Whale Tail - Socio-cultural Analysis

Socio-cultural Analysis

Attributing whale tails to mainstreaming of the sexualization of young women, The Press Democrat termed the trend as "stripper chic". Post-modern thinker Yasmin Jiwani and co-writers described the trend in Girlhood: Redefining the Limits as an attempt to redefine girlhood while acknowledging the debate around it. The book termed the trend as the "slut" look popularized by Britney Spears. Some experts even dubbed whale tail flashing as "thong feminism" for young girls. Other experts accused marketers of "outrageous selling of sex to children".

One conjecture assumes that the style of exposed thong may have "bubbled-up" from the street level to the high streets, like the jeans and t-shirt look of James Dean. Another assumes the fad was initiated by glamor model Jordan in England and singers Mariah Carey and Spears in the United States. The phenomenon has been compared to the phenomenon of visible bra straps. Saying that "just as Madonna made bras a public garment in the 1980s, Ms. Lewinsky, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears transformed women's panties into a provocative garment intended for public display", the New York Times claimed that the thong, with straps worn high over the hips and exposed by fashionable low-rise jeans and "Juicy Couture" sweat pants, had become a public icon.