Recently, in the Tribune, Dawn Turner Trice wrote a column about a local billboard that was the cause of some outrage on the part of a local women's organization. I've seen the billboard, and it's not tasteful, and it's a little bit degrading. I'm not sure that I'm outraged by it, but it doesn't make me happy either. However, today, Trice has a short follow-up piece posted, with some comments from readers. Mostly the comments are fine, but the last one nearly made smoke come out of my ears.
The only women I know who ever seem to get offended by racy ads featuring women are women who are not attractive in the slightest. It's petty.
First of all, this comment wasn't written by a man, which is worth noting. I think. And here's how I know:
My friends and I often dress up in our sexiest outfits to go out, yet we should be offended when sex is used to sell.
This is a two-pronged bad answer to the question. The first part is so offensive I want to cry. Yes, the reason women find that billboard offensive is because they're ugly. Attractive women couldn't possibly object. Hence, if you do object, you must be ugly. And the charge that it's petty? That strikes me as the lowest form of insult one woman can hurl at another. I can't even gather my thoughts coherently enough to tell you why this is wrong, except that I know that it is. Implying that ugly women are bitter trolls who reject any display of hot ladies, simply because they're ugly is so far out there that I don't know how to respond. Someone help me here.
And the second part of that comment? Great, glad to know that you're a hot, sexy woman. Because clearly, the only way you can show that is to dress in revealing, degrading clothing. Obviously, this woman sees herself as a commodity, because she needs to show off the goods to a prospective partner before he "buys". I can't say that I disagree with the idea that women should be allowed to choose to dress as sexy as they want, because they should. But they should also understand that using themselves to sell something is ugly and wrong, and is contrary to everything that feminism fights for. We're not something to be bartered or sold, we can't be given or taken (part of my problem with traditional marriage/weddings); we're human beings, just like the men in the marketing departement of that radio station. Until we stop seeing women's bodies as a commodity, we'll never get gain any sort of gender parity, which is what I assume lots and lots of women are working towards. In my book, every single woman should be concerned with the way our bodies are used to sell things.
(For the record, it's just as heinous when it's a man's body; I'm fighting against objectification in general, here.)
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