Why is the patriarchy so god-damned afraid of female sexuality?

At the risk of going off into an advertising industry tangent, I reaaly don't think that an industry where the sole aim is to sell stuff would allow it's politics to trump profit. I am sure that most ad execs are men, and that many of them might be sexist. However, does anyone think that they might eschew a potentially-successful campaign simply because they would rather demean women? That, to me, is strange logic. Bill Hicks was on the right lines;

Not seen Lynx ads but half naked buff men selling deodorant isn't rare.

Oh, I was commenting on the logic rather than the industry, namechange. It would be interesting to know more about the industry, you're right.

edam - that's a good point. Also, I guess, men hold far more of the world's wealth, might that have an impact? I heard there's meant to be a correlation between the 'pink pound' and use of sexy men in adverts for male grooming (though where I picked that idea up I cannot remember!)

LRD's right, it's faulty logic to think X doesn't do Y therefore Y must be pointless. You have to find out why X doesn't do Y. And part of the reason is that the ad industry is still very sexist - look at the proportion of men and women in senior jobs, the number of people in part-time roles, look at that twat who thought 'career women make bad mothers' was a great ad and got paid by someone to do it, FFS.

LRD, I know next to nothing about the advertising industry, except that their sole purpose is to make us want to buy stuff. You might well be right, I could be way off the mark, but sexuality is a fundamental part of human nature and has been used for all sorts of marketing campaigns. I am thinking of Becks in his undies, or Hollister bags with topless men, or Nick Kamen in the laundrette, or countless perfume/aftershave ads. I guess it sells some stuff, but not everything.

It would be interesting if there are any people in here who work in the industry, to get an insider's view, as to what works where. I still think the OP is way off the mark though. Nobody is afraid of women's sexuality, at least in secular societies.

I think that you are over thinking it all and reading far too much into it.

I think that's poor logic, namechange, if you'll forgive me. Companies don't magically know what sells before they try it - that is why adverts sometimes succeed and sometimes fail. So to say 'they don't use it therefore it mustn't work' is a fallacy.

I would also observe that it is much, much more complex an issue than whether or not straight women like naked men, or straight men like naked women. A quick glance at youtube proves that most of us like cute kittens. Yet cute kittens do not make up 90% of adverts. Why? Because we don't (currently) see cute kittens and think 'ooh, what's being sold here?', whereas we've all grown up knowing that images of naked women are used to sell things. It comes to be a chain of associations.

If you are referring to advertising/marketing, then companies will use anything that sells. If Ryan Gosling or whoever would increase sales of soap powder or underwear, then they would use it. They don't use it so therefore it mustn't work. It isn't about the fear of female sexuality, it's about the best way to get you to part with your money.

If we go back to the beach volleyball thing, this has already been covered on here. The women participants have the choice of bikinis or shorts and t-shirt. What they wear is up to them, so I don't see what your problem is with it.

Do you mean beach volleyball? I saw some of it yesterday with one team wearing leggings.

There actually used to be a rule that your bikini had to be a certain amount of smallness (if you know what I mean) the top to the bottom at the thigh had to be 4" or less. But they have brought in different rules because a lot of people were put off playing.

Anyway if you want to admire the male figure in sport stick the Aussie rules football on - and it's a good game too.

This is only a response to part of what you're saying ... but I think one reason might be that although straight women like attractive men (yeah, duh, I share your amusement at the way society seems shocked at this! ), lots of us probably don't like to 'ogle' them. I know for me, because I've grown up seeing women's bodies as the thing you're 'meant' to stare at, I don't really like the idea of stuff like male naked centrefolds in magazines because I don't like the process. Does that make any sense?