Sexual, or Sexualizing?

In light of the recent Glee GQ photoshoot scandal, I'd really like to share my thoughts on it as well as the queer issues that are being developed in Glee. I don't really need to provide links: just Google "Glee GQ" and you will be inundated with news and blogs about it, as well as the pictures themselves.

I am a Gleek through and through, and I have felt pressure from some of the feminist community to decry this photoshoot as hypersexualizing young girls in the media. Yes, the pictures are racy; yes, it is only the two women dressed scantily while Cory Monteith is fully clothed (although, think about it people, GQ is a men's magazine and must appeal to its target audience.) But I'm going to give my honest feelings and defend these two actresses that I admire so much. I say only the two actresses because interestingly enough I see certain feminists criticizing only Dianna Agron and Lea Michele while leaving Cory Monteith entirely out of the discussion, for whatever reason. I'll say this simply: those actresses are grown women and are entitled to do whatever they think is right for them. Now, that being said, it's clear to me from Dianna Agron's statement regarding the shoot that she had mixed feelings about it throughout. My feminist goal for all women is to feel informed enough to make their own choices regarding their bodies, and I can see her dilemma without judging it. Yes, they do portray high school students in Glee, but to echo Agron's question, why in the hell would any young girl be reading GQ in the first place? And honestly, they may not need to be watching Glee either. Glee never made itself out to be a purely innocent family show; it deals with mature subjects in a transparent manner. Therefore I deplore the PTC's extremely loose usage of the term "pedophilia," not only because the actors are all adults but because Glee is simply not a kids' show, and I am not criticizing the show for that; in fact, it's why I watch it.

Finally, I will confess something that we are all thinking but not admitting: I'd feel like a hypocrite saying anything bad about these pictures or the actresses in them because they are, quite frankly, HOT; if you deny being somewhat aroused by them, you're either lying or a gay man. Therefore to criticize them would be like a politician who makes a career out of busting prostitutes and yet enlists their services himself. And that's all I have to say about that.

I feel a little frustrated at this point because my original topic was about queer issues in the actual show, and I feel like I got distracted by this mess. I love Glee because it has brought many ADULT issues to the forefront in a mature and discursive manner, including queer themes and teen pregnancy and sexuality. I will further explore this when the madness has calmed down and we can turn our focus back to the show.