General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Are there women here who are not offended by the SI cover or Kate Upton's spread? [View all]KitSileya
(4,035 posts)I was offended, because I had hoped that on a so-called progressive message board I wouldn't be bombarded with the same pictures I see everywhere else. I am outraged, because I had hoped to find allies against the objectification of women on a so-called progressive message board - knowing how much it influences the boys and girls of today's society.
I am a high school teacher, I see every day the effect this wall-to-wall saturation of 'perfect' bodies have on girls and young women - how 5'7" 110lbs girls are watching their weight, how they are discussing surgical procedures to make themselves more like the pictures, how they believe that if they do not look perfect, they are failures. I see how that same saturation of perfect bodies have an effect on the boys and young men, too. They disregard anything that is coded feminine, especially showing emotions, which is very harmful to their mental well-being (and contributes to the suicide statistics that are used here on DU to show that men 'have it worse than women' - of course with a complete unwillingness to discuss how to reduce the suicide rates unless it involves bashing feminists.)
Do I think the models who posed for the spread are bad? No, modelling is one of the very few professions where women out-earn men (and doesn't that say something!) and if they can earn good money and are willing to do the work, I say, good for them. But I am worried for them. The modelling environment is riddled with weight pressure, which is very harmful. Their careers are very short, in most cases, and they are putting off getting an education and a lasting profession.
Had the SI swimsuit edition been the exception, then it wouldn't have mattered much. But go to a drugstore/news agent, and look at the covers of the magazines. Compare the covers that feature women and the covers that feature men, and see how they differ. Then think about what that does to a culture. Do you think that a culture that for the main part views women as objects has nothing to do with the increased push back against reproductive rights? That it has nothing to do with why there are 17% women in congress, why on film, a crowd with 17% women is seen as gender-equal, why there are aisles and aisles of pink toys for girls, and why boys are taught to eschew anything feminine? Do you really think that it isn't connected?
I know that on these threads I am posting in the wind, seeing as I am seen as a HoFer, but I will end my 'screed' (to pre-empt the use of a dog whistle word) by saying that the posts on SI and Kate Upton et al was disappointing. What I feel isn't anger, it is contempt. Perhaps I expect too much of a Democratic message board - but if so, that is the saddest thing of it all.