"Some girls are taught to be sexy"
About this Quote
"Some girls are taught to be sexy" lands like a quiet accusation, the kind Vega specializes in: plain language that suddenly makes the room feel complicit. The power is in the verb. "Taught" strips sexiness of its supposed naturalness and recasts it as training, an acquired posture delivered through compliments, warnings, dress codes, pop lyrics, advertising, and the constant low-grade surveillance of the male gaze. Sex appeal isn’t framed as a choice or a vibe; it’s curriculum.
The line’s restraint is the point. Vega doesn’t say who’s doing the teaching, because the answer is: everyone. Parents trying to keep daughters safe by making them "presentable", media selling empowerment that looks suspiciously like marketing, peers enforcing what gets rewarded, punished, or laughed at. "Some" is doing sly work too. It narrows the claim just enough to sound observational rather than ideological, which lets it slip past defenses while still indicting the system.
Coming from a musician whose songwriting often treats urban life and private vulnerability with forensic calm, the quote fits a cultural moment where femininity is both monetized and policed. The subtext isn’t anti-sex; it’s anti-script. Being "sexy" here isn’t about desire so much as performance - a survival skill with real consequences: attention you’re supposed to want, danger you’re blamed for attracting, power that expires the minute you’re seen as using it "wrong". Vega’s sentence leaves the listener with an uncomfortable question: if it’s taught, who benefits from the lesson?
The line’s restraint is the point. Vega doesn’t say who’s doing the teaching, because the answer is: everyone. Parents trying to keep daughters safe by making them "presentable", media selling empowerment that looks suspiciously like marketing, peers enforcing what gets rewarded, punished, or laughed at. "Some" is doing sly work too. It narrows the claim just enough to sound observational rather than ideological, which lets it slip past defenses while still indicting the system.
Coming from a musician whose songwriting often treats urban life and private vulnerability with forensic calm, the quote fits a cultural moment where femininity is both monetized and policed. The subtext isn’t anti-sex; it’s anti-script. Being "sexy" here isn’t about desire so much as performance - a survival skill with real consequences: attention you’re supposed to want, danger you’re blamed for attracting, power that expires the minute you’re seen as using it "wrong". Vega’s sentence leaves the listener with an uncomfortable question: if it’s taught, who benefits from the lesson?
Quote Details
| Topic | Equality |
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