If there is one thing that gets under my skin, its the misrepresentation of women in the media. In May, Kraft Foods Group released an advertisement depicting a man lying sensually (that is to say, naked) on a picnic blanket promoting a new salad dressing. Unfortunately for Kraft, this ad received a lot of negative and angry responses. Parents, particularly mothers, found this to be extremely vulgar and offensive. Many thought that Kraft was trying to sell something other than salad dressing. Through all of the negative comments received, I couldn't help but yelling at my computer screen: Of course this would bother you! When its a man depicted sexually in an ad, but when its a woman, well full speed ahead!" Women have been shown in similar lights (and even more erotic than this) for decades and no one's really had any vendettas against those. But why? Certainly women across the globe would be shocked by the amount of skin of women that ads can get away with showing. Not only is this selling whatever product is being shown, but its also selling the fact that the women, too, are for sale (for men to buy). In my mind this relates to the idea that women are animals and savage and need to be controlled, an idea that is very obvious is Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines."
But back to my question, WHY ON EARTH IS IT OKAY FOR WOMEN TO POSE SENSUALLY, BUT FOR MEN, ITS A SCANDAL? And completely ironically, its typically frowned upon for women to breast-feed in public, but it's alright to expose 90% of a Victoria's Secret Angel's decolletagé on a 20x20 foot billboard? Why are you so offended by your own anatomy when it's thrown carelessly all around you? And doesn't that make you a bit of a hypocrite to say how vulgar is it to display your body in public when the media's been doing it for decades and you've never had a problem with that before. But I got to give props to Kraft for using a sexy man rather than a sexy lady in their ad. And good for them, when most of their products are bought by women, so why not appeal to the ladies? After all, they're the ones, who, according to you, are supposed to do the shopping.
**If you're further interested in this topic, there's an incredible documentary called MISSrepresentation, wonderfully free to view on YouTube, to which I thank for the illumination on this issue.**
Ooohhhh. I really like this blog. I thought it was interesting how the blog flowed from your example to your point and then the questions at the end. It was a great build. And those questions - great job with pathos! I was actually getting really angry reading this... And I felt the same way before reading this blog but it isn't the first thing I think about when thinking of social problems so this blog just reangered me about the subject all over again. :P
ReplyDeleteAnd as usual - I could hear your voice. The only thing that I suggest is breaking the paragraph into 2 - maybe right after you talk about Blurred Lines. It might give the reader more of a WOW reaction. (it would give the reader time to "breathe" and absorb what you just said. And THEN flow into your next set of questions. But that's just my opinion. Overall - great job! :)
I actually love reading your blogs a lot! Your ranting is so comical and I just love it. I like how you compared the women and men scenario so i got both sides of the story. OH & Blurred Lines OMGGGGG I HATE THAT SONG! I like your ending paragraph how you say its bad to breast feed in front of the public but there's half naked Victoria Secret Model Billboards everywhere! I love this and I sorta agree Emma slow down Speedy Gonzalez :)
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