Beauty and the budded beast (on objectifying women for weed)
This article justifying using beautiful girls in "weed culture" is making me side-eye so hard. The author spells out that it's only beautiful WOMEN who hold universal appeal such that anyone who's not a straight dude won't be deterred, while handsome men actively repel straight dudes. The author doesn't see the problem here? The author didn't notice how sex is shorthand for "the T and A of women who look a certain way"?
And then there are the women who insist, "If you got it flaunt it" (fine, fair) but use that as their cue to accuse those feminists who point out how it's fucked up that "sex" is now shorthand for "T and A, and only of certain KINDS of women at that", of "oppressing" the true empowered women. Just look at this stupid thread on fb's NORML Women's Alliance page: http://www.facebook.com/normlwomen
Whether it's this or PETA or Angry Green Girl it's always the objectification of women for a ~cause and now calling bullshit on that is seen as oppressive.
So without further ado, the artice:
Throughout SKUNK Magazine’s tenure on newsstands and bookshelves everywhere, much attention - both positive and negative - has been drawn to the gorgeous women that have graced cover after cover and the pages within. One could argue that that’s why they’re there in the first place: to capture the minds and hearts of the readers, who are for the most part, men. Along with making up the vast majority of Skunk's readership, men also comprise the lion’s share of daily cannabis consumers, medicinal or otherwise.
While it’s no secret that straight men and lesbians respond positively to the image of a beautiful woman, market research and academic studies repeatedly prove that straight women and gay men also appreciate the beauty of the feminine form and respond positively to female models in magazines (by “responding positively,” I mean they buy the product being advertised or enjoy the article, as opposed to just ignoring it).
Not so for their male model counterparts, because while women and gay men might enjoy seeing beefcake bulging back at them from glossy magazine pages, the vast majority of straight men just don’t go for it and will actually stop reading, rather than simply skip over the bulgy bits as lesbians are more likely to do. This applies for all of publishing, not just the pot rags. That’s why magazines geared specifically toward men or women both feature more female models than male.
.
Pot models seem to fall into two categories:
1. This is just a modeling job like any other and the fact that it has something to do with weed is unimportant. Sex and beauty sell, no matter what you’re selling and if I can make a living exploiting my beautiful, sexy body, even better.
2. I have a beautiful, sexy body and I’m going to use it to promote cannabis-related causes, products and services because I love cannabis. I consider it a form of activism unto itself.
Andrea Lule says she's somewhere between the two categories: “I’m into modeling in general and just happen to be a patient who smokes and loves to smoke. If people like it and people want it and we model it, why not?”
Sweet D (a.k.a. Suicide Supermodel) ascribes to Category Two. “I have a passion for marijuana and believe people should be enlightened to its benefits and not believe the propaganda that’s been spread about its effects,” she explains.
Sweet D and She’s Crafty is part of Girls Gone Weed, co-created by artist PMAD and a few of his girlfriends. “We’re motivated stoners who represent the love of nature and natural beauty by feeling sexy when we’re high,” offers She’s Crafty (at right). “I don’t in any way get paid from pot modeling. I do it for my own art and to share with these communities of productive stoners. I am a creativity activist that’s driven by happiness, music and love.”
Canadian photographer and model Andi von Doom makes no bones about what she does, why she does it: “I am a woman. I take sexually driven photos of women consuming cannabis. Why? Because sex is the most effective marketing tool. Combine it with the power of propaganda and you have a deadly weapon. Putting these two forces to work in the cannabis movement is the only way we're going to see legalization in our lifetimes.”
more at source
And then there are the women who insist, "If you got it flaunt it" (fine, fair) but use that as their cue to accuse those feminists who point out how it's fucked up that "sex" is now shorthand for "T and A, and only of certain KINDS of women at that", of "oppressing" the true empowered women. Just look at this stupid thread on fb's NORML Women's Alliance page: http://www.facebook.com/normlwomen
Whether it's this or PETA or Angry Green Girl it's always the objectification of women for a ~cause and now calling bullshit on that is seen as oppressive.
So without further ado, the artice:
Throughout SKUNK Magazine’s tenure on newsstands and bookshelves everywhere, much attention - both positive and negative - has been drawn to the gorgeous women that have graced cover after cover and the pages within. One could argue that that’s why they’re there in the first place: to capture the minds and hearts of the readers, who are for the most part, men. Along with making up the vast majority of Skunk's readership, men also comprise the lion’s share of daily cannabis consumers, medicinal or otherwise.
While it’s no secret that straight men and lesbians respond positively to the image of a beautiful woman, market research and academic studies repeatedly prove that straight women and gay men also appreciate the beauty of the feminine form and respond positively to female models in magazines (by “responding positively,” I mean they buy the product being advertised or enjoy the article, as opposed to just ignoring it).
Not so for their male model counterparts, because while women and gay men might enjoy seeing beefcake bulging back at them from glossy magazine pages, the vast majority of straight men just don’t go for it and will actually stop reading, rather than simply skip over the bulgy bits as lesbians are more likely to do. This applies for all of publishing, not just the pot rags. That’s why magazines geared specifically toward men or women both feature more female models than male.
.
Pot models seem to fall into two categories:
1. This is just a modeling job like any other and the fact that it has something to do with weed is unimportant. Sex and beauty sell, no matter what you’re selling and if I can make a living exploiting my beautiful, sexy body, even better.
2. I have a beautiful, sexy body and I’m going to use it to promote cannabis-related causes, products and services because I love cannabis. I consider it a form of activism unto itself.
Andrea Lule says she's somewhere between the two categories: “I’m into modeling in general and just happen to be a patient who smokes and loves to smoke. If people like it and people want it and we model it, why not?”
Sweet D (a.k.a. Suicide Supermodel) ascribes to Category Two. “I have a passion for marijuana and believe people should be enlightened to its benefits and not believe the propaganda that’s been spread about its effects,” she explains.
Sweet D and She’s Crafty is part of Girls Gone Weed, co-created by artist PMAD and a few of his girlfriends. “We’re motivated stoners who represent the love of nature and natural beauty by feeling sexy when we’re high,” offers She’s Crafty (at right). “I don’t in any way get paid from pot modeling. I do it for my own art and to share with these communities of productive stoners. I am a creativity activist that’s driven by happiness, music and love.”
Canadian photographer and model Andi von Doom makes no bones about what she does, why she does it: “I am a woman. I take sexually driven photos of women consuming cannabis. Why? Because sex is the most effective marketing tool. Combine it with the power of propaganda and you have a deadly weapon. Putting these two forces to work in the cannabis movement is the only way we're going to see legalization in our lifetimes.”
more at source