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AIBU?

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Original poster

to be angry that Ann Summers has a real woman in underwear in their shop window?

309 replies

1eve · 13/02/2011 21:09

Walking down Market Street in Manchester on Friday I saw a couple of guys taking pictures with their phones at a shop window. When I turned to see what they were photographing I found that there was a woman posing in sexy underwear in a window display. The shop was Ann Summers, although it had changed its name to ManSummers as a publicity thing to get guys to come into the shop and buy valentine gifts for their girlfriends. Now women buying vibrators and dressing up if they want is not a problem for me, although Ann Summers has always leant towards getting women to please men in my view, but sexual desire is never pc anyway so its a tricky subject. But this felt like it crossed a line.
If I'd been walking through town (it was the middle of the day) with my 2 boys, age 4 and 6, that is not what I want them to see. That a woman's role is to be placed on show like a piece of meat while men leer at her? (a group of guys were standing in front of the window laughing and staring, making comments). Is it just me or is this bloody degrading?

OP posts:
cornsilk · 13/02/2011 23:16

God forbid that our children should think that women have cellulite and aren't a strange shade of beige...

kitbit · 13/02/2011 23:17

We saw something similar recently, ds is 6. "Mummy, that lady's just got her pants on" :o

sethstarkaddersmackerel · 13/02/2011 23:19

yanbu at all, it's completely inappropriate. It really crosses a line IMO.

the woman is there to attract attention (otherwise they would just use an inanimate dummy) therefore she is there to be looked at.

parading women in underwear for men to ogle in a busy shopping street is completely unacceptable as it means that passers by have absolutely no choice but to see it.
I would not like it much if they did it inside the shop, so you would only see it if you went in, but at least people would have a choice about whether to see it (and expose their children to it) or not. To basically colonise our high street with this is completely outrageous.

the branches that did this should be closed down.

OP - there are threads elsewhere on Mumsnet agreeing with you.

squeakytoy · 13/02/2011 23:25

oh dear.. children being exposed to a shop window and a woman wearing underwear... that will scar them for life no doubt.. Hmm

get a grip for gods sakes... lol!!

Vallhala · 13/02/2011 23:27

Reelingintheyears, I wondered if that might raise eyebrows! :o

I believe that a woman's reaction to this type of advertising can change with her age.

In my early teens I would have been morally outraged and think her a tart.

In my late teens I would have been insecure and envious.

In my twenties I had a pretty good figure myself but wouldn't have dreamed of doing what the model did.

In my thirties I was fighting life-changing, breast-changing cancer and had become a mother and would have thought "I wish that was me, but is it right?"

Now I'm in my 40's I look and think... "That could have been me once, lucky bugger. Bloddy good luck to you girl!"

Age is a great eye-opener. :)

CityGirls · 13/02/2011 23:34

I also work in Manchester City Centre in a male dominated office and I can tell you it was all the guys talked about last week. Almost all of them had passed by for a 'letch' at some point during the week and many had taken photos with their phone. I think we have to consider what men do after seeing the shop window and how it influences their behaviour afterwards. In my experience, I had to sit in work and listen to them talk about women as if they were sex objects and witness them swapping photos. Luckily, I'm above the sad gits and but it could be most offensive to others. If that's what flicks their switch then we really should take pity on them!!!!

cornsilk · 13/02/2011 23:34

valhalla - I think you've summed it all up there Grin

squeakytoy · 13/02/2011 23:38

Citygirls, if the situation had been gender swapped, you can guarantee that most of the women would have been doing exactly that too...

Amieesmum · 13/02/2011 23:39

Oh crap - i'm never going to let dc see me walk around in my underwear ever again! I must be showing her a "sexual image" and degrading myself because my bra and knickers have a bit of lace on them.

The model clearly wanted to be there, whats the harm?

If i had the figure to stand up and do that, sure i would! In fact if we're being honest here i have done that back in the day, for various articles and adverts. I wasn't being degraded as a women. I enjoyed what i was doing. Some of us women enjoy feeling sexy.

It's not like she had a dildo in one hand and and a whip in the other whilst spanking her own backside & blowing kisses to her viewers. It's underwear. Nothing more.

phooey · 13/02/2011 23:41

OP - you say a real woman is used in place of a plastic dummy, therefore it's degrading. But surely the plastic dummy is in the first place used in place of a real woman?

I wouldn't be offended, although if she was pert and gorgeous I might be a bit peeved that I wouldn't live up to that. That doesn't make it unacceptable to me though, and I think it's fine.

CityGirls · 13/02/2011 23:44

Squeakytoy - I get your point but I don't think it's quite the same when the tables are turned, there's no market for it. If there was we'd be seeing the same in Armani Men's window etc. Girls like a giggle and I've heard some of the girl's banter in the office but it has never escalated to what I witnessed last week.
Sex sells, always has, always will.

claig · 13/02/2011 23:45

'It's not like she had a dildo in one hand and and a whip in the other whilst spanking her own backside & blowing kisses to her viewers.'

they are doing that next week, but the model wants to do it

squeakytoy · 13/02/2011 23:45

Sex sells to women too.

PaulaYatesbiggestfan · 13/02/2011 23:48

in my 40's i would still at a push parade my body if paid enough - i am not jealous of younger women

Ann Summers is tacky and sex orientated

Had there been a man there in a pair of budgie smugglers the playing field would have at least been even

It's wrong - just wrong

Isn't valentines day all about love and respect -not sex objects and leering?

claig · 13/02/2011 23:49

'Isn't valentines day all about love and respect -not sex objects and leering?'

Not for Mansummers, it's about pushing product

Spenguin · 13/02/2011 23:53

She actually is selling her body. Her wage and her booking are solely due to how well-suited her body is for lingerie. She received remuneration for having a bust of a certain size etc etc

Also, difference between this and the girls in windows in Amsterdam?

squeakytoy · 14/02/2011 00:15

I dont think a bloke can walk into Ann Summers, and shag the girl in the window then pay her... that would be the difference...

cornsilk · 14/02/2011 00:24

aren't the customers of Anne Summers largely women?

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 14/02/2011 00:31

I think squeakytoy has hit the nail on the head. I think that some of the women on this thread are uncomfortable at seeing model-type women on display in a shop window, perhaps because some feel they perhaps don't measure up? Women don't seem to have a problem with nudity or near-nudity per se otherwise the Chippendales would cease to exist...

I also wonder how many accompanying husbands were cuffed on the back of the head whilst trying desperately to present 'eyes front'... Grin

Sorry, but I just can't take kind of thing seriously; bandying the word 'objectifying' around doesn't make it so, but really reduces the impact of the word and renders it impotent.

Valentine's Day is over soon...

JamieLeeCurtis · 14/02/2011 07:44

Lying - NOPe, not me. I'm perfectly happy with my 41 year old body. "you're just jealous" is a bit of a lame male excuse, IMO.

People choose to go and see the Chippendales

Whatnamechange · 14/02/2011 07:58

The only thing I object to is my Dh s dissapointment when he buys me the underwear and I look nothing like the model! It would be more equal if they had a man advertising the boxers too women like something to look at too! What worries me more is the likes of rihanna dressing in s and m for her videos and my seven year old niece singing come on rude boy can you get it up and the message it's sending to our children , if you atch the love sex and magic video with justin timberlake and ciara it shows perfectly how women are being objectified justin is in trousers/shirt ciara is in basicaly nothing writhing around and having her bum slapped
a model in the window sems harmless in comparison .

JamieLeeCurtis · 14/02/2011 08:23

Whatnamechange - I agree, but it's part of the same continuum.

TiggyD · 14/02/2011 08:53

She's a model. She's modelling.

YABU

BrummieSeagull · 14/02/2011 08:53

No, I'm not really jealous about being leered at by groups of gorillas, who take photos and pass them around the office like some teenage happy slappers.

Not really my thing. But hey, whatever floats your boat...

sethstarkaddersmackerel · 14/02/2011 09:37

no, not jealous, I like my body.

objectification is the problem.

I wouldn't have a problem with my kids seeing me (or indeed my mum or my dh) wandering around in underwear, or indeed completely naked. What I don't want is them watching a leer-fest.

dummies don't attract crowds of men standing there taking pics and and making comments, see? that's the difference.

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