It is never smart, even in a strong democracy, to declare some debate off limits. In a weakening democracy it is catastrophic.
If you look at weak democracies, the oligarchies that have taken undue control of them always seek to tamper with the vote. It is important for oligarchs to have elections to give their guy a veneer of legitimacy - and important for the vote always to turn out 'their way.'
Most urgently, women's identity must be premised upon our 'beauty' so that we will remain vulnerable to outside approval, carrying the vital sensitive organ of self-esteem exposed to the air.
The First Amendment was designed to allow for disruption of business as usual. It is not a quiet and subdued amendment or right.
To ask women to become unnaturally thin is to ask them to relinquish their sexuality.
Madonna is that forbidden thing, the Nietzschean creative woman. Her preoccupation with a high level of work doesn't allow her to follow the usual script that powerful women are expected to follow - 'don't hate me for my success, don't hate me for my power.'
