Woyano - Thin, sexy women and strong, muscular men: Gendered Objects in Advertising

Thin, sexy women and strong, muscular men: Gendered Objects in Advertising

georgie — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 18:41:43 +0100

Thin, sexy women and strong, muscular men: grade-school children's responses to objectified images of women and menMurnen, Smolak, Mills &

-- Comments (19)

Moosetracks

Great article. It is a shame that this subject has to be studied in order for people to realize that it is having this affect on people. I should think it is quite obvious. If nothing else, think about the motivation driving theses advertisements. At risk of being crude, sex sells, and has for thousands of years. So why wouldn't companies try to objectify persons in order to get what they want. And if what they are showing us is supposed to be beauty, why wouldn't impressionable children find that they don't measure up. "Children learn what they live". By allowing marketing influences to dictate to us what is good and bad, with out proper guidance from parents and society, why wouldn't people accept this as the "norm" and "correct". Personally, I work with children and adults that have self esteem issues, and I hear slim girls worrying about their weight and looks. I do my best to change their views and to have a realistic view of themselves and to understand that true beauty is internal. It's an up hill battle, but I am going to continue the fight, and if I help one person see themselves more accurately, I will consider that my greatest success.

dreamz

Goog Article, reminds me of one I read in a magazine awhile ago "Why do we dress our daughter's like skanks" .. It was also an article I was glad to see because I myself don't have kids, but when I see some of the stuff on the rack for young girls .. not even teens! we're talkin toddler and up, it really does sicken me. I do believe that parents have the right to dress their children as they please, but IMO there is no way a 6 to 12 yr old girl should be wearing ripped look fishnet's, a micro mini and a shirt that reads "Jail Bait!" ... that is just so wrong ...

JV

I saw a medical survey that showed 80% of Women were more "physically" aroused by pictures of naked Women than pictures of naked men (although verbally they did not necessarily acknowledge the fact).

georgie

How did they measure physical arousal, by measuring body changes like heart rate? They must have surveyed them about arousal as well, and the physical changes were very different to what they felt in their bodies. Does that mean that women have a certain amount of autoeroticism that doesn't necessarily indicate homosexual attraction?

JV

Yeah they had monitors and eeg etc.

yesandno

This reminds me of the work in "The Naked Ape". A book I read a million years ago. Being attracted to thin women is a societal phenomenon borne of conditional thinking based on "New and Improved." On a subconscious level ... if youre thin, youre probably young, and if youre young, you probably didnt have children yet. Playing on men's need to fertilize and propogate, this is an easy loophole of the male libido to exploit. What has changed in the last few decades is the PROPORTION of what we consider thin. These days, women looking like Paris Hilton are considered attractive. Personally, I come from the Sir Mix A Lot school of thought when it comes to women. I need a little body fat on a woman. Thats right, I said it ... BODY FAT. The Marilyn Monroes and Jane Mansfields of the world sitting on my face does it for me and even THEY could use another fiteen pounds apeice. Better yet, bring on Renee Zellwegger. To quote the lyrics of another hip hop song that professes this preference, if the term "You a big fine woman wont you back that thing up" doesnt apply ... then you aint for me. Decades ago, the general consensus was that thin women werent considered attractive. In my opinion, its a natural phenomenon to be aroused by wide hips and a big ass. Perhaps on a more visceral level, this would indicate the ability to not only give birth to a healthy child, but survive the process. If youre not an ass man and breasts are your thing ... this would indicate her ability to feed her newborn. No ... Im sorry. Calista Flockhart has zero erotic value for me. But thats just me. And now if youll excuse me, I must be leaving, its time for aerobics class at the gym. Im the only guy in the class but I value good health so I go. I just have to make a conscious effort not to sing the lyrics to "Baby Got Back" while in class. Dont get me wrong, I dont like fat women, women who are considered to be realistically overweight, however, throw on another ten to fifteen, maybe even twenty pounds on what is considered to be "height / weight proportionate" and youll find me ... "beggin for a peice of that bubble."

prettyfly

I work in advertising and unfortunately these are the stereotypes that sell products. While society continues to 'drink in' the images for product placement and therefore sell whatever it is; unfortunately advertiser will keep exploiting this. Thus creating a vicious circle. These aren't my thoughts on this but I have worked in the advertising world for a number of years and yes I have tried to change attituides - but basics are a thin beautiful girl draped across a new car will sell it faster than an average looking/build woman.

Loves Bloc Party

prettyfly, ive worked in advertising/promotions in the past as well though i dont agree with the objectification of women or men, sex does sell - look no further than the enormous increase in the distribution and sales of porn

georgie

Do people feel that porn objectifies women?

Tequila Rose

Yes i've seen this study results as well- it does mean that we can be aroused by both sexes- but that it doesn't make us want to BE with both

Tequila Rose

well in that same vein- does art objectify women? For centuries we've had nude men and women in classical art- David, Birth of Venus, etc... For women specifically- we have been looking at images of ourselves for those centuries as well- as they protray for the most part- the "ideal" that the artist wanted to show. is it any different because we're more high tech now?

georgie

In my mind there's a difference between down and dirty porn and high art, but maybe that is because I'd like to believe that artists somehow have loftier purposes than the sex video production industry. I think there is some erotica that celebrates passion, and then there is pornography that puts out images of women that are sexist and violent. Pornography can be empowering to women in various ways, especially when it is produced by feminist women, but when it's not, I think it's easy for women to be objectified in order to sell videos and mags.

Loves Bloc Party

for me to, theres definetly a clear distinction

georgie

But yeah, TR, I see what you mean in your point about classic art objectifying women. The definition of objectification is to reduce a woman to object, as body parts, as part of a product, etc. I'm sure that this has been a natural byproduct in a long tradition of classic artistry. How many artists have cut women into pieces in major works? But objectification is also about removing a woman's humanity and reducing her to an inanimate object that can be used and thrown away. Does high art strip women of their humanity?

otakugeneration

I myself have notice when a guy is good looking, but it doesn't mean I want to have sex with them or be their friend or have a relationship. The same goes for me with women, I'll see someone that catches my attention but that doesn't mean I want to sleep with them. I think arousal doesn't always have to be based on the physical. Maybe it's the way someone sings, or speaks, or acts. Personality is not always a physical attribute, and I have found myself attracted to a girls personality, and not their looks.

otakugeneration

Well are you talking about the women in the porn? or porn in general? I think porn objectifies sex or sexuality and the people who participate in the porn, are objectifying themselves. That's just my thought to your question.

Tequila Rose

I wasn't making the comparion of art to porn- so much as how did the women of yesterday view art and compare themselves to it.. did it become the standard of how they thought they should look?

georgie

I don't know. I think it's more the proliferation of advertising as popular art that is inundating every aspect of our lives and the sheer amount of contact with it that begins to affect our self image as women. Maybe art has influenced that?

JV

There is such a thing as artistic pornography too... which is... arty porn. Hmm, that sounds like a great name for a 70's cop. Hi my name is "Arty Porn"