Lone voice of protest on Word forum thread

[DuchessOfAvon]

My DH sent me a link to this:

www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/a-flat-or-c-sharp#comments

Its his forum-hang-out-of-choice and I don't noramlly see what gets posted there (just as he leaves my MN alone) but this followed a very long debate we had about sexual imagery (sparked by me reading The Equality Illusion).

I understand this forum is used by fairly well-educated, socially aware and seemingly free-thinking chaps ( and a couple of girls, it would appear) but this managed to depress us both. Such a litany of wearyingly familiar "you don't get the joke" & "ain't no harm in it" defenses.

Not aure where I am going with this post, but I wondered if anyone else had come across the ad and what else DH & I can post to support the lone voice of female reason on this thread.

Another go at link

Gosh, just when it couldn't get worse they lay down and started moaning singing.

This is vile - it is a very straightforward example of objectification for those who find it hard to grasp the concept.

These women are no longer people - they are cup sizes and sexy moans.

This is also a very good example of the male gaze in advertising. These women are being presented entirely as how they would be viewed by men.

The obvious question is "which one gives you a boner - the blonde C cup or the brunette G cup?".

Considering that this is a female product, it makes it even creepier and depressing that it is being marketed in a 'which one are you perving over' way to men.

I particularly hate the moaning and just about writhing on the piano bed thing. This part is some pretty impressive objectification - not just one women reduced to an object for the male gaze but a whole group/range/scale/spectrum of women for a man to play with - heck he might even decide to play with them all.

And you know what, thanks to those kind people at La Senza - he can!

www.cupsizechoir.com/?k=1

The cup size choir FFS.

That pushing down pelvic thrust thing is just grim.

thank you for this thread & Beachcomber's excellent analysis of what's wrong with it - this had been bugging me but I thought maybe I was making a fuss about nothing etc etc. (Can't believe I still doubt my reaction to these things even after so much activism ).

It is horrid isn't it.

Thankfully DH found it equally offensive but we were both depressed by the responses in the thread.

I can't believe that most on there seemed to find the orignal ad harmless FGS. There is no advertising of features or benefits of the underwear - this is blatantly not trying to sell anything other than the women themselves.

And the control-them-youself bit is nasty.

I need to persuade DH to add something on that thread about all of this - I don't want to helicopter in there and do unto them what so many do to us. But I feel that someone needs to support the poor woman who was trying to get them to see how wrong it is.

Sounds hideous. Not sure I even want to click.

I think the problem with pointing out this sort of stuff to people is that we are so used to it and desensitised. Unless you are coming at it from a feminist perspective, even people who see that it is objectification, don't really see the harm.

The men on that board seem intelligent and nice - but to them 'it is just an advert'. Like a lot of people they are not thinking about the drip drip effect on us all of this ad plus that magazine plus plus plus.

I guarantee you that some of the men who see this ad will go on to look at some of the women in their lives and think about them in terms of cup size - tit size. Even if they only do it for a second as a secret 'joke' to themselves, and they would never harass the women concerned, it is still objectifying.

I don't know how to explain to people who don't see it what is wrong with this stuff.

I showed it to my DH - he didn't initially get why I objected to it. Then I said that it is just wank fodder reducing women to cup sizes and moans that can be manipulated. I challenged him to remember any of the underwear and he couldn't. He got it then - he was appalled by the choir, he was astounded that they would go that far, he thought it was cheap and verging on porn.

I wouldn't get you're DH to write on the forum; I'd get him to write to the company and say he was going to buy you an Xmas present from there but seeing their sleazy add made him change his mind. He's obviously who the ad is targetted at :)

(sorry your and ad - typing too fast!)

it is hideous,
perfect analysis Beachcomber: the notion that the root of sexual pleasure for women is how they are perceived by men because- of course- women don't have inner lives, a sexuality, or sexual preferences ...
WOmen's sexuality is about nothing more than looking good for men- the sexier you look, the better sex is

What I found most offensive was the shot of women all lined up together, representing some sort of harem or sweet shop

oh and the fact they're all so passive just lying there on their backs waiting for a man to come and finish the job

oh and this new fasion for making fembot women that you can manipulate with your mouse, like that topless Page 3 model you could rotate with your cursor

They can't control real women anymore, not like they could in the past, so they now have to use virtual women to reaffirm their masculine dominance