4 ms·

This is symptomatic of societal denial that there are serious gender imbalances in the objectification of women. Not long before Tom posted this image there was

by marquis 15y ago

This is symptomatic of societal denial that there are serious gender imbalances in the objectification of women. Not long before Tom posted this image there was this public post: https://plus.google.com/117378076401635777570/posts/AQ6Fp44B7VZ https://plus.google.com/117378076401635777570/posts/AQ6Fp44B... How can I, as a woman, read this story and then look back at Google+ and see this image?

dpark 15y ago
How can you seriously compare a woman choosing to dress in a sexy outfit with women who are forced into prostitution? When Anthony Weiner sends pictures of himself in his underwear, does it cause gender imbalances? Does it cause male objectification?
- marquis 15y ago
  Yes, Weiner's pictures of his underwear is absolutely male objectification - but not in his original context. That was a complicit choice between him and his partners. It become objectification when the media chose to focus on this as a sex issue and deem him unworthy of being in office. And on the comparison to prostitution: why are there prostitutes? Why do men go to prostitutes? Do you think any 7 year old girl says to her parents that she wants to grow up to be a prostitute? It's slavery that is allowed by society because woman are objects (in this context).
  - dpark 15y ago
    > Yes, Weiner's pictures of his underwear is absolutely male objectification - but not in his original context. That was a complicit choice between him and his partners. The woman in this picture chose to wear the outfit. She chose to take a picture with the guys. > It become objectification when the media chose to focus on this as a sex issue and deem him unworthy of being in office. Of course it was a sex issue. He sent nearly-naked photos to a woman he had phone-sex with. I fail to see how it's objectification, though. Why does sex imply objectification? Or does "objectification" just basically have no real meaning? > And on the comparison to prostitution: why are there prostitutes? Why do men go to prostitutes? Do you think any 7 year old girl says to her parents that she wants to grow up to be a prostitute? It's slavery that is allowed by society because woman are objects (in this context). There are prostitutes because there's a market for sex. People generally become prostitutes because they are in poverty. From this particular article, it sounds like the whole area remains a brothel because there's basically no way out for the women there. It's extremely tragic. I frankly find it disgusting that you link attempt to link sexy outfits to forced prostitution and child prostitution. This is far more offensive than anything Tom Anderson posted.
    - marquis 15y ago
      For you to bring child prostitution into this I believe you did not read the article. >There are prostitutes because there's a market for sex There is a market for sex because women have been legal chattel for centuries, wherein women are traded as objects primarily for the purposes of empowering a certain view of the world. For the record: many organisations specializing in trafficking relief admit that women are equally, if in some cases more at fault, in forcing other women into the prostitution market. I am in no way attempting to blame men for a difficult, millennia-long problem, I just refuse to accept the status-quo while it causes genuine and significant damage.
      - dpark 15y ago
        I did read the article. For you to believe that child prostitution is not a part of a culture of human trafficking and inherited prostitution make me think you are a bit naive. I would expect that many of the women are prostituting themselves by the age of 15, if not years earlier. Why are we still discussing this? There are few people in western nations who believe that human trafficking of any kind is acceptable, nor would many say that inherited prostitution is acceptable. These issues are very much removed from the question of whether showing a woman's cleavage is sexist, or misogynist, or objectifies women. A woman showing cleavage in a photo is related to human sex trafficking in the same way that a man doing manual labor is related to slavery.
        marquis 15y ago
        I see plenty of connections in both of those things.
        dpark 15y ago
        Yes, there is an extremely tenuous connection. That's why I made the comparison. However, we don't publicly condemn someone who posts a picture of a man doing manual labor, accuse them of objectifying men, or attempt to tie their use to the picture to the slavery. On the other hand, apparently we do publicly condemn someone for posting a picture of a woman with cleavage, accuse them of objectifying women, and attempt to tie their use of the picture to human sex trafficking. It's hard for me to understand why you can't see the ridiculousness of this. Even if you believe that the use of the picture was inappropriate or sexist, it is unrelated to human sex trafficking.

by marquis 15y ago

dpark 15y ago

How can you seriously compare a woman choosing to dress in a sexy outfit with women who are forced into prostitution? When Anthony Weiner sends pictures of himself in his underwear, does it cause gender imbalances? Does it cause male objectification?

marquis 15y ago
Yes, Weiner's pictures of his underwear is absolutely male objectification - but not in his original context. That was a complicit choice between him and his partners. It become objectification when the media chose to focus on this as a sex issue and deem him unworthy of being in office. And on the comparison to prostitution: why are there prostitutes? Why do men go to prostitutes? Do you think any 7 year old girl says to her parents that she wants to grow up to be a prostitute? It's slavery that is allowed by society because woman are objects (in this context).
- dpark 15y ago
  > Yes, Weiner's pictures of his underwear is absolutely male objectification - but not in his original context. That was a complicit choice between him and his partners. The woman in this picture chose to wear the outfit. She chose to take a picture with the guys. > It become objectification when the media chose to focus on this as a sex issue and deem him unworthy of being in office. Of course it was a sex issue. He sent nearly-naked photos to a woman he had phone-sex with. I fail to see how it's objectification, though. Why does sex imply objectification? Or does "objectification" just basically have no real meaning? > And on the comparison to prostitution: why are there prostitutes? Why do men go to prostitutes? Do you think any 7 year old girl says to her parents that she wants to grow up to be a prostitute? It's slavery that is allowed by society because woman are objects (in this context). There are prostitutes because there's a market for sex. People generally become prostitutes because they are in poverty. From this particular article, it sounds like the whole area remains a brothel because there's basically no way out for the women there. It's extremely tragic. I frankly find it disgusting that you link attempt to link sexy outfits to forced prostitution and child prostitution. This is far more offensive than anything Tom Anderson posted.
  - marquis 15y ago
    For you to bring child prostitution into this I believe you did not read the article. >There are prostitutes because there's a market for sex There is a market for sex because women have been legal chattel for centuries, wherein women are traded as objects primarily for the purposes of empowering a certain view of the world. For the record: many organisations specializing in trafficking relief admit that women are equally, if in some cases more at fault, in forcing other women into the prostitution market. I am in no way attempting to blame men for a difficult, millennia-long problem, I just refuse to accept the status-quo while it causes genuine and significant damage.
    - dpark 15y ago
      I did read the article. For you to believe that child prostitution is not a part of a culture of human trafficking and inherited prostitution make me think you are a bit naive. I would expect that many of the women are prostituting themselves by the age of 15, if not years earlier. Why are we still discussing this? There are few people in western nations who believe that human trafficking of any kind is acceptable, nor would many say that inherited prostitution is acceptable. These issues are very much removed from the question of whether showing a woman's cleavage is sexist, or misogynist, or objectifies women. A woman showing cleavage in a photo is related to human sex trafficking in the same way that a man doing manual labor is related to slavery.
      - marquis 15y ago
        I see plenty of connections in both of those things.
        dpark 15y ago
        Yes, there is an extremely tenuous connection. That's why I made the comparison. However, we don't publicly condemn someone who posts a picture of a man doing manual labor, accuse them of objectifying men, or attempt to tie their use to the picture to the slavery. On the other hand, apparently we do publicly condemn someone for posting a picture of a woman with cleavage, accuse them of objectifying women, and attempt to tie their use of the picture to human sex trafficking. It's hard for me to understand why you can't see the ridiculousness of this. Even if you believe that the use of the picture was inappropriate or sexist, it is unrelated to human sex trafficking.