Let's be clear - I think the "gang rape" ad and the like are a much bigger problem than the "stupid men" ads...women are the targets of sexist advertising much more often than men, and to greater harm. I just wanted to bring up another part of the issue, which often gets a pass.

Some (not you) seem to subscribe to the idea that sexism only affects women. That's like saying only African Americans are affected by racism (is there any worse concept than 'reverse racism'? It's all just plain racism).

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That should be "or any other denigrating images"

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@samethingwedoeverynightpinky: Found my vanished comment: Is there more to the D and G ad campaign than that picture? Why is it being read as rape? At least on my crappy laptop screen, the woman looks unrestrained and into it? I mean, I dont know why that ad is supposed to make me buy shoes, but I find it the least offensive of the ads talked about in the article, and even though I'm usually disgusted by anything that tries to trivialize rape or assault, but I also don't think it's cool to assume that just because having sex with a bunch of hot men in a warehouse is not on the approved list of female sexual fantasies, we're assuming the ad represents nonconsensual sexual activity. (But if the people responsible for it said it was about rape, or there's more to the campaign that makes it clear, I take back my defense, obviously.)

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the woman looks unrestrained and into it

She is being held down by her wrists by the man and she is looking away from his face. To me, that is restrained and not into it.

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@iheartapocalypse: Oh. Sorry!

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[www.aarkey.info]

Is it because the woman is being dominant in that one? I don't know. I'm just thinking more about how it would be viewed by the general public and mainstream audiences. And the one I just linked to shows a crop, which makes it look more BDSM related, where as the girl being pinned down and surrounded by men waiting to pounce makes it look more rape-y.

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The look on her face doesn't, to me, even in the larger version of the ad, look distressed, and she is propping her body up, on her own. Again, I would never say to a real assualt victim, well, you deserved it, because you raised your crotch to the room, or didn't look upset enough, but my problem is with assuming, based on this shot, that this woman is an assualt victim, and not a consensual participant in this.

If it were an ad with a guy lying there, and a scantily clad oiled up woman leaning over him and holding his writsts while other scantily clad women stood around watching or waiting for their turn, no one would doubt it was a fantasy. And I get that the power dynamics are different, and you can't just say, well what if the roles were reversed, because gender is more powerful than that. But part of what's icky about the way we handle assualt in this country is that women's agency becomes a non issue-- and agency goes both ways. Women having the right to say yes (including to rough sex, including to whatever fantasies other's might find distateful or unladylike) goes along with women having the right to say no. So I'm not going to assume this woman is a victim. I've been assaulted. I also regularly fantasize about fucking lot of hot guys at once. It's not the same thing at all.

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Really? You noticed the sheen of the skin?

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