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.