Isn’t it Time Women Stood Up?
Driving around lately I have been noticing a lot of billboards with scantily-dressed women lying down, in passive, vulnerable positions. Is just another phenomena influenced by the ubiquitous access to porn? Maybe, but it doesn’t matter. The point is… you never see men in these types of poses. Men seeing other men in these poses would not make them buy things, so you don’t see it.
Some blame the media, but the media only chooses to put women in these poses because it sells things. If it stopped selling things, the billboards would disappear and the product managers would choose different messages. So, I wonder… why do we as women accept it? It puzzles me as a Marketer and as a woman. Many of the products featured in the ads are actually targeted towards women and for some reason… it works.
Sure, sex sells, but why this passive version? Why not sexual appeals that are more empowering? Years ago, people fought for more visible minorities to be represented in advertising and it worked. Now, why don’t women stand up and do the same? Why don’t we get more ad appeals that make us feel good about ourselves, instead of ones that only make us feel weak? This video uploaded by www.mediawatch.com does a great job of expressing these ideas.
What if the opposite is true – that some women aspire to be the women in the photographs or ads? Hence they see the advertisements as the equivalent of “training manuals” – perceived as valuable and accurate representations of an ideal type.
Moreover, the recumbent position is not necessarily one where power is lacking…the subtle message is – these women are desirable, so they can afford to appear helpless. Their physical positioning – like their physiques – comes as a result of choices they’ve made, not coercion or some type of systemic injustice.
Better to concentrate our thinking on the illogic of consumption as a means of expressing oneself. How have we come to the point where Descartes “cogito ergo sum” has been replaced by “I buy, so I am”.
I don’t think that any of these women are forced to lie down as models – it is definitely something that they aspired to be. That is the dissappointing part. Shouldn’t they aspire to be something more empowered, instead of something more passive? It reminds me of a line in one of Madonna’s songs, “For a Girl” – “When you Open Up Your Mouth to Speak, Will You Be a Little Weak”.
I don’t buy the message that women are so powerful that they can lie down. If women were the dominant majority of CEOs, political leaders etc. your argument would be convincing, but it simply isn’t right now.
u r hawt
You mean in that empowered, stand-up way right? Thanks!
We are living in a period where there is a record high amount of women working outside the home. Women growing up in the ’70s and ’80s have been told that we can have it all: a successful career, a happy marriage, be cultured, be witty.
Instead, the reality is that most women are stressed from juggling career/family priorities and trying to find Mr. Right and struggling to find what makes them happy and fulfilled.
When women are looking at those ads, they are not thinking that the models are passive; they are probably longing to be the model since she appears to be living a stress-free life. It’s kind of like looking at an ad for a sunny destination like Cuba when we’re freezing our butts off in Canada. It’s only a temporary reprieve from reality.
By the way, I disagree with your assumption that women of power is defined as being a captain of industry or a leading statesman. In fact, women derive their power from their ability to control their fertility. So, women, no matter what their career choice is can be powerful.
Caroline, thanks for the thoughts. I agree that there are different kinds of power but cannot agree that a woman’s power has only to do with fertility. If women, with equal education and qualifications as men, still play primarily support roles instead of leadership roles, I see that objectively as an imbalance. I am not minimizing the important role of motherhood of course – it is important too… as is fatherhood. But I think that women need a greater voice in politics and industry in order to create a balance in perspectives.
If seeing women lying down has only to do with relating to an escape fantasy… I wonder why we don’t see men that way? They like relaxing too… you don’t see children portrayed this way either. Maybe you see it as an escape, but I think that ubiquity of this women-lying-down image points to something else.
As a father of a 12 year old, I couldn’t agree more.