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[feralseraph]

So Vogue Italia has done a pretty intense photo series entitled "State of Emergency". It's interesting- you know something's pretty pervasive when it starts cropping up in photo shoots... And I'd love to hear people's thoughts on the rather (and I'm sure, purposeful) misogynistic attitude present in the photos. A comment on the perceived role of

Comments

[feralseraph]

Well, I generally agree with you. My real sticking point is that I'm not sure if it IS disturbing that they're using it for a fashion shoot. I mean, most security incidents at this point in time are a tremendously de-humanizing experience for people. Police or security guards or military personnel aren't looking at someone as a person; they're looking at them as another potential threat to be screened. I think in most of those cases a lot of the sort of treatment that people receive is almost solely based on appearance (not being involved in those situations myself from the security end I can't really say, but I SUSPECT it's this way). In other words, I can't imagine that women who look like they do in these photos would actually experience the boot on the neck. So from that end, is it important that the photos highlighted the really striking nature of that sort of image? Isn't it hypocritical and pathetic in the extreme that I might be able to look at a picture of a woman in a burqa undergoing some treatment like that and feel far less uncomfortable than I do to see a beautiful blonde woman being treated like that? Is the woman in the burqa (I really hope I'm spelling that correctly) any more deserving of that treatment?
I guess my question is whether the statement (at least the one I'm getting from them) of these photos outweighs the fact that they're in a fashion mag.

[eversearching]

The other striking aspect (for me) is the linking of violence and sexuality in a way that is telling. The images are extremely sexual, and they are images of men (and, in one case, a very de-feminized woman) basically having free and unrestricted access to an unwilling woman. If these images were of people in the exact same poses and facial expressions, but the men in civilian clothes, we would see these as being acts of blatant violence. In these images, however, the uniforms give the impression that this is government sanctioned and in the realm of what is legal- and, in fact, invited.

So there is also the issue of power and sexuality and rape and rape fantasies happening here as well, at least in my take.

The image of a woman in a burqa might well illicit more concern, with less discomfort- I think we might as westerners tend to see women in burqa's as already disenfrancised and victimized by their own culture (rightly or wrongly) and are prepared for all sorts of reasons to see them as victims. The discomfort from these images comes from them being novel and shocking, and while they do illicit discomfort, I think these images are not at all meant to illicit concern. We as viewers are invited to do the same thing to the women that the men in the image are- have unrestricted (viewing) access.

So what i find really interesting is the (deliberate?) idea that we are invited to see what the dark undercurrent of a dehumanizing experience is- which is a very disturbing idea all together.

Why would it be outweighed by the fact that they are in a fashion magazine? (I hadn't considered that aspect, and I'm curious)

Also, would this appear in the american issues of vogue?

[feralseraph]

I'll write more later about the longer issues, but as for the quickie question - I just meant that it had crossed my mind that the fashion industry hardly has a particularly progressive track record on the treatment of women (ie. rampant examples of objectification). Given that, I was just musing on whether the fact that the industry as a whole promotes rather suspect attitudes to women means that a photo shoot by them that I am viewing as progressive is actually somewhat shallow. There are all sorts of people who like to think that they have really "deep" takes on life and just end up rehashing tired old themes in shallow ways. In other words, does the attitude or thoughts of the photographers detract from the meaning of the piece of work if I get something more than they intended out of it?

[eversearching]

Ahhh! I see your point! I hadn't even considered these photographs in the context of how shallow the fashion industry is!

[feralseraph]

I agree with you completely that these images are meant to portray power relationships, and really have rape and rape fantasy connotations. And I certainly find them to engender discomfort. But I wonder whether they ARE meant to ellicit concern. After all, I certainly can't imagine that WE are the target audience for Vogue Italia. Perhaps the target readers are likely to associate strongly with the models in these images, thus making them more immediately relevant and distressing?
And whether it'll appear in the American issue? My guess is no. I think the different issues of Vogue are completely separate from each other.