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Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture by Ariel Levy
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Imposters
A Review by Larissa N. Dooley

In an age when porn star Jenna Jameson's memoir climbs the best-seller list, Olympic athletes pose naked for Playboy, mothers bring their daughters to "cardio striptease" classes at the local gym, and primetime TV features the Victoria's Secret fashion show — that is, in an age of raunch culture — women are claiming to be more liberated than ever.

In her first book, Ariel Levy exposes this sense of liberation as being as phony as the breasts that over 260,000 women in this country had implanted in themselves last year. Instead of working to elevate the status of the female, Levy argues, women have opted to become "one of the guys." In a particularly "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" mentality, the new brand of chauvinist pig is female, and she exploits herself, as well as other women.

Observe the (heterosexual) female chauvinist pig's two key modes of behavior: she fulfills the stereotype of a woman herself, flaunting big boobs in little...
 
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