In Merchants of Cool, we learned about the 2 main stereotypes in media and marketing. The mook is one and the midriff is the other. I will be examining the latter stereotype.
The midriff is a woman who uses her sexuality as her power and she cares what people think. She is extremely concerned with appearances and values beauty/sexuality above all else. She is full of "all the old sexual clichés" and is prematurely mature.
So who are the midriffs in our media today? We know that Britney Spears used to be the embodiment of the midriff, but she's not quite as popular today as she was then. It seems that midriffs give off the appearance of completely caring about what others think because some of our more famous midriffs have spoken out about issues such as body image and they feel confident, even if they have received body backlash. Selena Gomez is one such celeb. The picture to the right seems to fit the mold for a midriff and shows that she can slide easily in and out of that role. She has received hate about her body at times, but she is stronger than that and doesn't care what they say. This attitude seems to be the opposite of a midriff, right? Yes, that is true, but on some of her more sexy photo shoots, she appears to be the midriff: sexy, wearing makeup, and wearing little to no clothing that shows off her toned body. I think that the appearance of being the midriff is actually more important than believing in the reinforcement of that stereotype that they're portraying.
It's important that we realize what the midriff is and where is appears in our society. It would also be beneficial to try to climb out of the limiting molds we have. There is not one type of guy and not just one type of woman.
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