With That, I'm Going To Get A Cupcake.

I have a pet peeve. Being sexy, using sex appeal, lipstick, stiletto heels, and slinky dress or whatever you feel sexy in? Not anti-feminist. Hell, I think it's downright feminist to embrace sex appeal. And here's why I'm dragging out my soapbox about it today:

A tweet today from Eureka show runner Amy Berg caught my attention today. She asserted: Looking forward to not watching Nikita. Not interested in entertainment that objectifies women under the guise of empowering them.

Without having seen the new version of Nikita, I was a little surprised. Sure, Nikita is being billed as sexy- no big surprise there, that's who she was in the original movie and the first TV show. But she's also smart, athletic, moral, and got herself out of an organization that controlled her and forced her into something she didn't support. Beyond the observation that she's a sexy woman, I'm not sure what Ms. Berg and a handful of other Syfy writers who have echoed the sentiment objections are. I may be wrong and Nikita will prove to be exploitative and objectionable, but I haven't heard an argument for why it is yet beyond Nikita having sex appeal.

"Eureka"'s brand of feminism suits me fine, but at the same time, I could fuss because it's a show that has never had a woman who wears over a size 6 onscreen. No room to talk about sex appeal with a gun-- season 1, Jo Lupo's garter gun was nothing but sheer sex appeal in the same vein as most spy shows like Nikita. And the Syfy network featured promos for "Caprica" with a nude 16 year old female character. Glass houses, stones, yada.

We're not talking about non-consensual, virtual rape as we saw with "Dollhouse" or even the original "Nikita"'s woman under the thumb of the company. I'll worry about smart capable women who also happen to be sexy and use their sex appeal like a weapon when A.) there aren't bigger battles to fight and B.) I object to it. I just don't. The playing field isn't level so why not use lipstick power, and sometimes, it's a hell of a lot of fun to be sexy. I play well as one of the guys (Hell, half the time, I'm one of the only woman on a crew!), and no, I don't mind if the teasing goes sexual around me. It's part and parcel of who I am.

I've never heard it better than when "The West Wing's" Ainsley Hayes took a swing at it during season 3. You can jump ahead to 3:17 to see just the scene I'm referring to, or watch the whole video to see all the relevant scenes from the episode:



And as the woman said, with that, I'm going to get a cupcake. I'll probably have another while I tune in to watch Nikita tomorrow night and judge the show's feminism or lack thereof for myself.