I missed most of the pie-fight, and not being terribly visual, barely noticed the ad. I could not however miss the dismissive attitude expressed towards those who found the ad offensive. What's to find offensive? The lesbian overtones? (What do men find so intriguing about women who DON'T want to have sex with them, anyway?) That the banana cream on their faces is evocative of cum shots -- or facials as they are known in the vernacular? (Seriously, that didn't escape your notice, now did it?) The boobage?
Here's my point: Who cares why a lot of women found it offensive? They did. But, here's what we've learned from this firestorm. Making money from the images of women's boobs is fine. Listening to their opinions... not so much.
More outrage below the fold.
I have to say that I am beyond angry over Kos's post. I'm hurt. I'm hurt that the voices of women who care about our right to control our bodies, and speak in defense of our bodies, are dismissed in such a cavalier fashion, on this site.
This is what we hear when we express dismay at shallow depctions of female sexuality. We're repressed. We really need to lighten up about sex. Well sure! What could women possibly know about female sexuality? Thank goodness we have all these helpful men to help us get a handle on it.
As I said in the thread, itself. I am not an anti-erotic or repressed individual. I read, and have even written some erotica. I see a difference between erotica and pornography, though I am a staunch defender of the right to produce and purchase pornography. What I don't care for, is having it jammed down my throat at every turn, and it is. You should see what comes in my email. (Why are there no women in commercial porn: only sluts, teens, wives, girls, nurses, bitches, and whores? That's a question I've never had answered to my satisfaction.) And, I don't like having my opinions about depictions of my gender dismissed as just so much whining.
Here is something a lot men don't appear to understand about female sexuality. It is not a commodity, but it has been traded as one throughout human history. Women have worked very hard to take back the right to control our own bodies, and that right is historically new, and politically fragile. One in three women are raped in their lifetimes, some repeatedly. When we see women's bodies used to sell everything from cars to... well, women's bodies, there is a primal fear that comes up for many of us. When we express that images push our buttons, you need to listen. To do otherwise is sexist, insensitive, and ativistic. We do not express our agitation lightly.
I'd also like to note that a good number of men also expressed their disgust at the treatment women have received on this site. Seeds of hope for a brighter future, perhaps.