly what Levy despises; women talking like men to show that they too “get it.” As Levy says, “The task then is to simultaneously show that you are not the same as the girly-girls in the videos…but that you approve of men’s appreciation of them, and that possibly you too have some of the sexy energy and underwear underneath all your aggression and wit” (Levy 99).

All the negative qualities that females have acquired and claim as “feminism” are those that are embodied in Kendra Wilkinson. From her habit of flashing her boobs and shaking her booty, to her claim that her mind is more like a man’s, Wilkinson is exactly what Levy hopes women do not become. Despite the fact that Kendra claims not to be into all that “Hollywood stuff” and doesn’t consider herself as famous, she is still the star of her own new reality show “Kendra’s World” which chronicles the next stage in her life. While the “Girls Next Door” showed her as a tomboy party girl without a care in the world, “Kendra’s World” shows her as she tries to domesticate herself; she learns to cook, clean, be a wife, and ultimately calm herself down (except for the stripper pole). When discussing Playboy, Ariel Levy says that “the more basic way Playboy undermines the female sexual liberation Hefner claims to promote is this: The women who do go into careers outside the sex industry will never be seen by the millions of men-and the growing number of women-who read Playboy as actresses or mothers or lawyers or executives; they will never be seen as themselves” (Levy 42). Perhaps that is why Kendra feels the need to tape the next stage in her life…as an attempt to separate herself from being one of the girls next door and reclaim herself as Kendra, whoever that may be. Levy may not think it’s possible, but I hope that Kendra proves her wrong. Kendra, you’re still my girl!