She Can’t Speak or Think, She’s the Perfect Woman!

Growing up in a society that, like most, belittled femininity whilst also demonizing women who didn’t fit into the expectations of women, I learned a lot.

1. You must fit the role of a woman to be treated with respect and dignity.
2. Even if you do fit into those traditional roles, you also must deal with not being seen as fully human.
3. The perfect woman is one that does not voice her opinion, attends to the men in her life, and looks pretty.

If I’m being honest, I resent this aspect of society. The part that isolates women and treats us as objects.

How is that any way to live?

Answer?

It’s not.

And women, for centuries, have asserted this protest. We have made it known that we are people. In a perfect world, this demand would be heeded, and we would be treated as such in all walks of life. But in a perfect would, misogyny wouldn’t exist. So…here we are.

To jump over centuries of oppression and resistance…the 21st century has opened up the seemingly endless possibilities that misogyny can take the form of. One of which being a replacement of a woman.

You might ask yourself: How?

Answer?

A.I.

I saw a video recently from the BBC World Service that filled me with so much dread and disgust I just knew I had to talk about it. This isn’t a surprising emergence at all. Something about A.I. appeals to people. Something about these A.I. models or programs like ChatGPT or Claude scratch that connectivity itch that people have. Does it matter that they’re not real? Absolutely not. What matters is that they are tailored for you. They are meant to be agreeable. They are not meant to be human.

So even though this isn’t a new occurrence, this video still left a bad taste in my mouth.

Why is that?

The popularity of this A.I. model and others like it is what drew my eye. The consumer base is mainly composed of men. The fact that these models are made to draw in the eye and change at a whim is particularly disturbing.

Whether you like the typical IG influencer or not, the fact that something like this exists in an already over saturated field is quite alarming. It raises the question as to what makes an A.I. model so appealing.

A.I. models are something women can never be, malleable and thoughtless. The sheer fact that they are no more than inanimate entities and yet attract the same attention as human models asserts an unavoidable truth in this society.

Women are seems as objects.

Replaceable.

To see that this model is receiving advertising opportunities treats our contributions as disposable. The consumers love the look of a woman, but they detest the fact that she may have a brain and full autonomy.

I look to this video (and troubling trend) as a reminder. In a world that is not made to protect or value you, you must find that within yourself. Misogyny is embedded into the very fabric of society. We will likely never escape this. The inevitable truth is that we must take this truth and combat it.

So to thrive in this world, I have learned three things:

1. You must make yourself known in this world, lest you’ll be forgotten.
2. You have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Doing things that bring you anxiety, yet present a net good for all.
3. This harkens back to #2, be a feminist. That means analyzing your feeling about women and womanhood and asking yourself “Is this truly what I believe?”