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When Your “Feminine Area” Isn’t Up to Par: Advertising Products to Women

August 10, 2012 By 8 Comments

This is the third in a three-part series about women and advertising.

There are plenty of commercials and advertisements aimed at aiding women with feminine health issues, but they are incredibly secret about what area needs aiding. When using the words “feminine health,” “feminine hygiene,” or “feminine area,” these ads are talking about women’s private parts — the vagina, to be exact.

But the word ‘vagina’ might be too real, vivid, or disturbing to use, as Democratic state representative Lisa Brown found out after saying ‘vagina’ and then being banned from speaking by male politicians who took offense with her choice of words. One colleague, Republican Mike Callton, was very upset and insulted by Brown using the word ‘vagina’: “What she said was offensive. It was so offensive I don’t even want to say it in front of women. I would not say that in mixed company.”

[Read more...]

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Do Whatever it Takes to Feel Feminine: Advertising Products to Women

August 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

This is the second in a three-part series about women and advertising.

A commercial for the facial-hair cream Vaniqa depicts a woman getting ready in front of the mirror. She spots a facial hair (which is not visible to the naked eye), and looks away with a hopeless, dejected look on her face. As the female narrator says, “When I spot facial hair…”, the woman in the commercial turns to the camera and says, with a male voice, “This is how I feel; manly, unfeminine.” In her own voice, the hopelessly dejected woman states, “Now I don’t even want to go out.” Apparently, facial hair is not only extremely unfeminine, but like any other part or characteristic of women’s bodies, it is tremendously embarrassing and unattractive. The commercial spends another minute and a half describing how Vaniqa can help women overcome their manly traits and feel good about themselves again. The female dermatologist can help: “Women don’t talk about this problem with anyone, but they do talk to me about how powerless and unhappy they feel. I recommend Vaniqa.” The commercial ends with the statement, “free yourself from the constant worry and maintenance of unwanted facial hair.”

The thing is, we all have some sort of body issue, and at times we do feel insecure and unattractive. The point is not that women should not use these products; it is the message that is frustrating. That message is: You are never good enough, and you never will be. Instead, you should feel so intensely bad about yourself that you will use our products.

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You Should Feel Guilty: Advertising Products to Women

August 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

This is the first in a three-part series about women and advertising.

There are plenty of advertisements that target women while featuring low fat or low calorie foods and snacks. Special K is among those. In many of the commercials they claim that healthy eating is the overall message, but this is not true. Often their message is that women should feel guilty about their eating habits — so guilty that they should switch to Special K.

Many of these advertisements are the same. Women are either struggling to get into a pair of skinny jeans (it is always skinny jeans) or a cocktail dress. Or they are hungry, even possibly starving as they stare at muffins, chips, and other fatty snacks. Then guilt takes over and that is when Special K steps in with its promise of happiness and delicious low-calorie, low-fat snacks.

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What to wear? – Beach Volleyball and the Olympics

July 26, 2012 By 1 Comment

The Olympics in England is around the corner and it will be exciting to watch the skillful and dedicated women and men who are going to be competing. At the same time, the controversy over women’s volleyball outfits is ongoing. I came across the article “Blimey!!! Long johns, not bikinis, at Games?” in the Sacramento Bee. The article discusses how long johns may be necessary during this year’s game as temperatures will probably be low and some games will be played in the evenings. When asked whether or not long johns will detract audiences, Australian player Tamsin (Barnett) Hinchley said no, while stating “We need it to keep our muscles warm. It’s an extremely strenuous sport.” But the author of the article did not seem so pleased with that answer instead arguing that “Yes, but let’s get real. Long sleeves and leggings aren’t the main draw for many beach volleyball fans.”

Perhaps that is true, but anyone who has ever lived in or visited the UK or the northern hemisphere during the summer knows that just because the calendar says July or August does not mean that it is summer weather. In fact, it can be cold, really cold, rainy and windy. Let the female athletes wear whatever they want to, and let us focus on their skills as athletes. After all, they made it to the Olympics, so they must be kick-ass. [Read more...]

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Airbrushing “Gone Wrong” Shows the Absurdity of Retouching Images of Women

July 9, 2012 By 2 Comments

After reading Jodi’s post on the Keep it Real Challenge, we could not agree more with her statements and the fact that women (even when they are aware of the airbrushing and photoshopping process) feel bad about themselves after seeing bodies photoshopped to perfection. These photoshopped bodies are presented as “the norm” as many magazines maintain that they only use a little bit of airbrushing, when in fact they use a whole lot.

We have always thought it strange that women in advertisements have no cellulite (when in fact about 90 percent of women do have cellulite), no stretch marks, no scars, no blemishes, no birthmarks, and often no facial features whatsoever except for eyes, a nose, and a mouth on a perfectly wrinkle-free, smooth face. This is because many models, although still beautiful women, are airbrushed beyond what the human body looks like.

In order to attempt to use airbrushing to our advantage and make a point out of it, we thought we would present you with a few “airbrushing disasters.” We hope that these examples can help show the absurdity of airbrushing and photoshopping, and how trying to minimize and slim down models’ bodies often leads to strange body alignments or even the misplacement of limbs.  [Read more...]

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Why do men rape? Evolutionary theory has the answer: part two

May 23, 2012 By 1 Comment

*Trigger warning: the content of this piece discusses rape and sexual assault, and may be disturbing to some readers.

 In our first piece: Why do men rape? Evolutionary theory has the answer: part one, we discussed rape and victim blaming in regards to evolutionary psychology. We expressed our dislike with the notion that rape is an evolutionary trait. But evolutionary psychology is not the only field presenting misogynist theories concerning rape. Evolutionary biology is also a common culprit. One of us recently came across a book that discussed the enigmas concerning women’s biology and was shocked, surprised and also infuriated with the way that rape was blamed on the “deceptive” female body.

Not only is rape, according to evolutionary psychology, an adaptive trait. It is also, according to evolutionary biology, commonly presented as the result of women’s concealed ovulation. In short, rape is blamed on the very nature of women’s bodies. To explain: in contrast to some nonhuman primates, women’s ovulation is concealed. That is, most women and men do not necessarily know when a woman is ovulating. Different evolutionary theories have attempted to explain this enigma. One of these theories states that women’s secret ovulation is a response to trying to keep control over men and thus control over their own sexual reproduction and sexual partners. At the same time, this theory also discusses rape. If ovulation would not be concealed, different men may try to reproduce with, and compete over the same woman as she signals ovulation, “…leaving women little choice, perhaps, but to accept the victor” (Barash & Lipton, 2009, p. 62). This statement alludes to rape if ovulation is obvious, but the same is true for concealed ovulation, according to evolutionary biology:

 …women pay a potentially devastating cost as a result of their concealed ovulation: it makes them more vulnerable to being raped. Among animals such as horses and dogs, males by and large are sexually interested only when females are receptive. Hence, mares and bitches are only rarely sexually attacked by stallions or dogs because when females aren’t in estrus, males aren’t interested, and when males are sexually demanding, females are too. A possible downside of women’s having evolved to obscure their time of peak ovulatory receptivity may therefore be that they have ended up being more vulnerable to men’s forcing unwanted sex upon them simply because as a result of concealed ovulation, men – clueless enough when it comes to romance generally – are even more clueless as to when women are likely to be biologically receptive (Barash & Lipton, 2009, p. 62-63).

According to these theories, the very nature of women’s biology compels men to rape them, while blame is placed on women’s bodies as they do not signal ovulation or fertilization in an obvious manner (even though the same would be true if they did).

These statements made by evolutionary biologists are extreme examples of victim blaming as they view rape as an innate biological trait that is dependent on women’s faulty biology. If it was not for women’s concealed ovulation rapists would not be so inclined to rape. At the same time, visible ovulation may result in the same consequence, rapists being inclined to rape. Evolutionary theories are male dominated, while advocating for the extraordinary male need for reproductive success as normal, even if reproduction includes rape (which physically, mentally, and emotionally harms women). Women’s bodies are viewed as deceptive, alluring, faulty and deviant, meaning that if it were not for women’s deceptive biology, perhaps men would not have to rape. [Read more...]

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The Pregnant Body

May 7, 2012 By 8 Comments

As a pro-choice activist (and person who reads the news), the fact that women’s bodies are objects of public discourse is no surprise to me. From birth control to abortion, our reproductive systems take the stage, front and center. We are put under the proverbial microscope, scrutinized and criticized on a regular basis for taking control of our bodily integrity and fertility. Continuing a decades-long trend (or centuries-long, even), this public inspection is at an all-time high, completely fixated on when we – gasp! – choose not to conform to gendered expectations and bear children when we “ought” to.

But what about when we do decide to become mothers?

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My Body: Your Choice? How men control and dominate women’s bodies

May 3, 2012 By 8 Comments

Editor’s Note: Today’s we are so luck to have another guest post from globetrotting feminists Elin and Hennie Weiss! Yay! Elin has a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and a Master’s Degree in Women’s Studies from University College Dublin, Ireland. Hennie is currently finished up her Master’s Degree in Sociology from California State University, Sacramento. They are both very interested in women’s studies, feminism and the study of men and masculinities, especially so gender role expectations and the representation of women and men in media.

The recent Senate hearing concerning President Obama’s policy on birth control caused quite the stir as an all male panel discussed women’s contraceptive rights. As outraged as many women and men were over the exclusion of females, who are most impacted by birth and contraceptive choices, men’s control over women’s bodies is not a new phenomenon. Across time and continents, women’s rights have been contested, fought against, and denied as men have assumed a paternalistic approach to women’s own choices concerning abortion, contraception, and birth, while issuing themselves the right to decide over women’s bodies. Men’s control over women’s bodies, however, has often been damaging and unhealthy to women. In this piece, we are discussing a few historical examples that showcase men’s influence and control over women’s rights and choices. We want to discuss examples that show that the persistent male control over women’s bodies and choices has not always been based on knowledge or competence but simply has concerned men’s need to control women.

The all male panel that discussed women’s rights to free birth control included men from different races and religious beliefs, as to fairly include different opinions. This panel however lacked one crucial aspect: women and women’s opinions. After all, this was a discussion that concerned women’s bodies, rights and choices. The fact that the panel consisted of all male participants is hugely upsetting. It is not, however, surprising since throughout history there has been a strong tendency for men to infantilize women while believing that women’s opinions are less valid and competent.

Even before the pill was invented and fairly available to women, many women attempted to control their sexuality through different methods aimed at limiting or spacing pregnancy. Since for many years a woman’s sexuality was often controlled by her husband, and marital rape was not seen as problematic, many women faced more or less constant pregnancies. This was especially hard on working class women who had to perform straining work shortly after giving birth, and who lacked the finances to provide for a large number of children. Various abortion methods were looked down upon but were often performed (Abbott 2011). During this time, the most famous abortionists were women while the most focused anti-abortionists were men. A man named Anthony Comstock was one of the most aggressive opponents of birth control (Tyler May 2010). Comstock fought to rid the United States of literature discussing birth control while prosecuting abortionists. He succeeded and in 1873 the Comstock Act was accepted, declaring the obscenity of birth control devices (Abbott 2011). [Read more...]

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Can you be pro-choice if you wouldn’t choose abortion for yourself?

September 14, 2011 By 15 Comments

Last week I posted a discussion question and asked folks to define what it means to them to be pro-choice. The response that I got from people on Twitter and Facebook was overwhelming. Thanks to everyone who responded.

The diversity of answers people gave me shows that there is such a broad range of thought around what it means to be pro-choice. Most importantly, it’s OK to have a conflicted answer about what “pro-choice” means to you. Rather than getting ourselves trapped in binary frameworks (i.e. “you’re either with us, or against us”), it seems more productive to acknowledge that everyone has their own point of view. When you read on, you’ll get a good sense of why I think there’s a valuable place at the table for each of these opinions. [Read more...]

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Monday News Roundup

March 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Are Women’s Bodies Owned by the Christian Right? – RH Reality Check
Adventures in Feministory: Wilma Mankiller – Bitch
UT Bill That Criminalizes Abortion Overlooks Class Inequalities – New York Times
Women’s History Month Across the Curriculum – New York Times

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