Sexual Imagery as a Social Critique or Challenge

Blog #1: Examples of "objectified" and "empowered" sexuality

Dove Self-esteem Fund:
http://www.dove.us/#/CFRB/SelfEsteem/aboutdsef.aspx[cp-documentid=6387288]

Tom Ford Perfume Ad:
http://londonoa.wordpress.com/2008/05/03/who-is-tom-ford/tom_ford_formen/



















T-Pain I’m in Love with a Stripper:
http://www.metrolyrics.com/im-in-love-with-a-stripper-lyrics-t-pain.html

India Arie Music Video- Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHXEE7Pi6iQ

Carls Jr. Flat Buns commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuNCMYKViN4&feature=related

Analysis

The Dove Self-Esteem Fund was created to address the negative depictions of women in the beauty and fashion industry. Through Dove’s activism girls and women are taught to accept them the way they are and maintain their own self-confidence. Banks describes, “the extent of influence is not conclusive, but it is well established in the research literature that teens get a significant amount of information about sexuality from media such as film, television, and magazines” (pg. 5). The author then goes onto say how the ‘information’ these teens are receiving may or may not actually persuade the teen to view their own sexuality the way the media defines sexuality and beauty. Whether the persuasive factor is accurate or not, it’s hard to ignore the bombardment of sexual images in mainstream media. Even though Dove is using their opposing argument to the media’s sexual images as means for profit in which they are benefiting from addressing this issue, they still are addressing this issue in society. Nonetheless, I would still argue that Dove’s Self-Esteem Fund is empowering to women. Dove is making a statement about the way women are objectified and opening up the discussion for women everywhere. The image from Tom Ford’s advertisement campaign objectifies women by showing this woman as a purely sexual being. In the image above the woman’s body is shown as parts rather than a whole human. She is shown topless holding her breasts together with her mouth wide open, a highly sexualized position. Her whole body isn’t shown as a human being, rather a thing which exists purely for a man’s pleasure and viewing. Dworkin talks about how subordination is a form of objectification and the way in which women are dehumanized, or shown as less than human, but body parts that can be ‘bought and sold,’ and viewed as a ‘commodity’ (pg 527). When applying this to the Tom Ford advertisement, the center of attention of the ad is the cologne bottle which is squeezed in between the woman’s two bare breasts. The only parts of the woman’s body that is shown are her: breasts, upper chest, neck, mouth, and lower face. The way the ad is set up the breasts is undoubtedly the center of attention. The entirety of the woman is unseen, only her ‘parts.’ In this case, this woman isn’t seen as an actual person with thoughts and needs of her own but a puppet which can be manipulated to promote a brand and please men. Her body parts are what define her as a human, if at all, because of the absence of her whole being. In the song I’m in Love with a Stripper many examples of women’s objectification can be found. Although the song seems pleasing to the ear when first heard, once the lyrics are fully grasped many references as women as purely sexual objects can be discovered. Such in the verse, “She’s every man’s dream; She’s God’s gift to earth; women love them too, That’s what you call a woman’s worth” (Metrolyrics). When reading the verse it may seem that he is very appreciative of women and consider them ‘God’s gift to earth,’ when in reality he is talking about a stripper’s physical beauty. T-Pain isn’t talking about her personality or character but her ability to strip seductively. This notion objectifies women as sexual objects whose only purpose is to viewed and touched by men. When the lyric states a ‘woman’s worth’ he is talking about her as a sexual object, her only worth. The music video for Video by India Arie is empowering to women because of the lyrics of the song and appearance of India Arie herself. She isn’t shown as an over-sexualized object, but a beautiful woman who is comfortable with her own sexuality. Because Arie’s comfortable with her own sexuality and appearance she creates her own definition of sexuality that’s different from other woman in music videos. In terms of objectification, the camera does occasionally span her body but always comes back up to her face, displaying her whole body because she is a whole person. The other woman in the video which are shown as the average girls in a video are highly sexualized, and their faces are rarely shown but their body parts in pure objectified practice. The commercial for Carl’s Jr. Flat Buns not only reinforces gender roles and stereotypes, but objectifies woman in their professional arenas. The Flat Buns references the Carl’s Jr. sandwich as well as the ‘flat buns’ of the teacher. The entire song is talking about the sandwich as well as the teacher’s body part. Not her personality or her character but her ‘flat buns.’