(no subject)
Popquiz!
Yes, they're all kinda awful, but that's not what I mean. All these posters depict women, but none of them show a woman's face. After all, a woman's face doesn't matter. Looking at someone's face makes you think that they're a real person with thoughts and feelings, and who has time for that shit? It just distracts from the important bits, i.e. tits, arse, hips and legs.
Note that most of these posters have men in them too, but the men get the dignity of actually having faces. The poster designers want viewers to identify with these men, to see them as real people with personalities, whereas the women are just pairs of disembodied legs. Nobody can identify with disembodied legs.
My point is that this is a form of objectification, and a very nasty one too, as it is extremely dehumanising. It asks us to view women as a collection of body parts, rather than people. It figuratively chops women into pieces and robs them of their humanity. This isn't a new trend either. Male artists have a long history of depicting female body parts, rather than actual women. I'm pretty sure there's even an academic term for this process, but to my shame I can't remember it (seriously, I'm a feminist and a literature scholar - I should know things like that).
To end this post on a more positive note, here's something nice:
Love your vagina!
(x-posted to fem_rage)