blog 7 week 8

The dignity and equality of women in contemporary society is at the heart of this week’s reading. The way Merskin illustrates her argument is through highlighting how females are exploited in advertising today. Merskin brings many examples to our attention, advertisements for ‘Marc Jacobs shoes’, ‘Gucci’, ‘Opium fragrance,’ etc. however even though Merskin discusses this issue rather well her tone throughout the paper seems to be one of radical feminism.  She agrees with other writers’ description of the “United States as a rape-prone society” (Merskin 2006, p 213). She also claims that the “eroticization of the female body supports an ideology of male superiority” (Merskin 2006, p 199). These views are too radical and slightly ridiculous. Just because models pose in a certain way does not insinuate they wish to be raped or to be dominated by male. How individuals come to that conclusion in culturally subjective. “Thinking in those terms and pairing the words “youth” and “erotic” together is deeply disturbing” (Merskin 2006, p 212) the vast majority of Westerns would accept this quote as I do however in many cultures around the globe as soon as a female begins menstruating she will mate (these societies tend to be patriarchal ones). This is again suggesting that interpreting images and the non-verbal communication that one reads off images is culturally subjective.

Those who had a greater desire for sex had more sex then those who didn’t therefore their particular genes (the gene for a greater desire to have sex) were passed down to their offspring and so on and so forth. This is the process of evolution called ‘natural selection’ where certain types of genes are favoured over others. Natural selection is the sole reason for why we are here today and also the reason why advertisers preach “sex sells” (Merskin 2006, p213). Instead of criticising ‘pornographic’ advertising it should be celebrated, it highlights the fact we are just animals that still have primitive instincts to mate. A perfect example of how strong the human desire to mate is in the early 2000s Kylie Minogue released a new range of underwear. A billboard was erected on Dandenong Road near the intersection of Chapel Street St Kilda as you are heading away from the city that displayed her wearing only underwear. The instinct of sex for a lot of males was so great that the local council had to take it down because there were too many accidents of male drivers not looking at the road. It’s not that advertisers are degrading females or males (cover of men’s health magazine normally has a topless male) they are simply playing into our innate want to mate with the opposite sex.

Bibliography

Merskin, D. 2006. Where are the Clothes? The pornographic gaze in mainstream American fashion advertising. In: T & Lambiase, J. Reichert, (ed). Sex in Consumer Culture, London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pg 200-217.