Thread: Women Portrayed as Sex Objects by Many TV Ads

Yeah, Sealion, good point!

Is that you, Sealion, as Guest?

Anyway, the thing is, you probably would get fed up of it after a while, just as much as you get fed up with being ridiculed - and also, despite all the posts proclaiming women as commanders of sexual power have got it made, it all comes full circle because as sex objects, they are ultimately ridiculed - because as well as being presumed thick, they are also not thought of in a particulalry nice manner (even if they are being admired for other reasons ). A double edged whammy IMHO.

When I say that, please don't get me wrong and think I'm a nun worshipping at the shrine of Mary Whitehouse (tho' on a couple of things she may have had a point - but I like to think I'm a bit too young to remember her that clearly :lol: ). I'm not talking of eradicating all images of women looking alluring, attractive and sexy - that's OK, just as long as it's within reason. I think it's getting out of hand because some of the covers on mainstream mens mags like GQ and FHM are no longer Zoe Ball and Sarah Cox in a fetching little cozy. No, they are now populated by Abi Titmuss and Alicia Silverstedt (?) in lesbian poses. If it looks like a porn cover, it should be on the top shelf in a plastic cover along with the other porn titles (and preferably not somewhere where I buy my groceries on a daily basis anlong with grannies, kids and some men who might agree with me).

BTW - I'm not turning this into a pornoraphy debate - that's a completely different topic.

When I was telling my husband I'd been frequenting this board and sometimes the CT4M board and tried to discuss some of the things I'd been talking about to get his opinion and male perspective, he said that the didn't care if someone saw him as a sex object (his mistaken belief that he's and Alpha man of course, I reckon ). The truth is though - I'm sure it would eventually get on his nerves if he thought ultimately those images played a part in the way he was perceived in all sorts of unrelated arenas, through his life. It can be quite pernicious.

All I'm saying is - be careful what you wish for !! Ridicule is bad enough, ridicule as sex object and sex object are worse!

Quote from Anonymous

we hear so much about women as "sex objects"
Personally ,I would rather be portrayed as an object of desire (sex objects) than as an object or ridicule (check almost every ad on TV !!)

That is nearly always my response too when i hear someone complaining about women as sex objects. I can't understand how they (feminists) can complain about compliments and NOT be able to see the discrimination men face in the media with recurring portrayals as bumbling idiots and bafoons.

The "guest" post was me ,I forgot to sign in
Back to the topic .
BH , would you be happy with being portrayed as useless in the house ( check out the ads on TV , being trained like a dog (bring your husband to heel) , having the state broadaster imply that your gender is incapable of surviving without the other one (The week the women went ) , and being subjected to blind hate ( check out the "knife block") . Look at all these things , turn the genders round , and let us know your answer .
How long would you (or any woman ) survive as a man
We don't get drinks bought for us in the pub , if our car breaks down we have to sort it ourselves , no run rushes to help . These things (and I bet there are plenty of other situations ) are a direct result of being a "sex object" and exploiting men's desires .
Still fancy swapping ?

Quote from sealion

The "guest" post was me ,I forgot to sign in
Back to the topic .
BH , would you be happy with being portrayed as useless in the house ( check out the ads on TV , being trained like a dog (bring your husband to heel) , having the state broadaster imply that your gender is incapable of surviving without the other one (The week the women went ) , and being subjected to blind hate ( check out the "knife block") . Look at all these things , turn the genders round , and let us know your answer .
How long would you (or any woman ) survive as a man
We don't get drinks bought for us in the pub , if our car breaks down we have to sort it ourselves , no run rushes to help . These things (and I bet there are plenty of other situations ) are a direct result of being a "sex object" and exploiting men's desires .
Still fancy swapping ?

Well Sealion, first and foremost, I'm not saying any of these things are necessarily OK and if they are causing offense then we need to ask why, think about it and then act accordingly.

You've mentioned the 'Bring Your Husband To Heel' program before and I meant to get back to you on it as I only saw part of the end half of one episode and wasn't sure how the program was actually set up. On a superficial level I thought it was boring and inane. A tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny bit of me saw the humour (sorry, just being honest but don't want to annoy you any more than you already are about it ops: ) I think they meant to portray, but was probably misplaced. I certainly didn't like the idea of filming someone without their knowledge under those circumstances with all the implications (which is what I presume).

It's not a program I'd commission. I can understand why it could cause offence.

I'm sure men would survive without women, just as I'm sure women could survive without men - the strange thing is, I don't believe it would actually increase the sense of well being for either and both sets would be less happy (yes, unbelievable but true!!).

I like to think I buy my fair share of rounds (and more importantly for the sake of my argument, so do my female friends in both male and female company) and whilst I recently struggled to work out how to open the bonnet of my car (incidentally so did the man I asked for help - and it was just that he happened to be a man - if he'd have been a woman I'd still have asked ) I can certainly stop and ask someone if they would like me to call the AA or garage.

I have been helped by several men in the past and I appreciate them all - I'm not sure it's because I'm a sex object though! I think they were just being helpful and polite and I'd do the same in return.

I've certainly been very grateful when men have stopped for one reason or another eg once I broke down just outside Clapham North at the traffic lights and they pushed my car into a side alley and once I let off a personal alarm in the underground (the very worst place to do it as the echoes reverberrate - it's awful. People started looking very agitated :evil: ) and couldn't turn it off and a couple of men came over to help work out how to do it (incidentally the only reason I had the alarm was because I had been given it at work that morning by HR as I'd been molested in an alley behind Aldgate East tube station (approx 9.15 am even before I'd had time to get a cup off coffee! How rude!) - Yes, then I think I was being treated like a sex object and I was none too happy).

Think of the early James Bond films (not so much now, they have more active female characters - still annoying though) and how women were portrayed. Completely helpless, vacant and always relying on their beauty to be kept by an evil maniac wanting to take over the world (I'm exaggerating but I'm sure you know what I mean).

Now I'm not saying that the encouragement of everything that is excessive and extreme as some of the worst aspects of 'girl power' and 'laddette' behaviour is a reasonable alternative, but it's not as wearing or self-limiting as the 'you can't do anything because you're a girl so sit back and look pretty but on the other hand when you do turn out to be useless because that's how you've been raised and portrayed, well then we'll berate you for that as well'. Can't win.

Sealion, would you do this in the interests of a fair experiment? Walk into a newsagents, pertrol station, Sainsbury's or even WHSmith and look at all the images of naked, semi-naked women depicted in a variety of come-hither posturing (some more subtle that others - most of them not subtle at all) and then imagine them all as men. Believe me, you'd get sick of it.

Would I swap? Not sure. I'm happy being a girl but I'd like to try it for a day! (Just as I'd like to buy a bottle of this womanly allure which is likely to make men swoon, do my bidding and pave my way to world domination!).

BTW - I am a bit useless with the housework. I do what I need to do, but somehow I just can't get the same crisp edges as my mother on the corners of the beds or perfectly plumped cushions.

I certainly wouldn't be able to complain if that's how I was portrayed !

Seriously though - I do take your point about some of the media portrayals of men.

Initially it had novelty value, but I can see how it could get a bit wearing.

Quote from Anonymous

Males *ARE* portrayed as sex objects. Look at the women's magazines. Quite often cosmopolitan will run photo-sets of naked men, and often you see magazines for teen girls with photos of topless teen boys.

Yes, they are beginning to be portrayed in the media in the same way as women and by the same token in a way that women complain about in reverse.

I'll be honest, a very tiny immature bit of me thinks 'now men will know what it's like' but the other 99.99999% thinks that it's a poor route to go down.

Making it even by emulating the opposite trend isn't the solution.

In the same way that women are effected by anorexia, negative self body image and more heavily influenced to consider plastic surgery, so men will also succumb to the same - and in fact are.

To be honest , I couldn't care less if the magazines on the racks were full of semi naked men . Some of them are ,aren't they ? I remember going into a mainly female office , and being confronted with lots of semi naked men on the wall . I couldn't care less .
What happened to you , being molested in an alleyway was assault ,pure and simple . No decent person (and I dare say no one on this forum) would condone such a thing .
Was it because the man regarded you as a "sex object" ? I doubt it , it was almost certainly because he was a coward and wanted to abuse his power .
I would argue that "sex object" pictures are doing less harm to women than the constant man hating in the media . Man hate ( knife blocks , bring your husband to heel etc) is causing resentment .
As for the evil "Bring your husband to heel " How would you have reacted to being set up ? (What if it had been "bring your wife to heel ??) I was actually appalled at the , so called "men" taking it lightly !!!
I say again , being an object of desire , is better than being an object of hatred and ridicule

I'm not intending to undermine your point here - but it's not as prevalent. I'm sure it will quite possibly go that way, though - so try and stop it whilst you can.

What do you think can be done about it? Women have been moaning for years, in the face of quite explicit publict images and the problem has only got worse...

Usually the types of responses are along the lines of:

'It's a free press. What are you asking for? Censorship?'

'Don't be so uptight, it's only a bit of fun'

'You're just jealous of the girls in the calendar'

'If the customer didn't want it, we wouldn't be able to sell it'

or

Shifty gaze, look at the floor (or ceiling) and try to ignore the question

Etc, etc, etc

Quote from Anonymous

Quote from balancedhuman

Quote from sealion

The "guest" post was me ,I forgot to sign in
Back to the topic .
BH , would you be happy with being portrayed as useless in the house ( check out the ads on TV , being trained like a dog (bring your husband to heel) , having the state broadaster imply that your gender is incapable of surviving without the other one (The week the women went ) , and being subjected to blind hate ( check out the "knife block") . Look at all these things , turn the genders round , and let us know your answer .
How long would you (or any woman ) survive as a man
We don't get drinks bought for us in the pub , if our car breaks down we have to sort it ourselves , no run rushes to help . These things (and I bet there are plenty of other situations ) are a direct result of being a "sex object" and exploiting men's desires .
Still fancy swapping ?

Well Sealion, first and foremost, I'm not saying any of these things are necessarily OK and if they are causing offense then we need to ask why, think about it and then act accordingly.

You've mentioned the 'Bring Your Husband To Heel' program before and I meant to get back to you on it as I only saw part of the end half of one episode and wasn't sure how the program was actually set up. On a superficial level I thought it was boring and inane. A tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny bit of me saw the humour (sorry, just being honest but don't want to annoy you any more than you already are about it ops: ) I think they meant to portray, but was probably misplaced. I certainly didn't like the idea of filming someone without their knowledge under those circumstances with all the implications (which is what I presume).

It's not a program I'd commission. I can understand why it could cause offence.

I'm sure men would survive without women, just as I'm sure women could survive without men - the strange thing is, I don't believe it would actually increase the sense of well being for either and both sets would be less happy (yes, unbelievable but true!!).

I like to think I buy my fair share of rounds (and more importantly for the sake of my argument, so do my female friends in both male and female company) and whilst I recently struggled to work out how to open the bonnet of my car (incidentally so did the man I asked for help - and it was just that he happened to be a man - if he'd have been a woman I'd still have asked ) I can certainly stop and ask someone if they would like me to call the AA or garage.

I have been helped by several men in the past and I appreciate them all - I'm not sure it's because I'm a sex object though! I think they were just being helpful and polite and I'd do the same in return.

I've certainly been very grateful when men have stopped for one reason or another eg once I broke down just outside Clapham North at the traffic lights and they pushed my car into a side alley and once I let off a personal alarm in the underground (the very worst place to do it as the echoes reverberrate - it's awful. People started looking very agitated :evil: ) and couldn't turn it off and a couple of men came over to help work out how to do it (incidentally the only reason I had the alarm was because I had been given it at work that morning by HR as I'd been molested in an alley behind Aldgate East tube station (approx 9.15 am even before I'd had time to get a cup off coffee! How rude!) - Yes, then I think I was being treated like a sex object and I was none too happy).

Think of the early James Bond films (not so much now, they have more active female characters - still annoying though) and how women were portrayed. Completely helpless, vacant and always relying on their beauty to be kept by an evil maniac wanting to take over the world (I'm exaggerating but I'm sure you know what I mean).

Is this a men's rights/anti-feminist forum, or is it a women's whining forum? You could hear this kind of whining any second of the day on daytime TV in any country of the Western world.

Actually, the women in the 007 movies have been way more resourceful than the average woman from the very start. Honey Ryder was, Rosa Kleb, Pussy Galore was a feisty lesbian and so on. Just because often-times in MEN'S action adventure films the man rescues the woman...that is cause for complaint??? Does every woman who appears in a MAN'S film have to be a kick-boxing super-hero?

Heres some news for you: Men LIKE feminine women who, despite being resourceful and tough are also able to show femininity and vulnerability. Thats why, even 40 years on, Ursulla Andress is still looked upon with desire by men. And if women were SO offended by those films, then why has Sean Connery been consistently in the 'Worlds sexiest men' polls right up until recent years, into his 60s and even 70s!?

Give me a break!

Hi Guest - I've been very careful (I think and hope) to remember that this is a men's forum and not do any whingeing about women's issues. I've refuted some claims I don't agree and added my bit to the things I can agree with - and generally kept it at that.

Sorry if I strayed. I certainly don't want to hijack this board with girly whingeing because:

1) It's out of place.
2) The men on the board will feel it's being invaded and not a place they want to be any more and Karl will lose his target audience on what I think is a good/reasonable/balanced/interesting forum. I wouldn't want to ruin that.

The truth is I don't feel I do have a lot to whinge about (see my bit on the intro board).

I do get a bit anoyed about the women sex object thing in the media - as I said I don't want to go over the top - but I think its' a bit much. Please note I can equally see men's points about the media - but I am not going to say any more about it. Shtum. Consider me silenced on this issue.

So again - sorry I strayed.

BH

I'm a quaint and old fashioned kinda gal.

Quote from Anonymous

If you want to stop people being portrayed in a "sexy" way in magazines then when does it end?

Do you want to bann women from wearing tight, low-cut tops and sexy clothes in public? Maybe we should get women to wear burkas!

Actually I said that sexy was OK, just IMHO it's going a bit too far. Trouble is it's a very difficult line to draw which is why it's so easy to exceed - as we are seeing, again IMHO.

And I'm saying this in respect of the comments above that this is how men are being portrayed.

But it seems the consensus is that male sex object is OK - but not riducule/buffoonary etc. And that's entirely your prerogative, men

All I'm trying to do, from the opposite side of the fence, is give a bit of a warning that it's something you should think about before it's too late...

I've done my duty!

Quote from Anonymous

Quote from balancedhuman

I'm a quaint and old fashioned kinda gal.

No, I meant it in terms of being an out-of-date concern because the world has moved on and why be so concerned about VERY mild images in magazines when massive amounts of HARD CORE porn are easily accessed by teenagers?

I know what you meant . It still stands. By today's standards I am quaint and old fashioned.

I don't think that they are that mild. Topless lesbian poses on the front of what supposed to a mainstream mag is, IMHO, not mild.

Sara Cox in a string bikini is mild. That's fine by me. No complaints. Couldn't care less.

Just because something is being done, doesn't mean it's OK. I'm sure you know that anyway

Anyway, I'm not supposed to be talking about this topic anymore. I said I'd be quiet

Don't worry about me ,BH
I am sure no woman will ever see me as a "sex object"