Ariel Levy, author of the controversial book Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture, spoke to students about how promiscuity among American women has become a reflex instead of an expression of an authentic feeling.

In a campus talk last Thursday, Levy, who writes for New York Magazine, said she began noticing a change in the way women portray themselves a few years ago when magazines targeted for males, such as FHM and Maxim, began to grow in popularity.

Its a type of generational rebellion, Levy said about the sudden rise in raunch culture in the United States. No one wants to be their mother.

Levy defined female chauvinist pigs as women who objectify themselves and other women, and raunch culture as the cartoonish representation seen everywhere from television to magazine covers. She said that images presented by the media show unrealistic and unsubtle images, and portray women as merely sexual beings.

Some feminists praise raunch culture, saying that the images prove they are not prissy, but confident with their bodies, yet Levy argues that bawdy does not equal liberated, and public sexuality does not equal feminist strength.

Levy said that sexuality has become less of a feeling and more of a performance that women feel required to put on. She also said that raunch culture has become the litmus test for female uptightness. Women bare their breasts for cameras and wear skimpy clothes because it has become an impulse, not a genuine feeling.

Levy read an excerpt from her book about her experience traveling with the camera crew for the popular video series Girls Gone Wild. Making the audience laugh with her blunt and sarcastic accounts, she told of educated young women flashing the camera and dancing seductively in exchange for T-shirts.

Many feminist groups have accused Levy of being ultra-conservative, such as CAKE, a party-planning company that dedicates itself to throwing sexually explicit events for women. During a television appearance on The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert jokingly blamed Levy of wanting all women to wear burkas. Yet, she said that is not the goal of her book.

She said she wants her book to provoke discussion of the issue and provide the idea that promiscuity does not promote the ideas of pioneering feminist leaders.

Again, reading from her book, Levy told about abstinence-only sex education programs instituted in schools around the country. She said there are no programs that talk about what teens want, only what they should fear. She also said there is no study that proves that abstinence-only programs work, and that about 80 percent of all teenagers graduate high school without their virginity.

Women should be prioritizing their own desires, Levy said.

Levys book was translated into Dutch, French and Italian and she has given talks in both the United Kingdom and Australia. She graduated from Wesleyan University with degrees in American literature and critical thinking.

Reporter: Jaci Gentile - 02/22/07