Pornographic Mainstream Media

[http://uberkid.typepad.com/fashionbusiness/abercrombie_fitch/index.html][http://www.posters57.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=7]

These images are from Abercrombie and Finch. The first one is an image of three guys all shirtless with sex appealing bodies. They are showing their masculinity by having defined abs, toned chest and muscular arms. The bottom image is of a woman, also shirtless covering her chest with her hands. She is hiding herself but at same time give a spark of interest of what lies beneath. She seems vulnerable yet not fully submissive. Majority of Abercrombie ads are usually for sex appeal. Every models are all half naked which does not make sense because it is a clothing advertising.


[http://community.realitytvworld.com/boards/DCForumID65/634.shtml]

This advertising is Calvin Klein for men for the body. Both of the images are highly sexualized. On the right side it is an image of a faceless male body, fully naked but covered. In ads, women were usually "objectified" into body parts but seeing from this Calvin Klein, males are also being objectified. With males, it usually focuses on their upper body and the pelvic around. Those are places where it "symbolizes" sex. This would be looked as "soft core porn" in the reading by Viki Mayer. Mayer talks about how pornography is becoming part of mainstream media. The display of sexuality and body, like this image here are being called "new nudity, soft-core and post-feminist" in the mainstream culture.

[http://www.adrants.com/2006/11/axe-turns-tunnels-into-erogenous-zones.php]

This is an ad for Axe Spray for males. The image is showing a tunnel entrance between a woman's legs which are spread wide apart. This ad is definitely for attention. It is objectifying women as sexual being. Axe ads are usually very sexualized. Their ad focuses on the male where he gets ready to go out and before he leaves he sprays Axe. As he is walking women are drawn to him and they are all over him, which they call it the "Axe Effect." These images where before it would be looked at as "obscene or taboo," now is becoming our culture. In the reading Meredith Levande "Women, Pop Music and Pornography," she talks about 50Cent's music video where he is holding an iPod and when he moves the dial the women starts to dance around him. She points out that iPod is positioned to show how the "products" which in this case are the women can be controlled by the "product" itself. Same goes for this image, if a male sprays Axe (product), he will be able to gain control of women which is also the product.


[http://community.feministing.com/2008/08/]

This ad is like a "soft-core" image where you can see a faceless woman in the background who seems like she is fully naked but is not. Her body is spread open which means that she is being objectified as sexual being. The woman's breast are not fully shown but it is clear that she's wearing nothing on top. At the bottom half, she seems like she is wearing a pantie but it is just an outline of it which is very sexualized.

Looking at all these images, it is no doubt that pornographic images have slowly crept into mainstream media. What use to be known as "taboo" are now part of our culture through music, TV shows, movies and ads. Before it was mostly women that was being objectified through their bodies but now males are slowly becoming part of the objectification with their bodies.

Sexual Imagery Used as Social Critique or Challenge

What this comic points out is that, in our society there are certain norms that we are taught to follow and one of them is knowing that you are a male or female. Cross dressing as the opposite sex or being a transgender is look upon as one of those things that goes against the norms. People that challenges the "norms" is criticized as being weird or strange. This depicts the challenge and yet the empowerment of the individual who feels as though he/she were not born of a correct gender.

[http://cidutest.wordpress.com/category/crossdressing-gangster-parakeets/]


This advertisement is the brand Durex which make condoms. In the ad you see what it appears to be the bottom half of a woman's face with two small bandages on each side of her lips then you see the brand Durex with XXL on the box. It is critiquing the societal views on women by pointing out that women likes it rough, big and they enjoy it. Also at the bottom of the ad it says, "really big" which is implying that woman likes their man to have big size. Bigger the better.

[http://www.racialicious.com/2007/08/09/durex-ad-glorifies-sexual-violence/]



This is an advertisement for safe sex or protected sex. It is showing bottom half of a female body with a tarantula crawling out of her panty. The ad is drawing attention towards unprotected sex and what could happen. The tarantula is the after effect of having unprotected sex. The ad is not very sexually but it grabs attention because of the issues that goes around of having unprotected sex. It leads to AIDS, HIV and even getting pregnant is becoming an issue for teens and adults.

[http://www.feministing.com/2005/10/]




The new Dove advertisements became a huge success even though it did not show beautiful and sexually attractive models. It challenged what society see as "beautiful." It shows women in different age range, ethnicities and even body types. Dove calls it a "campaign for real beauty." In ads, all we see are women who are young and attractive. We hardly see an older woman in ads because they are considered as not being "beautiful." What this ad does is that it goes against the idea that there is only one meaning of being beautiful.

[http://etniesgirl.com/blog/2005/08/22/the-dove-girls-you-decide/][http://www.seniorcitizen.com/2007/03/03/too-old-to-be-in-an-anti-aging-dove-ad.htm]



This is a movie called "Brokeback Mountain." It is about two friends who eventually falls in love with each other. In a society where heterosexuality is more in favor, this movie challenges that idea by showing that there is no one type of sexual preference. There are many people who did not watch this movie because of the issues that it discussed. Homosexuality, even though it has been opened to the idea, still has a long way to go. People are not fond of it and are afraid of different issues that comes along with it.

[http://www.youtube.com/v/-xuugq7fito&hl=en&fs=1"]

Objectified and Empowered Sexuality

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZSLIq6YiRY - Britney Spear's Womanizer
This is Britney Spear's new music video called Womanizer. As I was watching this video, I saw both objectified and empowered sexuality. It shows objectified sexuality because Britney is seen as just a sexual being. Britney is objectifying herself by acting, dancing and dressing provocatively.



On the right side you see a woman holding a sign that reads, "Women are not for decorations." On the left side you see a woman wearing a very short shorts and a tank top with "Hooters" on it.

This is image is very objectified because you can see that the woman is in a submissive position being pinned down by a male but with that she is also surround by four other males.

Wonder Woman is an empowering character because other than the fact that she is a superhero, she is sexualized but she is strong, not afraid to show who she is and she knows how to use her sexuality to her advantage.

Christina shows confidence in who is she and very comfortable with her sexuality.

During one of her interviews she admit that her sexual confidence helps her take a

commanding role in all of her situations.

We learn what sex means through mainstream media with Internet, TV shows and movies. We

are influenced by what media shows us about who we are as an individual and how to show our

sexuality. In the Brown's reading, it talks about television having the most influence on people

according to cultivation theory. Studies were done with high school students and scientists found

that having long term media exposure it resulted in a misconception on meaning of sex.

Through media we see what it means to be female and male. Women are suppose to be feminine,

weak, submissive and wanting to give males the lead role. Males are supposed to be masculine,

strong and be the supporter. If you are not within that circle, you are looked at as weird and

strange. Cognitive social theory talks about that "people will imitate behaviors of others when

those models arerewarded or not punished for their behavior."

There are certain behaviorsthat needs to be followed for both genders like for males, it is alright

for them to be immature because boys will be boys but for females, they are expected to be

more mature, be more aware of how they look and keep their sexuality hidden yet show it off at

the same time.

In Hartley's reading, "A Porn Star's Journey," she talks about how she learned that her body

was being attractive to many different men.

"I found that the majority of heterosexual men will follow sexually if the woman will only lead

and that men feel victimized around sex just as women do only in different aspect of the sexual

dance."

Even though women are being objectified through media, I see that if a woman is able to be

confident in her sexuality she would not see the media portrayals of women as objectifying but

taking advantage of their give role.