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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Object to Suit Supply which offers pornography along with its suits

183 replies

franch · 17/11/2010 09:44

See Suit Supply - these images are displayed as posters in Suit Supply stores in the UK (including Westfield and Regent Street).

For more info and to object, visit this site.

OP posts:
Sakura · 20/11/2010 14:54
Sakura · 20/11/2010 14:30

You have a decidedly Dutch intonnation fewcloudy
I also lived in Holland for a while, studying the cut-flower industry

Beachcomber · 20/11/2010 14:27

Fewcloudy this one campaign is unlikely to make anybody think of women as only sexual objects - just as it is unlikely to make anybody think of men as only sexual predators.

What is pissing most of us off here, is this campaign within the wider context of a society that normalizes the objectification (indeed pornification) of women.

The same can be said for violent video games (which are often full of sexist and racist stereotypes) - violence is being presented as fun and cool. Violence is being glamorized and normalised. One video game is unlikely to create a violence accepting society on its own of course - it is all about context.

Research has been done which showed that groups of people who are exposed to pornography become desensitised to it. They don't react the same way to the first porn images they are shown as they do to subsequent ones.

What we are talking about here is how exposure to certain themes and images leads to normalisation, desensitisation and internalisation of the concepts within the images (as well as the actual images themselves). It is how propaganda works on populations.

One ad campaign will not turn anybody into a misogynist but a constant barrage of adverts, films, pop videos, magazines, porn, literature, television and cultural norms will.

If you are a user of pornography it is hardly surprising that you are failing to understand why thinking women object to this ad campaign.

(Hint - it is not because we are all jealous of the stunning women in the pictures. Nor is it because we are lolling around on sofas in grubby tracksuits wishing a bloke in a flash suit would come and lift up our skirts in a bored, distracted and contemptuous manner whilst we look beautifully submissive and ecstatic to be so.)

Sakura · 20/11/2010 14:27

Trust me, he's ugly. YOu don'T want your daughters to date him, and you don'T want them to be with the other guy either

anastaisia · 20/11/2010 14:16

what about your daughters? If they were younger and you took them shopping; how do you imagine the conversations going if they were constantly exposed to images like that.

I don't so much care what people look at on their own. These pictures on the internet or in a magazine that people could choose to view or avoid wouldn't bother me. But to have them on streets and in shopping centres, where people walk with their children, where teens who may have varied life experiences and adult guidence hang around - that bothers me. I don't mind talking to my children about advertising and social attitudes; but I'd still rather she didn't have to see such sexualised advertising everywhere we go at such a young age.

ISNT · 20/11/2010 14:15

As a straight man your response to pictures which are ambiguous about whether they are depicting sexual assaults may well be different to women who have spent their entire lives enduring low grade and more serious sexual assault, yes.

When some bloke sticks his hand up your daughters skirt on the bus for no apparent reason, maybe you will change your view about whether the prevalence of this type of image, where the women don't look interested, or as if they are enjoying themselves, or even as if they are definitely consenting, and where the women are present for men to look at and do things to, and see then whether this is all a bit of harmless fun.

ISNT · 20/11/2010 14:12

If you can't see why it's a problem to have pictures of people having sex, where the man appears to be choking the woman, up in shopping centres, then we still have a long way to go.

If it was a picture of a man masturbating while a fully dressed woman cheerfully pushed a stiletto heel into his face, would this also be acceptable to you for shopping centre display?

fewcloudy · 20/11/2010 14:02

Oh well, I can only say I honestly didn't think that way, when I saw the photos a moment ago (but you are correct, I haven't given all 123 posts my full attention). I started to look at the clothes quite quickly and I like the coat that the guy is wearing in the last shot (with a scarf).

In fact, which do you like the best if you click on coats; the 1st, the 2nd or the 9th? Seriously!

Surely as a straight man my reaction is bound to be different? FYI, I'm happily married (20 years) with a great sex life, lifelong enthusiastic user of pornography in all of it's wonderful mediums, father of 2 teenage daughters that just want to push the boundaries, well travelled (lived in Holland for years) and liberal.

This campaign no more makes me consider women as only sexual objects, as playing Grand Theft Auto or whatever on a computer makes me want to go out and attack someone or rob a bank. Sorry.

sethstarkaddersmum · 20/11/2010 13:55

no I can't Sakura, I'm trying really hard to imagine it but I simply cannot form a picture in my brain of the ugly women and gorgeous men - brain hurts - cannot escape conditioning even though am straining to do so - trying - trying - BANG!

Sakura · 20/11/2010 13:47

can you imagine if it was the other way round. A Greek God of a man courting a smelly-looking tramp of a woman. There would most definitely be a "punchline" . Here, there isn't...

sethstarkaddersmum · 20/11/2010 13:43

fewcloudy - you haven't read what's been written properly. The female models are all gorgeous, as is the other male one. The male model who has been used most (the 'hero' character if you like), creepy beardy long hair guy, gets to have the gorgeous women despite being less than an oil-painting himself.
(If you can find a post where someone has said the women models are minging I will eat my pink velour jogging suit.)

fewcloudy · 20/11/2010 13:39

I did look at the models. They all (both male and female) look stunning to me. Is it the man that first appears, or the later one?

They do say beauty is in the eye of the beholder though...

Sakura · 20/11/2010 13:26

sorry, shouldn't be so shallow. I just find it disgusting that they're basically saying any old tramp is worth more than a woman

Sakura · 20/11/2010 13:24

go and look at him fewcloudy,then come back and tell me he's fit. link at the top of the page

fewcloudy · 20/11/2010 13:07

These pics sound fantastic, where can I see them please?

I've got a great image of you lot, slobbed out on the sofa in front of your PC in your stained velour pink jogging suit, complaining how "minging" the models all are... Wink

fc

Sakura · 20/11/2010 12:11

rofl "He is the biggest minger around I reckon."

franch · 20/11/2010 11:06

"Suit Supply said it was in negotiation with Westfield about displaying censored versions of the posters."

I agree with Professor, above.

I will be contacting Westfield to let them know that 'censored versions' will not be acceptable.

OP posts:
LeninGrad · 20/11/2010 10:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Beachcomber · 20/11/2010 09:55

What concerns me about this thing is the number of people who are unable to see how offensive and misogynistic it is.

On the internet there are lots of 'lighten up it's only a bit of nudity' type comments.

It really does seem that many people have become desensitised to this stuff and think it is normal and just a bit risqué because of the nudity level - they don't seem able to see the power dynamics.

Honestly can you imagine having to explain to a pre-teen or a teen what is going on in the skirt lifting pic?

Parent: "Well darling she's lying back passively in absolute ecstasy over a bloke in a nasty suit disinterestedly lifting her skirt to check out what's on offer between her legs."

Child : "Why does he look so contemptuous?"

Parent : "I blame the patriarchy darling".

sethstarkaddersmum · 20/11/2010 08:41

I think that's spot on MsRisotto. It's part of what makes it porn style; successful male porn actors are often ugly so ordinary men can identify with them more.

msrisotto · 20/11/2010 08:39

^

He is the biggest minger around I reckon. Not about objectification, just a stark message of even the ugliest guys can have a pornified mannequin woman if he wears our suits!

Sakura · 20/11/2010 04:26

I'm actually a bit traumatised at how ugly one of the men is. Not that I want to objectify men, but he seems to look like a tramp. And yet.. the woman is absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. And the horrible thing is..it's not a parody or a joke.

Sakura · 20/11/2010 04:21

or

" I was enjoying myself but now some perv appears to have approached the stairwell. WOt is he doing with my skirt? Urgh "

Maisiethemorningsidecat · 19/11/2010 17:10

I was thinking the same thing, Jessin - it would be so easy (and funny)

My suggestion for the one where he's peering up her skirt - "By heck Mabel, how many days 'av you had these pants on now?"

JessinAvalon · 19/11/2010 15:27

Anyone got Photoshop? They'd be so easy to parody with 'Sleazy Suits' and a few well placed speech bubbles - e.g. the one in the kitchen: "wish he'd bloody hurry up - I'm trying to finish my coffee here!"

I noticed in an article today that Playboy has been called 'artistic'. Call anything artistic and it seems to make it acceptable apparently.