After more than a century of fighting to be considered equal, the greatest obstacle opposing the progress of women today is gold digging. Gold digging is portrayed frequently in all forms of media as a legitimate means for women to advance in modern society. Essentially, gold digging is opportunistic, legal prostitution that shames respectable women everywhere.
Women have struggled to be treated as equal to their male counterparts since the late 19th century. The book Vindication of the Rights of Women, a radical text written by British native Mary Wollstonecraft promoting the emancipation of women from the bigotry of the male-dominated world at the time, foreshadowed the first wave of the feminist movement.
She contended that women are capable of being rationally educated. In this respect, she placed the blame on men for refusing to educate their female companions and encouraging flippant behavior.
In the modern era, society continues to promote this sort of behavior in women. Society inundates the minds of little girls with images of fairytale princesses, castles and prince charmings. Many parents raise these female children to believe that they, too, are princesses and deserve everything life has to offer, or at least everything that can be bought.
Upon growing older, these girls realize that a charming little princess can manipulate people, but after a certain age their parents are no longer obliged to provide their royal luxuries. At this point, these women seek out their prince charming.
In the classic stories of Cinderella and Snow White, the princes are kind and compassionate, always mounted on a white stallion. Unlike Cinderella and Snow White, present-day princesses only demand that their princes have money to buy the castle (over-priced house in suburbia), the white stallion (a new Mercedes-Benz) and of course to give them the life of luxury that they deserve simply for being born.
Exchanging your body or company for goods, funds or services amounts to prostitution. In fact, in many cases one’s dignity is exchanged for gifts, which is a price many ladies are willing to pay. The best example of this is Kobe Bryant and his wife Vanessa. After facing rape charges and possibly cheating on her many times in a highly publicized stint, Kobe bought Vanessa an eight carat diamond ring with a price tag of $4 million, just enough to cover the pain and embarrassment of a notorious indiscretion.
Many men content themselves with playing the "John" in these situations, too, further exacerbating the problem. These women bat their eyelashes at the right idiot and the (material) world is hers.
Men do not realize the manipulative web the gold diggers weave in order to access their assets even if they are not in a romantic relationship with them. Often times, these opportunistic females use the damsel-in-distress act to lure men into their labyrinth of lies; acting incapable of doing or knowing things to elicit services from men. The damsel number also comes in handy in situations like that of Kobe and Vanessa Bryant because if a woman is trespassed against the least she can get is a really expensive gift.
This type of behavior is unacceptable. Women objectify themselves for material goods. Gold diggers should make it easier on everyone and just wear a price tag to let everyone know how much they cost (to let guys know who they can afford) and to distinguish themselves from women who cannot be bought. Being a gold digger suggests that a woman cannot provide for, think for or value herself. Instead, she values diamonds, designer goods and luxury cars.
Desires for these things ultimately dismantle the progress of women and diminish our standing in society as a whole.
Griffiths, an architecture senior, can be reached via [email protected]
