For this assignment I immediately knew that I wanted to pick a gendered image that completely degraded women and showed how women are exploited in advertising all the time. When I was looking for pictures on the Internet I found this image and I thought that it was a good response to the images I wanted to expose.
This image is from a French website called, “France Diplomatie”. I’m not sure what the exact translation is but I think that is something like, “A woman’s body should never be exploited to the public.” I’m assuming the image is a play on women’s shoe advertisements.
There is a white male in high heels and completely naked otherwise. His legs are placed in such a way so that his privates are completely covered. His legs and face are not shaved in this picture and he’s wearing an anklet that I think is his own. This is an imitation of how women’s bodies are usually sold along with the product in the advertisement.
The background of this picture is completely white and so are the words. His body seems to be pretty well lit. He’s sitting up very straight with his hands placed on top of his leg that is bent up to cover his private area and he is completely centered in the frame.
I think that the story being told behind this is that a woman’s body is always manipulated, used, exposed, and exploited in advertisements to sell a product. This group decided to make a response to these advertisements by using a white thin male who has still not shaved his legs or his face and is not really posed in any sexual or degrading position. I thought that it was good this group produced this image but I also thought that the man should have been just as exploited in this picture as the ones the group was critiquing.
Comments
That's a really interesting image...but I think that maybe if the group was going to exploit the man's body just as much as these kinds of advertisements exploit women's bodies, they would have had to do something different with the man. The entire concept of "sexiness" is constructed differently for men and women.
With that being said, I do think this is pretty funny because it shows how ridiculous advertising can be. I wonder what the direct translation of the writing on the advertisement is...
Posted by: Heather Larson | September 27, 2007 08:54 PM
I do agree that the way women and men are portayed as being sexy is a lot different in advertisements. I think that's the point that I was trying to make though. Women, I feel, are exploited a lot more and the way they are set up in the pictures are a lot more degrading. I think that's why it would be interesting to see a man set up and photographed in that same way.
Posted by: Timac | September 28, 2007 04:54 PM
No, the image does NOT say, 'A woman’s body should never be exploited to the public'.
Here's the translation that no one has bothered to offer:
'No female bodies have been exploited in this advertisement/publication.'
So, now you know. :D
Posted by: European Who Understands French | December 18, 2007 06:52 AM