Opressed by sexuality

[andrewducker]

I was reading this months Empire (films to look out for: "I love Huckabees" and "The Incredibles") when I happened upon a full-page advert for speakers, advertised by a sexy woman holding one in each hand.

I waved it at Lilian and said "Look at this! It's so blood unnecessary!", and we had a brief discussion to the effect that naked women were fine in naked-women-magazines, but not really elsewhere. Her reasoning was the traditional "It makes me feel that all women are valued for is looking sexy.", but I had my own reason, _I_ felt patronised by it.

I really object to the idea that my buying decisions for a set of speakers will be largely affected by the fact that there are a pair of breasts next to them. I want speakers that (a) sound good and (b) will look ok. As pretty much _all_ speakers look ok to me, I'm primarily concerned with finding ones that sound good enough. Saying to me "Look! Speakers and _Breasts!" just feels like the crassest form of manipulation, and I object on principle.

Comments

[paddie-gal.livejournal.com]

I really hate the fact that Empire and Total Film seem to be primarily aimed at a male market, as though us ladies can't possibly be interested in movies - Rich buys Total Film each month, and it's so male orientated - even down to the 4-5 pages at the back of each one, with chatlines and sex-lines listed - why are films only meant for men??

[red-cloud.livejournal.com]

I really hate the fact that Empire and Total Film seem to be primarily aimed at a male market

Well, Empire is not a public service and they have a right to target whatever market segment they believe will make them the most money.