is that what you fought the war for?

Question

why when women fought so hard in the past for equality have todays women thrown it all away. can women not see that sexualising themselves and allowing magazines like nuts and zoo to be freely avaliable they have lost the respect of men.
is it because the media is owned by men and its a marketing ploy to wrest the power back?

im not a radical dungree working feminist, it just occured to me when i was listening to the radio earlier!!

this isnt a question moaning about women being exploited by men, its a question about whether women are exploiting themselves-i know they are not forced in to it!!!!

this isnt just about magazines and porn, cos i watch it myself-its about general day to day attitudes!!!

Answer 1

Have you ever heard of a woman being forced to pose for the mags !!

Answer 2

These women have lost the respect of both men and other women by allowing themselves to be portrayed in this way. I sat on the tube this morning, and watched some poor girl being ogled and leered at by a couple of "men". She clearly felt uncomfortable, but that didn't stop them. Before the advent of "Page 3" and the like, men wouldn't have dreamed of treating a woman in that way.

You're absolutely right in saying it's a marketing ploy - I believe that men can see the power slipping away from them, and by portraying women in this way it belittles them. In the past, you had to buy a "top shelf" magazine to look at "scantily clad" women. Nowadays, any teenaged boy can buy Zoo, Nuts or The Sport "news"paper in any corner shop.

However, the women that do this are not forced into it... they do it for the exposure (lol) and the money. But perhaps if women were paid equally and had the same opportunities as men, they wouldn't need to...?

Answer 3

You are likely 'correct.'

In a supermarket one evening I saw a 20 year old girl with the Latin motto written across her lower waistline just above her buttocks (she was bent down and stacking shelves) 'Carpa Diem' (may not be spelt correctly, but...) it translates as

'Seize the Moment.'

This is plain 'stupidity' because if someone were to 'do as she Advertised,' then the chances are that all Hell would break lose.

One the other hand, I've been challenged with the words by a woman, "Are you a man or a mouse."

So, if I attempt to demonstrate my so-called 'masculinity' to someone who might well cry off, I'm risking my liberty and time for what amounts to a cross between a 'goad' and a 'dare.'

That would beg the question, who's more stupid, her or me. Her for advertising or me for Buying it?

Additionally, yesterday I saw a woman - young, tall slim and funky / fashionable dressed, with her two daughters in tow heading into a Supermarket. The older girl was likely 5 or 6 years old, the slightly younger around 5. Both children wore 'fashionable' long boots with wedge heels.

Why do SOME mothers seem to need to 'sexualise' their children also?

Ok, I'll assume that she didn't see it in that light. But I saw children NOT dressed as 'children,' but as tiny versions of something from a fashion centrefold.

It did NOT look ok to me.

Sash.

Answer 4

You can't change what is going on so you just have to accept it because they are doing what they believe they have the right to do. Didn't any feminist see that coming. There are so many facets that they just forgot about or just plainly blind to. Don't you see the quality in it? They don't see themselves as being disrespectful, they see themselves doing what they need to do for the time; most likely it won't last and it never does.
Did it ever occur to you that radio program was sending sublimal messages to you?
Did it ever occur to you that that radio program was using the right words to get someone all wound up? Don't forget words are very powerful; especially when used in the right context. It seems to me that radio program had a chosen audience in mind and they used just the right words.

Answer 5

I would like to point out just one little thing:

Men are the targets of these magazines, websites, and videos. It is OUR weakness that drives the market. WE have some fundamental need to indulge.

So, in a way, it could be seen as women exploiting a basic need of men for financial gain.

Not that I really care. I will still look whenever I feel the need.

Answer 6

Women appear in those magazines because they like to exploit the pitiful men that buy them because they haven't the capacity for the real thing. So after thinking about it your question is counter-intuitive because it is not a question of men not respecting women but conversely women not respecting men.

Answer 7

Uh, most women don't pose for magazines.

Although many obsess on their appearance, not all do.

There are a LOT of women taking advantage of the opportunities now available to them -- doctors, lawyers, professors, researchers, writers in all fields, business owners, and just about everything else.

You're letting the media get to you, and are forgetting all the real women out there.

More than anything, it has to do with the nature of men's sexuality.

Whereas women are attracted to all kinds of qualities, most men are very turned on by visuals.

Thus, it's profitable to gear ads to this easy-to-trigger response.

You KNOW most guys will look if you plaster a hot babe over the whatever it is.

Edit (where WAS my head): Good heavens, woman, the Speaker of the House is a woman, as are California's two Senator's, as is one of the top-runners for next president.

Answer 8

I'm a guy, and I have to admit I enjoy looking at porn.

Now I think porn (and even non-nude stuff like Maxim) really functions best as part of a balanced life, and in that balanced life you might have exposure to different kinds of women. For me, there's the exhibitionist, sexually open types in porn, but then there's also types like my mom, my female friends, my old supervisor and other women I've worked with, and of course different images of women on TV and in movies. There's a balance to the women I look at or deal with in my life.

It seems that these days that the "exhibitionist, sexually open types" are getting more exposure (no pun intended) than they used to, and something like that might shift the balance. If we have images of women primarily as porn stars or scantily clad models, that's a skewed perception of women. Ideally, we should have a perception of women that includes mothers, friends, daughters, office managers, doctors, politicians, police officers, waitresses, engineers, etc., on top of just the swimsuit model.

But while I enjoy porn and such from time to time, I get the feeling that people think sexual liberation is a sign of true, 100% equality and I think there might still be things left unresolved.

Now there are a lot of battlegrounds for equality, and I'm not sure women have achieved true equality on all of them, but it des seem kind of like they declared victory on just the sexual expression front and said, "that's that".

Answer 9

Honestly I believe that women in my generation don't realize how hard of a fight it was for the past generations to earn the equality. It is something we have heard about but for the most of us have not had to fight for equality. Some women believe that the only way anybody can care for them is if there is some sort of sexual anything added with it. Which is absolutley not true. Also there will always be women that just want to be "taken care of" as far as material things no matter how far things progress for society as a whole!

Answer 10

Most people are exploited in some way or another and a lot of them do not realize it. This goes for women and men. A lot of people when they do realize it make a free choice to change this and a lot of people due to life circumstances cannot change it, so it is not just women but people of both genders who are exploited.

Answer 11

There's a book written by Ariel Levy called Female Chauvinist Pigs. Basically, she talks about the rise of the raunch culture. For some women, showing your body is a way of empowering yourself. There are parties organised by feminists (?!) where women are dressed in a very sexy way and dance around pole. What's the difference with a strip club? They would say THEY decided to do it.

I also watch porn, and don't mind going to strip clubs (only went there 3 times, was fun, nothing special), but I don't understand why some women think that dressing like sluts is a sign f power. I really don't. I think they missed something important in the feminist message! If you want to dress with little clothes, that's fine, just don't say it's a sign of empowerment!

The author explained also that, to be considered as equal to men in big businesses, women tended to act like men, reproduce their attitudes, but also dressed according to men's "fantasies". They want to fit in.