Because You Never Asked

MARILYN AND MADONNA

     (This is one of the first essays in this series, written way back in 1991. With Madonna now involved in a custody battle over an African boy she is trying to adopt, this seems as good a time as ever to put it on my website.)

     When I decided to write about Madonna, I hadn’t intended to include Marilyn, but the mysterious power of the defunct sex goddess seems to hover over anything having to do with blond power. Somehow, she could not be ignored. Perhaps the current pop star would not fancy sharing the marquis, but she’ll just have to live with it. The “material girl” has no jurisdiction within the confines of these pages.

     Sexual attraction is certainly a subjective affair, but after scrutinizing the facts in this battle of bomb shells, the nod must go to Marilyn. The mere anticipation of her presence caused the kind of tension and excitement inherent in an electrically charged summer storm. Her most insignificant gesture --- a slight bend at the waist, a minute hike of the hem, the hint of a smile, the breathy utterance of a simple sentence --- was cause enough to convulse the air in a flutter of sexual agitation. If one might, for at least this moment, cast aside the sad memories of her relationship with the Kennedy brothers and fondly remember her steamy rendition of “happy birthday, Mr. President” --- well, need I say more? In comparing this to the hysterical, crotch-clutching, tit-grabbing ostentation of Madonna, there can be no doubt; when it came to “it”, Marilyn had more than she could handle. She was the classic expression of her bloodline, the “Joe DiMaggio” of sex symbols. Madonna can only be seen as a cheaper, K-Mart, Jose Canseco version.

     But there is a broader (no pun) picture to look at. When it comes to the game of life, Madonna, perhaps with the help of the feminine politics Marilyn was not privy to, is a clear cut winner. Marilyn’s sexual resources were exploited primarily by others, namely the avaristic, insensitive, male controlled business world of Hollywood. Madonna has controlled here own destiny and exploited her resources and talents for her maximum benefit.

     In the eyes of some, this makes her a leader in the aforementioned world of feminine politics. Some view Hugh Hefner’s daughter, who has pumped some silicone into the once sagging physique of her father’s Playboy empire, in much the same way. If one defines “Feminism”, at least in part, as an attempt to give women something more than an erotic identity, such an assertion becomes hard to accept. That’s something like calling an arms dealer a pacifist because he sells his wares equally to hostile forces, thus maintaining a tenuously balanced peace.

     Madonna is more to be thought of as a whore who has cast off the oppressive yolk of her pimp. This is a laudable achievement, but hardly a role model for any woman who wants to be thought of as something more than an orifice for sexual pleasure.

     Let’s face it; only the roll of the dice which granted Madonna her good looks (?) kept her from being Madonna Ciccorelli, just as the same roll of the dice did away with

Norma Jean. Madonna must be applauded for the independence with which she has constructed her career, but she has only used the one resource women have always been allowed to use in seeking triumph: her sexuality. Cleopatra was another who knew how to play this card,        

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Email: JerryG@postcman.info