I hesitated to write about Bettie Page's death because, frankly, I don't know much about her. I saw The Notorious Bettie Page, and I know she is recognized as an icon by everyone from Reason magazine (which called her "one of America's most enduring brands") to Bust (which refers to her as its matron saint). Like anyone who has achieved icon status, her image is bigger than her biography, and how people (feminists in particular) interpret Bettie Page often is more about their personal view of the world than about Page herself.
So I was deeply curious to read other feminist bloggers' reactions to the news of her death. And unsurprisingly, the reactions reflected the spectrum of feminist views on sex and sexwork.
Feminist sex blogger Carlin Ross, on the blog she shares with Betty Dodson, wrote:
She was just a pin up model but she broke barriers. Not many women had the nerve to be a fetish model in her era. Dita Von Teese never had to testify before Congress.I remember finding one of my grandfather's Playboy magazines and finding the image of Bettie wearing nothing but a santa hat pinning an ornament on a xmas tree. I sat there for hours looking at her. It was her joy and sexual confidence. She looked so different than the other women in the magazine. She was happy. She was sexually expressive. And she was powerful.
Kate Harding at Broadsheet wrote:
Page said she got into pinup posing because "I could make more money in a few hours modeling than I could earn in a week as a secretary." In light of her status as a darling of third-wave feminists -- between the sexual liberation and the cute bangs, what's not to love? -- it's worth remembering that her fame came, at least in part, from a lack of options.
And Suzie at Echidne of the Snakes wrote:
In interviews, she said she wasn't personally into bondage, but she enjoyed the photo shoots. She said she never thought of her poses as sexual. ... When commenting about her, a lot of men confuse women's sexuality with what women do to please men, to make a living or to get ahead. People talk about how she celebrated her sexuality, blah-de-blah, without noting that photographers paid her to pose in various ways. I wonder how people look at her photos and see only what they want to see.
Is it possible to be both an icon of sexual liberation and an icon of sexwork-as-a-last-resort? The answer, of course, depends on which feminist you ask. Of everything I read about Bettie Page, I think Amanda's post comes closest to my own feelings on Page as an icon. Your thoughts?
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Honestly, I kind of love her. Her life, from my understanding, was mostly tragic-- she was abused, suffered from mental illness, and barely profited from her image. Despite that (as well as becoming a born-again Christian), she never denounced the pictures and films she starred in-- in fact she generally thought they were fun. She maintained a very healthy attitude towards sex and nudity until the end. I really admire that about her.
"...and barely profited from her image." Also consider how much merchandise has been made and sold from her image from large companies as well as individual fans. I doubt she made a cent from any of that!
She made more money than any secretary would at that time. She never expressed regret. Move on.
I assume from your unprovoked rudeness that you must make Betty Page products and sell them for profit without permission and I struck a cord of guilt...
If not, you should probably move on.
All I meant was that if people used my face without asking me, and made tons of money off of me that I'd never see, I'd be pissed about it. I'm glad to hear she did work out a royalty system. And good for you for being so far above caring about money and protecting yourself financially. I'm glad you see no problem with any of that.
Actually, when her popularity saw a resurgence in the 90's, she did get a manager and was finally able to collect royalties, but you are right that she did not see a cent for the calendars and other tschoskies that used her image before that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bettie_Page#Revival
It is definitely a hard thing to reconcile. In the end, I believe feminists should stand behind the life and experiences of Betty Page because she lived the life of a sexual liberator and sexworker-as-a-last-resort at the same time at a very important time in history.
I think this situation is hard for feminists because many of us would not feel the same way about a woman today. Dita von Teese has seen very little hardship in executing her career. Pamela Anderson has said that she got in the business because it was an easier and faster way to make money, but I don't think she will be receiving the Feminist Lifetime Achievement Award any day soon.
The times are different and the situations are different. In the times of Betty Page, what she did was rebellious, but today her acts would simply be another day in the Girls Gone Wild tour bus.
Except...
GGW participants don't get paid - they get hats and t-shirts and a story to tell if they remember (otherwise, they may get an unfortunate surprise at a party someday).
At least Pamela Anderson is running a business.
I have always loved Bettie Page. She chose her path in life - from college, to modeling, to not sleeping with cretins who felt she owed them. She was no superficial beauty and deserves the legend that will follow her.
There is much discussion on Feministing about the image of women exploited for profit or publicity (PETA, anyone?) but I don't see the pin-up as exploitive in and of itself. Bettie celebrated sexuality and inspired women to do the same. Her pictures are about nothing but sex appeal, and there's nothing wrong with that. As a woman, I look to role models professionally, personally and yes, sexually. Who wouldn't want to feel as carefree and sexy as Bettie does in her photos? Even the sillier bondage ones show a playful side of sexuality that can help one chip away at her inhibitions in order to enjoy her sexuality to the fullest.
katliz, this is something Amanda writes about in a bit more depth in her post. You should check it out.
As a self-proclaimed leatherman, I am extremely grateful for what Bettie Page did, even if that wasn't the original intent. She somewhat normalized, or at least put into the public eye, the type of sex that I like.
As a feminist, it can sometimes be hard to reconcile the fact that I enjoy being controlled by men (or women!) in the bedroom. However, to see such a beautiful, brunette, curvy, strong woman posing in such a manner, makes me feel much more ok about it.
She's an extremely interesting and beautiful woman. Oh, how I miss the days when curvy women dominated the media. The emaciated models of today make me sick :(
Bettie's body type is just as unattainable for me and most of those sickening, emaciated models as my body type is for her. In fact, her body type is probably unattainable for a large percentage of women. I long for a day when no single body type dominates the media. I also long for a day when people stop calling my body type emaciated and sickening.
Yeah, as much as I love her figure, Betty Page had an impossible body. That chest and hips with an iddy-biddy waist! It's gorgeous no doubt, but so rare. You're either built that way, or you're not. So it's no more easy to aspire to than differently thin models of today.
haha... As for her tiny waist, I always got the impression from her photos that she was sucking it in half the time. That's another reason that I always doubte that whole comfortable-with-her-body argument.
Agreed. I hope for the day that people can appreciate every body type without putting a body type down just because it is mainstream. Some girls bones are somewhat visible. If you expect me to accept 'curvy' bodies, I should expect you to expect 'emaciated' bodies.
If curvy bodies did dominate the media and skinny ones were seen as gross by everyone, would we not hate curvy ones and tell people skinny was ok, as long as it was healthy? Or is curvy truly the only good body type that deserves to be appreciated?
Thank you for this post. I never got the Bettie Page thing. I don't understand how she was rebellious. I never saw her celebrating her sexuality, aside from smiling a lot during shoots and that wasn't particularly uncommon either. She was a just a good fetish model.
I feel like people my age (early twenties) who are into Page and pin-ups in general like them because they see those curvy bodies as rebellious. I don't. They might be now, but then they were the physical ideal.
That is one thoroughly disturbing image at the top of this post. I'm grossed out that male assault of a woman is used as the basis of titillation and humor. I don't find women having their clothes ripped off non-consensually to be either titillating or humorous.
The thing I do like about B.P. style photographs is that her expression and body language usually says "Come play with me" rather than "Come degrade and hurt me," which is what we tend to see nowadays.
But I find it so presumptuous of people to claim that B.P. was celebrating her sexuality, or that any stylized pornographic photograph of a woman is an expression of her sexuality - as though posing for wank material were an expression of the woman's sexuality.
Honestly? There was nothing special about her and I don't care what she's done for society. Her death or life have had no effect on me, and I don't care.
All this uproar over her death has only proven to me that Americans are so obsessed with models, movie stars, and anybody with a pretty face, who have done nothing interesting except looking pretty and taking photos. God, how totally repulsive and boring.
That is just MY opinion and I know many of you will disagree with me.
I think that's a fair opinion to have. We are overly obsessed with celebrities. But I do know that she had a significant impact on a lot of people and her life meant a lot to some and its always sad when people die.
You have every right not to care. But I find it strange to go through the effort of making a comment to tell everyone how little you care. You could have shown you don't care by not saying anything at all. But by making the statement, you're showing that it's very important for everyone to know just how much you don't care...which is confusing.
The reason her waist is to tiny is because she's sucking it in.
Why attack the woman?
At what point did I attack her?
When you claimed that she sucked in her stomach.Why does that matter if she did?
Well, I mentioned this earlier, but I find it so strange to hear women gush about how comfortable BP was with her body without acknowledging the elephant in the room--that she sucked in her gut for nearly every photo. Apparently, she wasn't that comfortable with it.
Again, how is that an attack? I am not making a value judgement on her, or even criticizing her body! I am explaining how she gets that "look." It's the look of a woman sucking in her stomach. Women's bodies were different back then. People didn't spend hours in gyms, nor were their diets full of trans fats and high fructose corn syrup. Women's bodies were a little softer (not toned) but not flabby.
TO all who are still clueless privileged femininsts:
"I never thought it was shameful. I felt normal. It's just that it was much better than pounding a typewriter eight hours a day, which gets monotonous."
and
"I could make more in one day as a model than I could in month as a secretary"
DUH!
I don't get it - didn't the op acknowledge this?
At first I thought you were just being rude before because you're a jerk. Now I'm wondering if maybe you're 10-years-old...
i_muse, if you had read the OP more closely, you would see that it touched on the fact that bettie made more money through modeling versus being a secretary.
i don't think anyone here is being "clueless", and in fact you're the one ignoring the salient point made by kate harding about her fame being the result of extremely limited career options. this is further complicated by the fact that despite her popularity, her personal financial gains were quite modest. your assertion upthread that "she made more than a secretary and never expressed regret" frankly reeks of privilege.
DO your research before you attack a stripper and accuse her of privilege.
I just saw your site, you are younger and more privileged.
"I could make more in one day as a model than I could in month as a secretary"
Honestly, if you talk to the majority of women working in strip clubs you will hear some sort of variation on this.
I like Bettie Page. She was a naturally beautiful and photogenic model. She also overcame a lot of hardship--a childhood rife with sexual and physical abuse, bad marriage, and her later struggles with mental illness, with which I can relate. I think it's positive that she felt no shame around her work. But as far as the quasi-mythical stature that has arisen around her, I do have some questions:
Much of what you see wasn't dictated solely by Bettie, but the visions of the photographers like Irving Klaw, Bunny Yeager, etc. Compare this to someone such as Annie Sprinkle who came to determine the content of much of her work. Was Bettie the revolutionary, or did she just play the part in the photographer's visions? Would Annie Sprinkle have been possible without there first having been Bettie Page?
Bettie is often hailed as the first person to do BDSM shots and the like. But I've seen vintage photography from the Victorian era that also depicted this type of material.Granted, none of it matched the quality of Klaw's photos or the enthusiasm of Page, but they definitely weren't the first. Also, what about the other models who also appeared in photo shoots with her? Why aren't they similarly regarded?
Oh gosh, this is a toughie. I know she became born again Christian and all that stuff...and of course I know nothing of what personality she really had. But, that said, I love the pinup image. Healthy, curvy, natural breasts, natural dark hair (not bleached), etc...this image of Bettie has become iconic for most goth girls. The fetish outfits don't hurt either, even though we know she did not actually claim to be kinky at all. I can basically understand this concept. I'm an art model as a side job. I model nude and it is SO not sexual. You're just putting your body into different configurations for artists to draw, and then you get a check.
In the pinups, Bettie looks confident and saucy. That's why I like those pictures so much.
I loved the fact that she looked curvy and confident in her pinups. It's rare to see that now in current pictures with models. It's all about looking submissive and skinny
I already kind of wrote on Bettie Page in another thread.
But I just wanted to add here: Strictly speaking from the point of interpreting her image, I don't see why her smile as such a good thing, makes her look more confident than today's models, etc. It doesn't say "confidence" to me so much as it says cuteness and naivety and feminity (the stereotypical kind). Plus it was standard back then for models.
Who wears a goofy grin on their face when they're being sexual or trying to seduce someone, anyway? Not me, most of the time anyway. It's not natural.
And also, I DON'T SEE HOW ANYONE CAN TALK ABOUT HER EXUDING CONFIDENT SEXUALITY WHEN SHE HERSELF SAID SHE DIDN'T CONSIDER WHAT SHE DID SEXUAL AND SHE THOUGHT PROMISCUITY WAS WRONG. It just seems so WRONG to me to read that into it, under the circumstances.
Really? It's not natural to smile when your trying to seduce someone? When I'm around someone who makes me feel good, I smile a lot and it shows him/her I'm interested. I also smile when I feel good in bed. It's not forced, it's just a natural reaction to happiness and pleasure. Plus, I don't seem to get any complains over that. More often than not it encourages them.
I didn't say I never smile. But no, I certainly don't constantly have a big grin on my face when I feel sexual. The sultry or mischievous looks on some models I identify a lot more with.
And none of that, either way, negates the fact that what pinup girls' smiles communicate to me first and foremost is "cuteness" and "girlishness" as opposed to assertiveness.
Well if you really ever listened or read any of her interviews that was truly her personality. She came off as sweet, kind-hearted, and well girly. That's just how she was. Plus I did read an interview where she found promiscuity wrong but she didn't make it a fact it was wrong. I felt she let it be known that it was in her opinion. Also I felt what she didn't wasn't sexual either. It seemed like she was just having fun with taking photographs. Many people do and it's not like she needed the job. She had a degree in teaching and she was a secretary. She didn't have to model but she wanted too and she enjoyed it. I don't see what was so wrong with what she was doing and in ways she did open doors up for future models and such.
Back then she had to be in court, her pictures were banned, and her reputation back then was trashed by a few conservatives. If she wasn't one of the models (cuz I know she wasn't the only one back then) that faced all that, there wouldn't be so many open doors for the models and entertainers of today to do what they do.
Also everyone that talks about her sucking her stomach in, half the time she was wearing corsets and she doesn't seem to be sucking it in in the Playboy issue and a couple others.
I was really disappointed last week when Feministing didn't blog about Bettie Page's death. Because for some feminists she was an icon. I know that she was an icon for me. She was beautiful, and if you read her bio there was some insecurities and mental health issues as well. But unlike other female icons that are international recognized (Marylin Monroe, anyone?) she didn't let her insecurities turn her into a total tragedy. She became a recluse and lived out her life.
Why drum up an argument against her when she never intended to be anyone's icon? Some people saw it, and others didn't.
Fin.
I'm not drumming up an argument against Bettie Page as a person, or against Bettie Page as an icon. My problem, specifically, is with labeling her a "feminist icon."
And by the way, I recommend the book "Female Chauvanist Pigs" to anyone who might have trouble grasping why someone might find that label problematic in this instance.
By the way, I know of a woman who was molested and gang-raped as a child and then modeled for some erotic photography as an adult.
She also creates art herself, is a sex educator, and a very vocal activist against sexual violence and for queer rights.
THAT'S a "feminist icon". =)
Another thing I find strange about this "Bettie Page as icon" business that is mentioned above, just barely, is that Bettie Page WASN'T the first woman to model for fetish, and she wasn't the only woman at her time doing so.
She gained notoriety through the court case, which actually had more to do with her employer than it did her. I understand that lots of women today admire her, at least the aspects of her they're familiar with (mainly, her image) but if she hadn't been one of men's favorites I doubt her image would have persisted and that any of us would even know who she is today. I could imagine a similar sort of thing happening these days with a well-known Victoria Secret model who happened to do some controversial work on the side (whatever that would be these days) and got caught, and that scenario strikes me as equally absurd.
She is a very interesting person so many contradictions. She had a wonderful body--and real woman's body and was uncomfortable in it. She had a very difficult life. Yep an icon. RIP.
I don't think it's useful for us to call any body type a "real" woman's body...it makes it sound like women who have, say, the opposite body type, are 'fake' women. i know you mean that she had a body type that was more similar (although still unattainable for most of us) to the body type of the average American woman (mostly just because she's biggger than today's models) - but i think that it's best to refrain from calling any body type 'real'
smooches :)
I admire Bettie Page a lot.
I was really into her at first obviously because of her look...the bangs, the black satin...the whole naughty sex-kitten thing. Anyway I had her biography bought for me by a mate for my birthday and I learnt a bit more about her.
I admire Bettie for various reasons. Firstly, she never wanted to "be" a model, as such, her real passion was film and all she really wanted to be was an actress. She took the modeling jobs to make more money, but also to create more exposure for herself in the film industry. Unfortunately, she had a heavy southern accent which wasn't very stylish at the time and...yeah I dunno, she doesn't didn't have as much allure on film as she did on camera. She never achieved her true goal in life, but she gave 110% to what she did anyway, and for that I respect her.
Secondly, Bettie was very smart. I can't remember the exact details because its been ages since I read the book, but I *think* she was awarded grades so high at the end of her schooling years that her local college/secondary school/whatever literally couldn't refuse to take her, even though at that time, in the place where she grew up women attending college was very 'unseemly'. For this, I respect her.
Thirdly, whenever life got her down or seemed to overwhelm her, she would throw herself into learning or mastering something new. She was always reading, sewing, gardening, cooking, designing, whatever. She took action to relieve her despair and improve herself. For this I respect her.
Fourthly, she was given an opportunity to enter films, with the proviso she sleep with the director. She turned him down flat. For this I respect her.
Finally, Bettie was sexually abused at least twice in her life but always seems to approach life with a can-do-have-fun attitude. Many people praised not only her working ethic but her *self*, who she was and what she had to offer. Although the hurts from these abuses (possibly) manifested into later problems, mostly schizophrenia and the attempted murder of two people (for those who don't know, I was shocked too!) she always tried to make the best of herself, her life and her mistakes and triumphs. For this I respect her. I respect her humanity and the fact that her personal achievements (I think) far outweigh her public, professional ones.
R.I.P Bettie Page
I do know what you mean. Maybe to drive home my point even further, this sounds a little like my thoughts about my grandmother. My grandmother had a difficult life. Grew up poor, didn't get to finish high school, abused by her husband, etc. Yet she self-educated, learned things, always persisted, and gives love and support to the extent she can to people in her life.
I admire my grandmother and her strength and persistance -I am in awe of her, in fact, in certain respects. But, my grandmother ain't no feminist icon either. My grandmother doesn't hold feminist ideals, and she never did, and she never did anything terribly rebellious or groundbreaking, and she never did anything major to try and make other women's lives better.
I know MANY people who've had very traumatic things happen to them in their lives. The sad fact is that things like the sexual abuse are not terribly uncommon. And a lot of people out there, probably some you know, find ways of dealing with it and persisting... The people I really admire the most are the people that try to do something new to change it for other people -and I definitely know a few of those.