America's Next Top Model
"All the other girls managed to have some sort of spark even in this sort of morbid situation. I think I look at you in this picture, and you actually just look dead."
Postsecret.blogspot.com
"We put the meat on the pole, not on the plate."
Portland Mercury Ad 4/10/08
GQ Magazine
CosmoGirl Magazine
In the first photo the model has been assigned to create an image of a woman that has been decapitated by a model. This photo and many others were part of a challenge on America's Next Top Model several seasons ago. The challenge was to make death look beautiful or attractive. These women were dressed in revealing or form fitting clothes, if not lingerie, and made up to look dead. The comment under the photo was one made by Nigel a judge on the show. He criticized the fact that this women actually looked dead in the photo and not dead but attractive. According to the article by Dworkin, this photo and the others in the challenge show subordination through objectification, submission and violence. The women are submissive to the orders placed upon them by the photographers, they are objectified in their death, because they no longer have a soul with them but are only bodies and the level of violence in clear considering each model is showing a type of murder. Like Jensen and Dines say in their article, the violence against women, even if being done by other women, is normalized and sexualized. This is evident in the model's make up and clothing as well as the comment made by the judge. Just looking dead isn't enough.
The second image directly relates to the readings and their views on what fantasies and acts were okay for feminists. The creator of the postcard feels bad because she perceives the act of being spanked to be one that is not in line with her feminist morals. Dworkin, Jensen and Dines would agree with this, making the argument that liking your boyfriend or husband to perform acts of violence upon you would be bending to their power and will and encouraging other violent acts. McElroy, Hartley and Monet would say otherwise. As long as the act is consensual and as long as the woman who wrote the postcard was willing to partake in such actions then it is not degrading and her "inner feminist" should be at peace.
Casa Diablo is a vegan strip club that recently opened up in Portland. The owner has been vegan for over 20 years and thought that opening a strip club might get other men to try being vegan without feeling unmanly. The quote under the picture is one that the owner said himself in an interview. While I agree that not all strip clubs are degrading I do think that this one is on many levels. It is apparent, because women are on the pole, that Dworkin, Jensen and Dines would be against the club because the women's bodies are being shown for male pleasure. But I think McElroy, Hartley and Monet would have a problem with the place too. This strip club is no feminist strip club, the owner has talked out against feminazi's in several interviews. This place is not a feminist strip club for many reasons, 1) a man owns, operates the business as well as tells the women what to do, 2) the women by being called meat, are being degraded, and 3) the club is being run strictly on male fantasy. There has been a lot of talk from the vegan and feminist community against this place and the owner has put it up for sale recently. Making his practices illegal may have made them more valuable to some but because they are legal people were able to have discussions about why the place was obscene and should not be open.
I chose the picture of Rachel Bilson to show an example of silence that Dworkin was talking about. According to her, women are silenced by those they are objectified and exploited by. While Rachel may have chose this pose, the picture is for a male magazine and her obvious placement of laying down on a bed and the clothing (or lack thereof) definitely cater to the men reading the magazine. Hartley might call this a choice, and might say that her being objectified in the photo is not negative because she chose to be in the magazine, she chose the money that she was paid for the shoot and she chose to wear the clothes provided. While I do agree with Hartley, I do also wonder about the implications of certain poses or positions in mainstream media. While it is the chose of Rachel to be in the magazine, and it is the choice of the men reading it to like or dislike it, what does it say to the younger women looking at the magazine? What if that is the only thing shown in this magazine? What message is that putting out?
Lastly I found in a CosmoGirl a while back that I liked but also found a little disturbing. The women in the photograph is underneath her vampire, she is dressed in pink, signifying a possible innocence that is only strengthened with the bow in her hair. While a vampire fantasy might not be dangerous to depict in a porn film or magazine, it might be dangerous to have as an advertisement in a young girl's fashion magazine. Are young women's fashion magazines meant to do what pornography does according to McElroy? Does this ad or fashion layout allow young women to safely experience sex alternatives. I would have to say no. If the image were in a porn then it may serve the function of providing sex information, but this ad is in a magazine and it is being used to sell clothes and a book. What kind of damage can be done when we are showing young women and men violent relationships outside of the possibly "safe" context of pornography. The understanding that it is a fantasy and meant for sexual pleasure to some is not there. The underlying choice is not there either. Like McElroy says, you can turn off the porn video when it becomes uncomfortable, you don't have to like the fantasy they are showing in the specific film, but in fashion magazines young girls and older women are being shown what they should want to wear and buy, there isn't a choice of what is in fashion or not and these fashions are put on the bodies of these models in poses that may show violence, subordination, or objectification as attractive and beautiful.
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