objectification of women in advertising

[kootchman]

I figured it out,, original poster… duh on me… I went looking for member profile OP…

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[redblack]

Jan sometimes ya border on twit.

man, you’re just rude. low. mean. base.

The genre is large… who is OP?

no comment.

{there is an “edit” button, you know.)

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[JoB]

kootch..

i don’t know how to tell you this

because i know it will break your heart

but it’s not all about you

I could go into a long psycho-social discourse here

on the roots of the cosmo girl

but it wouldn’t matter

the phrase arm candy

really says it all

if you bothered to listen

until you own it

you can’t change it

in the meantime

women are demanding much better for themselves

and their daughters

and their grand-daughters

and their great grand-daughters

and in spite of all of the smoke and mirrors

we will get it

the days when a woman would make it all ok for a man

are over dude

you want it to be ok

you fix it for yourselves

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[kootchman]

See you blame the arm… I say it is the person who chooses to be the candy. The training ground for future candy is where? Candy lessons. Biggest purveyors?

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[miws]

See you blame the arm… I say it is the person who chooses to be the candy.

So, just as in predatory lending, Bernie Madoff type scams, any scenario where someone takes advantage of others that may be too trusting, or naive, it’s the totally the fault of the person taken advantage of, and the predator gets off scott free according to your moral compass?

One other thing, Kootch, as JoB alludes to on another thread, you’re a pretty decent guy off-line. I’ve been a witness to that, and am grateful to you.

But, I gotta tell ya; all of our political, religious, and social differences aside, I’m getting damn tired of your name calling, and condescending attitude toward others on these Forum threads.

Mike

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[redblack]

gee. i think that the word predatory kind of says it all.

i guess not to some people, though, huh?

“what! i ain’t doin’ nothin’! who says i can’t dangle money from a fish hook?! huh?! who? it’s that guy’s fault! he got my fish hook stuck in his mouth!

“and he owes me a new fish hook! a better fish hook!”

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[WorldCitizen]

Sorry…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyAvjfeye6A&feature=related

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[JoB]

kootch..

once.. arm candy was the only way in the door

thank god that’s changing

world citizen..

nice abs?

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[DBP]

Eating disorders are the inevitable result of a culture obsessed with thinness . . .

http://tinyurl.com/underweight-models

From the article:

Told she was too fat to be a model, Danielle Segal shed a quarter of her weight and was hospitalized twice for malnutrition. Now that a new Israeli law prohibits the employment of underweight models, the 19-year-old must gain some of it back if she wants to work again.

Not that she was ever overweight. At 1.7 meters (5-feet-7), she weighed 53 kilograms (116 pounds) to begin with. Feeling pressure to become ever thinner, she dropped another 13 kilograms (29 pounds). The unnaturally skeletal girl weighed 40 kilograms (88 pounds) by then, or about as much as a robust pre-teen, and her health suffered.

So Israel passed a law to draw public attention to the problem and to counteract it by clamping down on the modeling agencies that encourage women to starve themselves . . .

The new law requires models to produce a medical report no older than three months at every shoot for the Israeli market, stating that they are not malnourished by World Health Organization standards.

The U.N. agency relies on the body mass index, calculated by factors of weight and height. WHO says a body mass index below 18.5 indicates malnutrition. According to that standard, a woman 1.72 meters tall (5-feet-8) should weigh no less than 119 pounds (54 kilograms).

Also, any advertisement published for the Israeli market must have a clearly written notice disclosing if its models were made to look thinner by digital manipulation.

I don’t cheer many things that Israel does.

But I’m cheering now.

 

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[christopherboffoli]

This is interesting:

http://www.genderremixer.com/lego/#

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[dunnkld]

I don’t shop at Admiral Safeway. They are insensitive to the fact that they prominently display negative images (primarily women) next to the checkout stands (tabloids). This despite the fact that they are located right next to a high school where young women frequently shop/have lunch and a grade school. Teenage girls are very impressionable and this unavoidable exposure to media trash can lead to poor self esteem or warped values, anorexia, bulimia, death.

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[greatfree1]

Objectification of woman also affects men negatively. Ads, movies, TV, they all show men (some not so good looking) with the pretty girl. Guys then grow up thinking their owed a pretty girl and when they don’t they get confused and hurt.This also leads to men looking down on women and call them names if they don’t like us. This also leads down a dangerous path to porn addiction because those girls won’t turn them down. If you don’t think porn is a big deal like I used to, than you aren’t aware of the damage it does to the actors and the people who watch it. If you watch porn you probably don’t realize how it can and will destroy relationships. There is so much that the objectification of woman does negatively we should all want to stop it. From a 33 y/o man.

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[FCa]

Thanks for posting this, OP. This particular topic is one of my soap box issues.

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When I was younger (I’m 29 now), I hated the way the media portrayed women and the expectations it had of me. I struggled with how to best deal with this so one of my first approaches was “if you can’t beat ’em- join ’em” and I really tried to be okay with how the media was portraying me. I read Cosmo, because it was what people my age did, and because I wanted to be whatever it was that men wanted me to be. I wore makeup everytime I went out, because the media told me I looked disheveled and undesirable without it. I made sure to look cute everywhere I went, wearing recealing clothing in the summer and out to clubs. In the end, I just ended up feeling like a fake piece of trash, and I thought I looked like crap at night when my makeup was off. Eventually, I ended up boycotting those magazines and then all of the advertisers that used objectified women in their advertisements.

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It’s a tough situation, really. This “ideal” is being presented to men and women and some women try to make themselves into this ideal, and the “standards” are raised. Gradually, other women who weren’t purposefully trying to become the ideal realize that they have to step up their game a bit and it keeps going (like with how many people are now getting plastic surgery. The expectation is higher and they have to remain “competitive.”) When the standards are so high, not making efforts to look like society wants you to makes you feel like you’re at a black tie party wearing torn sweats.

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I’m fortunate enough to have been raised in a house where my mom told me that my intelligence was my best attribute, and complimented me primarily on my intelligence, not my beauty. In fact, she was outwardly intentional about making sure I understood this. I do the same with my toddler, who is both beautiful and intelligent. I believe what my mom taught me to be correct, but the majority of society doesn’t agree with us, and that’s what bothers me.

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Women are, of course, at fault for this. Some choose to be professional cheerleaders for football, and contribute absolutely nothing to the game itself, except to be “eye candy.” I don’t dislike or disagree with all cheerleaders, but the ones that choose to shake their breasts at the camera are especially irksome. Some women choose to be in porn, or in lad mags, where all of their “imperfections” are airbrushed away, leaving women who look like overly scultped candles and nothing like the actual person. Some act dumb for attention. Some put on a full face of makeup and a cute outfit to go grocery shopping, and my favorite- the gym. As if no man would ever find us desirable sweating it up and being healthy at the gym! Don’t get me wrong- I have nothing against cute clothes or makeup, I just think there’s something very wrong with the image that we can’t be beautiful without it.

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Men can’t be let off the hook, either. Some buy magazines like Maxim, with articles on “how to spot an easy woman.” Some continue to view porn, even when it’s wrecking their relationship. Some watch shows like Manswers where a sassy “hot” girl tells them how it is, or 1000 Ways to Die, which would be interesting if those pesky girls would stop dying in their lingerie. Some degrade women and break us down, putting impossibly high standards on us. The other night I googled “airbrushed celebrities” after seeing a particularly bad photo and found a discussion on how Kate Upton things she’s the hot stuff. The post was filled of images of her making kissy faces, pouting her lips and shorts of her breasts jiggling. I found one that said “I don’t think she’ll age well for her body type,” which is, of course, the thing on the forefront of every woman’s mind at 19. Another comment said “she only had that one good boob jiggle while walking at that one fashion show, and that Helga Overbay has a far better boob to ass ratio.” It’s hard to find a beer ad (or a Kia ad for that matter) that doesn’t feature women as decor.

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Oddly enough, after I started writing this, I found out it’s National Cleavage Day. Joy.

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While I’m going to continue to do my part and be outspoken about natural beauty and what’s really important, I don’t think it’s ever going to change. Why would the majority of men choose to give up a culture that caters to their every desire? Why would women give up the want to be desired by men (sometimes millions of men), and to make easy money by taking their clothes off?

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[DBP]

If you watch porn you probably don’t realize how it can and will destroy relationships.

—That’s your opinion, greatfree1, and you’re welcome to it. I agree with you that a lot of pornography is exploitive and should be criticized for that reason. However, I do not agree with your implication that pornography is necessarily bad, and I for one am not going to apologize for being attracted to women based on (among other things) their sexual characteristics.

   

 

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[JoB]

I had an interesting conversation this weekend.

I won’t tell you how it started..

but it raised an interesting question.

If you take overt femininity and overt sexuality out of women’s clothing…

what do women wear that is so different than men?

I confess that i pander to both overt femininity and sexuality in my clothing choices…

I came of age in the late 50s… and i love costuming..

what can i say?

but i think the question has a lot to say about the influence of advertising on women’s choices.

If dressing “like a woman” means dressing provocatively or overtly feminine (pastels, ruffles, ribbons, flounces, bows etc) ..

what does that say about how we view women?

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[JanS]

ok, I’ll admit it…I like women’s clothing. Yes, I dress very casually for comfort most of the time. But…why can’t I like women’s clothing, sexy clothing if I want? Do I have to really go to the extreme and dress like a guy to avoid the “overt femininity and overt sexuality of women’s clothing?” Is there no point in life (I’m 65) when we get to leave that behind, and simply do what we want without ramifications? Even if it’s perceived as “sexy clothing”?

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[JoB]

JanS..

i love clothes,

i am going to wear what i want to wear when i want to wear it

and yes.. quirky though my taste is i tend to favor lower (not obscenely low) cut tops and and more feminine softer cuts..

hubby likes shapely.. i like floaty. we compromise.

but what struck me when i was thinking about the idea of dressing like a woman..

provocative and feminine were what came to mind.

i don’t think we should dress like guys..

but again

i wonder what THAT means too.

Am i dressing like a guy in jeans?

not likely.

dressing like a woman once meant literally putting on a dress

remember when you couldn’t go into upscale shops in jeans.. let alone church or school?

now dressing like a woman seems to either mean a dress

ok.. i thought that one through.. a dress is almost always considered women’s clothing in our culture

or with a suggestion of tramp or baby doll :(

advertising does affect how we think we should look…

does that also encompass how we think of ourselves?

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[JanS]

I’m a “floaty” too – lol..and I like lower cut…can’t stand to have clothing up around my neck…a reason I don’t wear T-shirts.

You’re right..we do dress to impress at times..and clean and not too disheveled is good too I suppose.

It’s definitely a conundrum. Seems like at times we’re damned if we do, and damned if we don’t.

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[FCa]

JanS- I understand what you mean about being damned if we do and damned if we don’t. I don’t have anything against women dressing however they please and I wish there wasn’t a stigma attached to either one. I’d like to dress as I please without stigma or judgment, or the stigma or judgment I place on myself because of how I think other might perceive me. We’re either sluts or we’re scrubs. I think it would be much less of a conundrum if we weren’t portrayed in the media as we are.

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[JoB]

FCa..

i agree…

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[Author]

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