Advert for razors shows topless NB model with mastectomy scars

[SapphosRock]

This isn't a cancer survivor but a trans / non-binary model. I'm all for positive representation in advertising from the LGBTQ community but this one feels irresponsible.

In particular advertising 'super sharp razor blades' using a model with visible scars. Some might view them as self-harm scars.

We seem to be normalising double mastectomies, or turning it into a fashion statement.

I'd love to have a double mastectomy tbh. Not for gender or cancer-related reasons, I just hate them. I went to a cosmetic surgeon about it and he said they weren't allowed to make my breasts smaller than would "look natural" without a note from a doctor saying I had gender dysphoria.

Not sure where this stands on the feminist axis but it's not good, is it? Women can only have control over their own bodies IF they don't think they're women -- or if they want to be Huge Titty McGee.

Surely this comes under the banner of "cancer"?

I've never heard of anyone having a double mastectomy for reasons unrelated to either gender or cancer.

But why? That model isn't exactly going to be shaving off chest hair.

I find it interesting that for years we've been told that nipples are the "rude bits" on boobies (you can show a lot of cleavage, side boob, even underboob, but no nipples please) but I'm sure I know any of the rules any more 🤷‍♀️

(I mean, it's always been ridiculous that male chests have always been considered decent, even a beautifully rounded pair of moobs, but any female boobs have been scandalous. This is just yet another incarnation of this nonsense)

What a weird company, and weird headfuck messaging. Just sell razors and be done with it, or don't sell them! Very irritating the way they try to have their cake and eat it. "Oh, it's terrible you've been brainwashed into shaving your natural body hair... So the least you can do is shave it with our razors!".

I suppose to be charitable to them, the ad's message seems to be more like "hey, shave what you want (as long as you're shaving something)". You know, don't be boring and shave your armpits like all those basic bitches - hell, grow a moustache if you want, then surprise the squares with your "dolphin-smooth" legs. And yeah, fine, people can shave or not shave what they want. But the lecture plus the mastectomy scars is enough to put me off this brand.

So women can’t show their nipples in an advert or on SM but if we cut off our breasts we can show the scars.

In any case, @420Bruh has not displayed a rainbow; in hearts or otherwise. There are 7 colours in the rainbow. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet.

No I wouldn't. But that's exactly what this ad is doing, no?

It would make me associate the product with the wounds. Definitely not the way to sell a razor.

Exactly

Completely false - a high proportion of BRCA mutation carriers choose not to have reconstruction.

If it wasn’t already apparent to anyone, the way that the “transmasc”/non-binary aesthetic goes along with glorifying bodily self harm (binders, scars, cutting, etc.) ought to give most adults pause. Most healthy “identities” don’t or oughtn’t to involve a whiff of self-harm about them.

The fact that it’s even flirting with that aesthetic should be a danger signal to anyone with sense - it’s so clearly an “identity” formation very similar to the “pro-ana”/“heroin chic”/manic crazy indie girl stuff that was all over the 90s - like a reinvention of Elizabeth Wurtzel’s Prozac Nation or Girl, Interrupted, only with gender instead. Just like then, something that’s actually deeply harmful gets marketed as cool and edgy and glamorous.

I have a horrible suspicion that that’s actually the point — razors for the cool self-harming dysphoric people with uteri. 🙁

I'd love one too. I thought it was just me. I've always hated them and felt disconnected from them. They're just things attached to me. At 44, I doubt it will change now. All the things that women are 'supposed' to feel about them, ie they make you feel like a woman, make you feel confident etc I've never felt. They've affected my confidence, and my posture, attempting to hide them. Just hate them. Which was made worse by bf.

And you're right, women are only allowed control over their own bodies if a man allows it/can understand it

As previous poster said the nipple is the thing that is offensive about female breasts. Last week transactivists were out in force calling Matt Walsh a paedophile for showing a transman topless. Their logic was that if Matt Walsh truly believed the person was female he wouldn't have filmed the girl. That is one head fuck! Just like this don't shave do shave, can't shave then shave your legs. I believe the facial hair and chest hair take 2 to 3 years to develop on girls who take testosterone.
I once asked this company how their razors could be vegan when they are made from metal. Apparently the slimy stuff on the razor is vegan! Don't worry about digging up the planet to get the metals!

I once asked this company how their razors could be vegan when they are made from metal.

Is metal not vegan then?

It’s a bad advert, because it looks cheap/clumsy and doesn’t actually show the model using the razor, but (despite disliking the trans agenda) I don’t really see the issue. Perhaps I’m a particularly hairy woman, but I also use razors regularly. And I’ve seen on Instagram influencers who make videos about shaving their face/normalising women having facial hair. The advert overall doesn’t make sense though. The eye is drawn to the chest scars and not anywhere that would make sense for a razor advert.

It does look as though it's worth complaining to the Advertising Standards Authority
www.asa.org.uk/make-a-complaint.html
They need to know where & when you saw the ad, and a screenshot.
If the ad appears to be promoting self-harm you'd think that a complaint would be justified?

Ok. The only positive thing here is that this young adult actually still has nipples. So many don't keep them because surgery is cheaper when they're also removed. I mean, they're unlikely to be connected to any nerves so won't bring much, if any, sexual pleasure. But at least they're there.

And what a horrific state of affairs it is when we have to be thankful that young people (I'm trying very hard not to get deleted here) can retain their nipples for cosmetic effect.

They don’t lodge complaints or froth at the mouth if a model has fake breasts.

I didn't think the advertising standards agency, would allow an advert promoting self harm? They can't show unhealthily underweight models....

Frankly I wish that men wouldn't walk around bare-chested either, other than at beaches and swimming pools (where it should also be acceptable for women). No one wants to see the half-snowman, half-lobster beer gut.

Way to miss the point. Surely deliberately or disingenuously so — as nobody could really be so obtuse?

No need to shave face as biological female.

If they are taking testosterone, they may well grow facial hair.

I don’t take testosterone, am a biological woman, and still grow a lot of facial hair. It’s really unhelpful when people make those types of blanket statements like ‘no need to shave facial hair as a woman.’ Women also grow facial hair. Whether because they have darker hair so it shows more, maybe they have a condition like PCOS that causes excessive hair growth, maybe it’s just how they are. But plenty of women grow/remove facial hair.