~ while i have your attention.... ~
Ohkay.....
So during Monday's lab meeting, one of the directed studies students was presenting his work on what my colleagues in the lab refer to as the rape study. The study is actually about a number of things, including attribution of blame with primes etc, but yeah. It's a really interesting study with many potential applications and repercussions both in social psych and, also the criminal justice system... but I digress. Anyway, he gave a background on his work, and shared with us the image below. I was absolutely stunned. Enraged. Disgusted. And actually rather sad.
Observe:
Now, it may be that I am generally on a reasonable level of alert regarding the images I see in the media, specifically those concerning women....... but, does this not, to you, scream 'GANG RAPE' in huge, angry letters?????????
There are many other things wrong with this disgusting ad, which I could (and very possibly will) rant on about at length..... but let's start with the gang rape imagery, shall we?
There are five men standing over a woman. Four of them are watching dispassionately, yet with exaggerated 'masculine' posturing (as seen in a comparison photograph from a study of post diagnosis/treatment/transition of individuals with androgen insensitivity, actually!) as the fifth leans over her, expressionless, wearing sunglasses, coolly pinning her arm to the ground.
The woman, too, is expressionless, (!?) eyes closed, lips slightly parted.... but, oddly with her hips raised to the man above her. This latter observation brings to mind the whole 'no-means-yes' rape myth.
This is a total, complete, utter and absolute affront to both men and women, in my opinion. I find it disconcerting that a fashion ad seems to have a similar mentality to rape as certain groups of radical feminists: man=penis=aggressor=(in this case) rapist. Fashion ads, are actually, perhaps more egalitarian than said radical feminists in extending the complement of the aforementioned role to women, that is: woman=vagina=victim.
I've never read anything wherein these particular feminists acknowledge the fact that if all men are considered to be rapists merely because they are men, then, as a logical corollary of that argument, all women, are victims. To argue for victimhood would be an odd thing for anyone that calls themself a feminist to do! [Oh, definition of terms for clarity, 'feminist' is actually originally defined as a person - male or female- who believes in equality between the genders. Simple. The word carries a lot of negative connotations, which it doesn't actually deserve.] Feminists, by definition, are in favor of empowerment. And victimhood is about the least empowering thing I can think of.....
So what about the ad? Well, it's several months old as far as I can tell, and generated quite the controversy when it came out. I was, apparently, living under a rock at the time, because I'm usually on top of this kind of thing.... anyway, it was banned in Italy and Spain, and I believe in New Zealand as well, and very possibly elsewhere. And Dolce and Gabbana (which I cannot pronounce to save my life) pulled it from a few prominent planned publications. Personally, even if
a) I thought the clothing and other products that company sold were in the least attractive (which I really don't) and
b) if I had the money to purchase their overpriced brand-named swill in the first place -
I wouldn't, purely because of ads like this.
Does it promote gang rape? Debatable. This is a similar to the 'does the fashion industry promote eating disorders' question. (Another ranting topic dear to my ranty little heart, haha.) It is true that exposure to certain images may normalize an idea or behaviour and desensitize a person to a situation. This is something we definitely need to take seriously in our culture, most especially regarding violence of any kind. But is the artistic director of any photo shoot thinking: 'Okay, with this ad, I hope to instigate widespread rape of as many women as possible.'? Is she or he thinking: 'By choosing this emaciated model, with any luck, I will send hundreds of young women and men on a downward spiral of starvation and self-loathing.' ?
Erm, in my mind, that is a resounding no. I have an extremely low opinion of the fashion industry, but even I wouldn't accuse it of downright malevolence.... definitely stunning evasion of moral responsibility, and possibly blithe ignorance as to what moral responsibility actually is with regard to itself. If said industry were a person I might go so far as to call it narcissistic and completely lacking in the capacity of self awareness...... but I digress.
In any case, I am far from convinced that the media is a causal factor in either, but particularly the eating disorders. In the latter case, to point the finger at the media is not only ignorant and overly simplistic, it is insulting. (I could go on and on at length on this one... but alas am off topic.)
It would also be giving the utter shit that composes the thing that we call advertising way the hell too much credit to say that it is the cause of violence and other social problems. As much of an impact the media unfortunately does have on our lives.... I ask you, would it have that impact if it wasn't, at its most basic, a mirror of how things already are? It's often really just a glorified mirror, showing a sometimes subtly *better* image of that which is reality. And when we peer into it, and don't quite fit the image and then sometimes, adjust ourselves to fit...... sometimes I think that some of the most basic ideas we have about certain things, especially those things we generally tend to prize as idealized expectations (ie popular conceptions of gender (and life) roles, ideas of what success and affluence ought to be, sexuality, etc) are in danger of becoming a caricature of themselves - mirror and shape, mirror and shape...... but be that as it may...... if things like rape and anorexia were not there at the beginning, there wouldn't have been anything for the media monster to feed on in the first place. The media can build a series of images, and these images can pass in and out of our line of vision, but when it comes to decisions individuals make, and actions they take, a huge number of other factors have infinitely greater immediacy.
But I hate the ad. It may not be promoting gang rape as such, but it doesn't take much intelligence or media savvy to know that it's promoting antiquated, erroneous, and devastating stereotypes. And those are ultimately what hurt.