Jamie Foxx blamed it on the alcohol. About-Face fan Elizabeth Dodd blames it on pervasive sexist viewpoints in the media.
Jamie has the honor of gracing our Gallery of Offenders, and Liz thinks there are plenty of others in the spotlight who deserve to join him.
Read what the New Zealander has to say about show business chauvinism:
Hi,
I just had to say I love your site and I agree with everything you are saying. In regard to the Jamie Foxx song/video: yes, it shows such a sexist point of view.
I feel that the balance of power is always going to be weighted in only one group’s favor: heterosexual men. In videos such as this one, there is often a cross-section of men portrayed that includes types that are “ordinary,” balding, overweight, dressed in silly costumes, etc. But there is usually only one type of woman shown (i.e. a gyrating, curvy, sexy, “hot” one).
This once again gives the message to society that men are okay no matter what they look and act like, while women have to look and act like super-sexy fantasies at all times.
When do we ever see a huge cross-section of women of all ages, sizes, and levels of ordinariness surrounded by only super-hot men?
There is only one group that would want to be in this scenario, and that’s heterosexual men. Only they would desperately want to be in this mix where there is no competition and it’s just them and their goofy mates.
I see this formula everywhere in the media — a huge variety of “acceptable” and “lovable” male characters and only attractive female ones. It’s never made clear that this is only one point of view made up of male fantasy and male sexuality; not fantasy and sexuality in general.
Just had to vent.
Cheers and thanks for your site. :o)
Liz in New Zealand
Thanks Liz! Check out the video that got this reader riled up:
— Michelle Konstantinovsky is a student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and an avid admirer of shiny objects and preteen entertainment. It would be nice if you visited her website: www.michellekmedia.com. Also, she may learn to use Twitter more effectively if you follow her @michelley415.
I have noticed this too–it happens all the time. I’m glad I’m not the only one who finds it disgusting and unfair.
The thing is I don’t mind if there’s stuff out there that are obviously portraying male fantasies and targeting a male audience. I mean, that’s only fair and I certainly don’t begrudge men their sexuality. What I DEEPLY object to is the fact that this same ‘formula’ that is so attractive to men is STILL used to market to unisex audiences and worst still, to FEMALE audiences – the formula: lots of different men while the women are all attractive.
You only have to look at the number of female models in different guises in all TV ads (whether they’re meant to be suffering a terrible migraine or cleaning the toilet ALL the women are beautiful) while there’s a wide variety of ‘ordinary, warts-and-all’ men portrayed as acceptable. Movies also have an enormous variety of male characters and only 1 or 2 types of women – the supposed ‘girl next door Jennifer Aniston’ type and the mind blowingly ‘hot seductress’ type both of whom are beautiful. Even the female characters’ FRIENDS are gorgeous while many secondary male characters are often VERY ‘less than attractive’ and are based on character (I’d hate to be a ‘less than attractive’ female actor trying to get work).
It’s SUCH a double standard and constantly pushing the belief that women are SUPPOSED to be attractive and we all end up shocked at ourselves if we don’t come up to these ideals. Why are there no ‘unattractive but cool character’ women portrayed anywhere? While I accept that ‘ordinary’ men also have ‘hero’ male characters to live up to, I would argue that there are also MANY other less-than-hero characters they can relate to. They can feel comfortable just as they are. Society tells them so again and again. Come on girlfriends working in writing/directing/casting/marketing! Start developing characters us real chicks can relate to IT’S OUR TURN!!
Another huge offender in the media is comedies.
I totally agree Christina. I have a bl**dy good sense of humour but it completely drains away when time and time again I see comedies with a cross section of men: the ‘overweight’ guys, the ‘nerdy’ guys, the ‘slobby’ guys, the ‘older’ guys, the ‘loser’ guys etc., while the women (no matter what their character is meant to be) are ALWAYS attractive.
God forbid the world should have to look upon an ‘unattractive’ woman, much less, one that is surrounded by her ‘unattractive’ female friends who are all having a good laugh their physical ‘flaws’ and ‘inadequacies’ and are all portrayed as likeable characters.
I think the insideous thing about all this is that because there is such an unvaried physical type of woman visible everywhere, our perseption of what IS an ‘unattractive’ woman gets warped. We end up seeing a woman who is actually already very attractive, as ‘unattractive’ because she is being compared to all the SUPERmodels out there.
There are simply no positive images of ‘unattractive’ (read ‘normal’) women out there.
Argghhh it drives me NUTS.
Being a guy, I hope I don’t ruffle too many feathers by commenting. But it’s an important issue for us all that touches on all of our lives.
I’m not sure that I relate to the labels about sexist heterosexual men – but then perhaps I think differently anyhow.
Whenever marketers reduce people’s value down to ‘a look’ they’re on shaky ground, aren’t they?. Obviously it sells products but at what cost to us all? Together they are creating a social view full of silly cliches. They hurt and insult women and they manipulate men. We all deserve better, don’t we? Simply because we are not product consumers but people.
I believe real men love REAL women. Not the plastic things of some bizarre media fantasy. But women in all their wonderful shapes and sizes and fabulous diversity.
Insecure, weak men go for fake women. They just aren’t up to handling a real women with strengths, needs and intelligence.
To me, this is not so much about how chauvinistic men are (and of course some are), but how unrealistic the whole selling machine is getting.
I am totally with you on this. It’s time we put forward our own ideas and celebrate real people, not just for their looks, but for the strengths of beauty they bear as people.
Hello,
I said to myself that the next time I come across a really informative blog post I would leave a quick post saying thank you.
So, thank you for the sweet post – I have shared it with my friends on twitter.
Lots of love,
Jana.