My husband and I were sitting in a movie theater enjoying the previews when my eyes were assaulted by a gyrating Matthew McConaughey in front of screaming cougars and bachelorettes.
It’s not that I have anything against mostly naked men, in fact I’m a big fan, but the idea of filling a feature film with them and what seemed, from the preview, a very weak plot, was pretty annoying. I’d feel the same way about a film about female strippers that didn’t seem to have a point aside from displaying bodies.
Then I heard Steven Soderbergh had directed the film Magic Mike, and felt some intrigue. Soderbergh directed Sex Lies and Videotape, Erin Brockovich, The Oceans Eleven series, and one of my favorite crime/chase/sexy-bathtub films Out of Sight. He knows how to combine sex appeal with great visuals and intriguing plots. So I started to rethink…
I asked my husband if he wanted to see the movie with me tonight and he declined (not surprised). I said, “what if it’s great, like Boogie Nights, where there are a lot of bodies but a bigger, universal message about objectification and coming-of-age?”
“Unlikely,” was his reply.
Here’s the thing, I’m what you call a sex-positive feminist, but I do like to look at how we use bodies to sell things. Just because I believe that sex and sexuality are awesome, that porn can be a great tool and a lot of fun, and that the ability to discuss sex and sexuality liberates us, doesn’t mean that it’s always done in a way that advances us as humans.
From everything I’ve read, Magic Mike is an epic failure. I read at least ten reviews and one was worse than the other. Two reviewers (both women) walked out. Boston.com‘s Christy Lemire said this:
“This is a movie that’s tailor-made for groups of friends to get together and giggle and ogle at the spectacle of it all. And it is a lot of f un – there’s no shame, we’re all friends here – but it’s also more substantial than you might expect, and more mundane.”
Instead of being a film about how young men use their bodies to entertain women, and then examining the toll that takes on them (which could be feeling stereotyped or objectified, or what happens when you age and are no longer the Channing Tatum in the room and lose your identity) this film, from all reports, is just an excuse for women to go look at hot dudes.
And there’s nothing wrong with that, but do we need to make a feature film and spend multiple millions of dollars? And why would a filmmaker of this caliber put his stamp on it? What does it say about our society that male strippers have progressed from the random Vegas Chippendales show to a multi-million dollar holiday weekend opening film?
It’s all about female desire, I guess. Female desire has taken over: from Edward vs Jacob in Twilight, to 50 Shades of Grey which has all my married friends falling all over themselves, to Ryan Gosling whose image as sex symbol du jour appears in Teen Beat as well as the Feminist Ryan Gosling Tumblr and book. More advertisers are jumping on the hot guy sex symbol bandwagon, and they’re finding it works, especially if accompanied by a knowing wink.
But does the objectification matter less because the objects are men? If this were a film about women, with seemingly no deeper message, what would we be saying? Certainly we’d respond with, “we are more than just fodder for your masturbatory fantasies!” and talk about the “happy hooker” myth. We’d probably roll our eyes at the men who went to see that film, we may even call them pigs.
My question for all of you men is this: How does a film like Magic Mike affect masculinity? Is there any fallout to men as a consequence of multiple super-hot male bodies gyrating in front of screaming women? With this new trend in mainstreaming and “outing” female desire, will men be affected either negatively or positively?
The more interesting question to me is this: what are the effects on men of teaching them that objectifying women is an acceptable pastime? How many of our (male) perspectives on relationships, sex, etc have been skewed at different points in life because what we were taught to think, look for, and say didn’t mesh with reality? And with that in mind, why would we want to start teaching girls those same things?
Magic Mike is a double standard. Plain and simple. Any female who goes to see it and yet claims it is somewhat different to guys seeing a film with the roles reversed is misguided, misinformed, and, quite frankly, short-sighted and dumb at best, pig-ignorant and selfish at worst. They’re the same people who claim that lads mags should be banned whilst being regular readers of cosmo. Both have plenty of half-naked bodies available for the titilation of the reader. A truly pathetic state of affairs that will undoubtedly return a severe backlash on you perverted females. And when it comes,… Read more »
The funny thing is, in a movie about male strippers, there is just as many breasts and female butts as there are male butts.
A movie supposedly made for women to get some “eye candy” is another movie made for men to see T&A.
No thanks.
I don’t think admiring or fantasising about people’s bodies is automatically a dehumanising “objectification”. It should be an acceptable part of human nature for people of all genders and sexualities to look upon others with a sexual gaze as long as they are not reducing those individuals to sexual objects.
You people are clueless. This is nothing more than New World Order pagan-occult agenda propaganda. If you think this is “progress” or a cultural “trend” or about “equality” you have been duped.
Reading the comments online (here and elsewhere) I can see how, yet again, feminism encourages women to belittle and demean white straight men in the name of, basically, ‘getting revenge’ on those who it paints as having all the power. Well, there are plenty of white straight men who have zero power. After seeing the reactions and nasty comments from a majority of women on this issue, NEVER again will I take their complaints of objectification seriously. Oh, and I doubt you will even like the world you will be creating through encouraging the objectification of men.
You guys all take this way too seriously. Aren’t there more important things to think about?
Oh, speaking as a man, I hope the movie does turn women into staring libido machines. I think it would be lovely to be objectified…It would mean someone noticed that all that time spent in the gym. And I might get a date out of it without even having to crank up the monotonous “dating campaign” machinery. So please, women, start staring at my pec’s so I can inform you that I also have a pair of eyes!
I wonder why some people conflate liking muscled men with having a libido. To me, a nice pair of pecs is just that. A nice pair of pecs. Big whoop. You have a hobby or passion of going to the gym. Good for you…and I mean that honestly. Like some people have a hobby of playing D&D. Not being visually attracted to every conventionally attractive man does not equal not having a libido. I love and crave sex and I love men…but it’s not big muscles or a big wallet that attracts me, it’s ‘chemistry.’ It’s that something a guy… Read more »
“Like some people have a hobby of playing D&D.”
Do people still play that? I haven’t played that in about 20 years. I was almost always the dungeon master, but sometimes I would play Hendel, a dwarf named after the dwarf in The Sword of Shannara.
As for objectification and consequences for the common man.
What is worse.
Doing a flm like this with hot gyrating men for the women to scream about?
Or being dismissive about the whole phenomen and stating that no naked male body (or part thereof) can ever be considered hot or attractive, like some commenters have done?
@8ball For the sake of this conversation let’s say I take your word that there’s this horrible ad that tells women something along the lines that their boyfriends won’t measure up to the men in this movie. I get it that sucks that we’re being objectified then compared to Hollywood celebrities like we were dogs in the American Kennel Club. It sucks. Women face it a lot more, it think, but it doesn’t take away from the pure suckiness that we as men feel. However, even of this ad were true, how much confidence would I as a man have… Read more »
Why don’t you actually answer my original question, since you’ve so graciously decided to take my word that this ad exists:
If such a tagline existed for a movie that was a female analog to Magic Mike, would you say the same thing to women who felt offended by it that you have said to me, and others, here?
Yes or no?
Kaleb:
“However, Magic Mike had no such tagline.”
Yes, it did. I’ve seen the ad myelf. Now, it’s entirely possible that the ad has since been pulled. In which case, good for them, and thus ends any beef I had with this movie.
However: that ad did exist.
I would go see it if it showed cocks. That may sound silly- but a stripper movie with no/limited male nudity. I just don’t get that. I wanna see the wangs. 😉
I’m writing this film as a gay man. My problem with the film was that not only did they have no male nudity, there WAS female nudity. And it was within the first few minutes of the film. Honestly, that annoyed me. To answer the author’s question as to if objectification mean less because they are men, I would say yes, it does in this world. Is it right? Absolutely not. It plays into this idea of Male Disposablility. However, I can only speak for myself, but I don’t like this idea of appreciating the male form as “objectification”. It… Read more »
Didn’t they still show naked female boobs in this? It’s not like it was all for the heterosexual women to enjoy. Did they even show penises in this movie?
They did show nake boobs. They showed the tip and silhouette of one stripper’s penis.
Meh. If I am watching something that purports to be about “hot naked men” (and none of the “Magic Mike” actors are my personal cup of tea, individual variances in attraction and all…shocking), then there had better be some Hot Naked Men in it…and that means cocks (and there’s this THING called the internet? Hello movie execs…porn is not just for the 18-30 straight male demographic, thank the FSM!). I’m so tired of “nudity” literally meaning “boobs for the guys!” in movies and TV. Somehow, Hollywood expects me, a straight woman, to sit through tons of boobs and bikinis and… Read more »
Incidentally, a really good movie on a similar topic but done 64000% better is “The Full Monty”, the 1997 film version. It’s ostensibly about a bunch of unemployed steel workers in working class Britain who get the idea to stage a “male revue” to make some cash. The REAL story of the movie is the bonds between the men who are struggling with lack of employment, divorce, single parenting, elder care, depression, loss of libido, etc. as well as their discovery of the support and appreciation that they each receive from women…wives, friends, mothers, etc., It’s funny funny movie, but… Read more »
I just saw Magic Mike on Sunday and loved it. The guys were hot, Channing Tatum’s dancing was hot, Alcide (True Blood) was there–Heaven. The plot development, however, was mundane: One day you’ll realize you don’t want to be a stripper forever. That’s it. On objectification of men. I think it’s great that there’s a movie like this out because it DOES objectify and sexualize men. I think it’s extremely important for men to realize that although it’s a lot less institutionalized for us than woman, men can be seen as objects and purely sexual beings. It’s important for us… Read more »
Jezus Kaleb, When your done worshiping at the alter of the “Divine Feminine” please take some time to notice how men are seen as successes objects.
@Budmin
Thank you kindly for the “Divine Feminine” comment–it shows that I’m not only thinking about men in my analysis of this movie, I’m taking the extra step to…I don’t know, think about other genders too.
You told me to take time to notice how man can be objects, I’m pretty sure the largest paragraph in the comment to which you’re responding do did exactly just that…
You know what Kaleb? you’re right. The pandering self congratulatory nature of your first paragraph threw me off to the slightly less pandering nature of your 2nd. I apologize. If you’ll endulge me I’d just like to make a few observations… 1) sexual attracttion is and always will be hierarchal in nature. 2) lectures on egalitarianism wont change the fact that there are high value males and low value males. 3) low value males must enhance their social capital or reside to the unfortunate fate of isolation and becoming genetic dead end. That’s the contract Men were born into, this… Read more »
@Budmin Interesting. When you say sexual attraction is hierarchal are you kind of tying that into your low-value/high-value model of men? I don’t know if I’d necessarily use year categories because in the way in understanding you–high/low value has to do with your appeal–mostly sex. But re the social capital point, I agree in so far as there are ways to raise your appeal (or, reluctantly, “value”): beig charismatic, understanding, confident, intelligent, fun. There is a contract men are born into: be this strong straight breadwinner with no flaws. That’s hard because this contract is outdated and don’t fit the… Read more »
Is Channing Tatum the presumed Alpha that all of us want? Cause I could not want him less (cept I guess he’s willing to make fun of himself). He, or his type, may be “high value” to a segment of society (and perhaps the women many men are interested in are the cultural mirror of that man–do Fraternity Boys love Sorority Girls only etc?) but these qualities “beig charismatic, understanding, confident, intelligent, fun.” are far more appealing to many women. I have very quirky wants when it comes to attraction. Then again, I’m not 5’8″ a C cup, with a… Read more »
For me it was like “Sign me up! Why didn’t I take up stripping to pay for college. A fun time, I get paid to dance, AND I get to hang around hotties all day.” It was a fantasy. Not necessarily sexual, but a “boys just want to have fun with their bodies and have a good time” euphoria.
Tatum is what I like to call “commercially attractive” a separate term from Beautiful. Spouses are beautiful, children are beautiful, parents are beautiful Girlfriends, siblings, teachers are beautiful. Actors are commercially atractive.
Needless to say I’m not commercially atractive (not enough to earn a check anyway) but to the people who love me…
LMFAO! I love this because it’s soooo true!
Thanks Kaleb I have a tendency sound like a jackass sometimes but all I really want to do is tell people about the broken men I’ve met when I worked security at a family shealter. That job screwed me up so bad that I sat down and wrote the rules of my own masculinity. I need to hold my morals in my own hands. Even if concepts like rape culture, patriarchy, objectification, escape my understanding because I can’t hold then or control them on my own. I refuse to be like those men that I had to tell them that… Read more »
How can men not feel objectified? Are they as effected by objectification as we are? Though it’s nice to see the paradigm switched these days, the movie doesn’t seize the opportunity to deal with any of the more interesting and real issues at play here – namely the very real addictions portrayed (sex, drugs), STDs, and the psychic and emotional repercussions for those in the “entertainment” and sex-selling business. Not to mention the nationwide sexual confusion that leads us to fulfill our sexual desires everywhere besides our committed relationships. Why would we need to go there? Channing Tatum, who publicly… Read more »
It’s an intereseting question you put at the end, asking how it makes men feel. The thing that surprised me is, I don’t feel threatened or belittled by it at all. My first instinct, right or wrong, is that I feel like it actually debases women. One of the points that really gets to me in media and popularist entertainment, is being treated like an idiot. Whereas men are generally told we’re none-to-bright and think with out penises, women are generaly seen as the ones who are lees superficial, and look for something more than skin deep. As you put… Read more »
I have no desire to see this movie…it doesn’t sound entertaining or engaging on anything but a giggle level. As a straight woman, I find men’s bodies desirable, I enjoy looking at attractive men, I have nothing against nudity, but…context is very important. Many things, when taken out of context, lose their draw. French kissing, for example. When you’re in middle school and someone tells you what it is, it sounds awful…you put your tongue in someone else’s mouth?!? Gross. However, at a certain point, with the right person, it seems oddly compelling and totally hot. Yes, context…same goes for… Read more »
Kaiija24, between you and the wonderful woman in my life — who feels much the same way you do and thinks this movie is an idiot-fest — my faith in women remains intact, despite everything I have seen and heard surrounding the release of this movie. I was raised primarily by a strong mother and grandmother… They remain to this day the best examples of strong, capable people I have ever had in my life and I grew up and went into manhood with an almost innate respect and regard for women. The way I have seen such a massive… Read more »
Blaine, I honestly want to ask you. Do you watch porn? Read Maxim, Sports Illustrated, or Playboy? Go to Strip Clubs? Watch ads for alcohol, burgers, or Victoria’s Secret? Watch coming of age movies, Game of Thrones, or…well much of anything? Watch sports with cheerleaders? Go to Hooters or any other restaurant with cocktail waitresses? Are always around men who say they only want to see a movie or watch a show because a certain actress is in it? Because most women are constantly having that shoved in my face. How is Magic Mike any different? It’s just the genders… Read more »
It’s crazy. I find it so patronizing to not trust women to go see Magic Mike lest a floodgate of infidelity open and destroy every heterosexual relationship. And I’m not saying that “as a feminist” or because I “woship at the alter of the ‘Divine Feminine'”–it’s simply How Not to be a Douchebag 101.
I haven’t seen this movie, and have very little interest in seeing it. Aside from the bad reviews, I can’t say I’m all that interested in seeing a movie whose plot revolves around a bunch of half naked men. Still, I cannot express my gratitude to Soderbergh for making this movie. For one thing, if I did see this movie, it would probably be on a date. I think you can see where this is going. While men in problematic relationships might feel threatened by this movie, as a single man, I plan on cashing in. It doesn’t take a… Read more »
So true on the ad campaign, Sam Guy, and its overt hostility to men. This movie is being directly positioned to offend men and to marginalize them in their relationships with women, who suddenly have become like hormone-crazed, brain-dead adolescents in the presence of some almost-naked men. And the producers and stars are to blame and I think all men should boycott any future efforts by all involved with this movie. As for the women in relationships who go to see it? Well… disrespect begets disrespect and I believe many women will reap what they sow from this trashy —… Read more »
Don’t you think you’re overreacting? Most women just want a chance for 90 minutes of fanservice to be directed at them for a change, why deny them that? When it gets to “men are now knowing how it feels like” bullshit, then it’s bad, but guys have so much cheesecake aimed at them. Let both genders have some fun, for fuck’s sake.
Movies that are disrespectful to either gender — and the advertising for this one is downright hostile to men — are not “fun”. But, every man’s mileage will vary on how they handle this in their own life. But if the men I know are any yardstick on this, they are basically gritting their teeth and accepting this movie and, to be sure, holding a relationship grudge. Not to mention that the respect they had for the woman in their lives has also taken a hit.
Are the guys in this movie being sexually abused? Mistreated in their jobs? Given less respect in everyday life? If not, or if they are and it’s treated as a bad thing, then I don’t think it’s disrespectful.
And it’s a big world. Some men will feel insecure, some guys won’t care, some men will just be happy that/if their female friends had a good movie night and probably some will enjoy the film themselves. Generalizations don’t help anyone.
@Blaine, with all due respect I think you are being extremely heteronormative in your claim that Magic Mike “directly positioned to offend men and to marginalize them in their relationships with women”. This claim assumes that all me are: (1) straight, (2) inately insecure about their relationships with their wives or girlfriends, and (3) that these wives or girlfriends don’t have minds of their own which differientiate fantasy and fun vs. real life. I am a man and I loved Magic Mike. It was objectifying, but you know what, sometimes I like objectification. It can be fun when the one… Read more »
@Blaine, with all due respect I think you are being extremely heteronormative in your claim that Magic Mike “directly positioned to offend men and to marginalize them in their relationships with women”. This claim assumes that all men are: (1) straight, (2) inately insecure about their relationships with their wives or girlfriends, and (3) that these wives or girlfriends don’t have minds of their own which differientiate fantasy and fun vs. real life. I am a man and I loved Magic Mike. It was objectifying, but you know what, sometimes I like objectification. It can be fun when the one… Read more »
To Emmeline and Kalb; I don’t give a damn about the characters in the movie being disrespected — that’s not the point. The men who are disrespected are the men at *home* whose partners are being expressly told in the advertising, in effect, your men are inferior and you will know this after you see this movie. That is incredibly hostile and marginalizing. As for your little analysis, Kaleb, it doesn’t hold water and the whole nonsense of any man objecting to this movie being by definition “insecure” is why so many men are gritting their teeth and afraid to… Read more »
@Blaine My sexuality has nothing to do with this. The fact of the matter is is that you are telling me that men are being “expressly told in the advertising, in effect, your men are inferior and you will know this after you see this movie.” The problem I’m having with that position is why aren’t YOU confident enough that you aren’t inferior and that this is simply a movie about strippers. Strippers are supposed to be hot. Channing Tatum even describes in the movie that his role is to let women live out the fantasy of a stripper–legally–while being… Read more »
Heaven forbid a woman sees Magic Mike and hot male strippers! They’re going to run wild after realizing their men are inferior because they don’t have chisselled bodies and stripper choreography!
They may not run wild, Kaleb… But they’ve certainly changed the ground rules for their relationship and opened the door for their men to do exactly that.
…sure, if communication sucks and your relationship is built on MIStrust.
For the rest of us in relationships where we don’t fear our spouses seeing a male stripper movie–we’ll just have two hours of free time.
I don’t really care one way or the other about this movie (I’m bi, so I actually might see it when it comes out on DVD)
But, let me ask you this kaleb- as a feminist man are you honestly telling me you’d have no problem with an advertisement for a “Showgirls”-esque movie with a tagline something along the lines of “Men, after seeing this movie, your girlfriend won’t measure up”?
The movie itself doesn’t bother me, but that advertisement definitely does. And it speaks to the casual contempt for men that our society has
I dislike that contempt too, and the contempt for women as well (as if they’d leave loved partners for movie magic). It seems the ad campaign has contempt for everyone which I wonder….is that a meta narrative of the film somehow?
@8ball Honestly, the “…your girlfriend won’t measure up” tagline is silly. It’s offensive to me as a man to attempt to create a void in my life (a girlfriend who isn’t hot enough) and to sell me a solution: “Showgirls” Give us some credit, we’re not all meatheads. However, Magic Mike had no such tagline. It advertised a bunch of hot strippers dancing. I was never offended–as a man–because I know better than to think my significant other would run off because I may not fit this Hollywood Adonis archetype. But that’s because I have confidence in my own body… Read more »
“I don’t give a damn about the characters in the movie being disrespected — that’s not the point. The men who are disrespected are the men at *home* whose partners are being expressly told in the advertising, in effect, your men are inferior and you will know this after you see this movie.” Well except none of the advertising mentions anything about people’s actual real lives. If Magic Mike is somehow implying that the partners at home are inferior, then porn does the same thing…and female strippers do the same thing. And, well…then every piece of advertising that’s used the… Read more »
My sentiments almost exactly, Heather! In fact, I said the same thing about porn.
Wow, the variety of excuses for this movie and the people who attend it are truly endless. And they’re all along the lines of one, two, three, 100 wrongs makes a right. I think it’s time that I step out of this because there is going to be no agreement here. I have talked to no less then 20 friends about this — half men and half women… for the record, all straight. And all of the women think this is fine and a rip-roaring good time and all the men think if they made as big a slobbering deal… Read more »
@Blaine: “Oh and to a man, they hate this movie and everything it stands for.” Where does that leave the men who whose worlds aren’t crumbling beneath our feet at the sheer thought of Magic Mike? We’re not men because we don’t agree with you? And empirically speaking, you’re collecting data from you 20 friends, about 10 of which are men who you associate with. Who have similar values to you. Including you, your “study” shows that there are 11 straight men who hate this movie and everything it stands for. 11 people. 11. I don’t know about the rest… Read more »
I’m going to have to echo Kaleb here. If you’re *this* angry over a piece of fluff like this, then I don’t think it’s the movie’s fault.
For example, I loathe Twilight: Breaking Dawn, I find it offensive to women for usual Bella-related reasons and men for how Edward “the perfect man” acts towards Bella in regards to making up her mind for her in regards to pregnancy. But I’m not going to judge anyone of any gender who just wants to see pretty Kristen Stewart and shirtless Taylor Lautner.
That sounds like rather childish and dysfunctional behaviour on both parts, IMHO. Just because a person is in a partnered relationship doesn’t mean that he or she doesn’t notice or doesn’t want to look at other attractive people. The cultural “ideal” that “if you really loved me you wouldn’t want to look at, think about, have sexual thoughts about anyone else” is toxic. As Dan Savage says, monogamy doesn’t mean that we don’t want to have sex with other people, it’s that we’ve agreed not to. These fighting couples are better off having some better discussion about jealousy and insecurity… Read more »
@Kaija
Seriously, ahmen.
My husband wants to see the movie both because of the hubbub around it and the director. Some men just like film, you know?
I heard that the audience for opening weekend was 27% male.
@ Emmeline
“Most women just want a chance for 90 minutes of fanservice”
From what I’m hearing, it’s more like 90 seconds. My female friend was disappointed in the amount, but she knows I’ll never watch the movie so she might be shading the truth a bit.
The class of a 7th grade teacher I know convinced her to play the Call Me Maybe music video during free time. She said she felt bad for the boys in the class: the girls were hooting and hollering (sorry, cliche, but it’s late) at the shirtless hot guy in the video, the boys were clustered behind them, their faces showing insecurity, anxiety.
Interesting gender role switch, I guess, but I think objectification mostly just hurts people.
“She said she felt bad for the boys in the class: the girls were hooting and hollering (sorry, cliche, but it’s late) at the shirtless hot guy in the video” That ‘s one point I’ve tried to make at times. When people have talk about nudity if film and seem to believe that there is an over abundance of female nudity, I point out that men are topless more often than women even in mainstream TV and magazines. Male pecs are more often visible and when women talk about the unequal disparity of full frontal nude scenes I ask how… Read more »
“Because we still see media outlets objectifying women constantly and as far as I can tell, men aren’t being shamed for it”
Talking with feminists always involves certain times that makes you wonder if we’re even from the same planet. How ever have you managed to miss such things as the majority of feminist, religious and socially conservative discourse on the subject?
“Bridging the gap between the sexes, I tell you.”
Yes it is. And so is the fact that women are now being told it’s wrong to do so too.
“Instead of being a film about how young men use their bodies to entertain women, and then examining the toll that takes on them (which could be feeling stereotyped or objectified…..” What’s wrong with this movie being an excuse for women to go look at hot dudes? There are plenty of media outlets that appeal to men for the sole purpose of looking at hot women (porn, magazines, tv shows, movies, music videos, etc). Outlets for looking at hot men or women are equally relevant and appeal to those who WANT to see them! Just like outlets to view violence,… Read more »
Feminism is not (should not be) about getting revenge on men for all the various ways women were oppressed. It’s not about getting even, and it’s not about payback. One cannot argue that objectifying women is wrong but objectifying men is good because it makes them know how women feel (purportedly to discourage them from objectifying women?). The goal of any feminist should be to eradicate objectification, period, not just objectification of women. I understand the satisfaction a feminist might feel at examples of seeing men objectified but that.does.not.make.it.right. What’s unfair to the goose is unfair to the gander, regardless… Read more »
I love you for being able to explain this better than I ever could.
Thanks 😀 It’s a lesson I learned the hard way from coming around these parts with views much like the comment I responded to, and quickly being set straight. And now I’m just trying to get the word out. Spite, vindictiveness, and an urge to settle the score get us nowhere.
I agree that it should never be about some sort of vindictive “Now you know how we feel” sort of thing… but I must also say that I don’t think that we need to eradicate objectification. It just needs to be mitigated. The thing is that objectification is not inherently bad. There have been moments in my intimate relationships in which my partner objectified me, and not only was I okay with it, I appreciated it in the moment. Objectification doesn’t need to be inherently bad. I think it becomes problematic only when it is the only way in which… Read more »
you are delusional if you think that you can eradicate female objectification. it’s never going to happen. ever. the only thing we can do is level the playing field and show men what it’s like to be objectified and how wrong it is. the only thing we can do is create awareness. also, i do think women have needs to objectify men for their own viewing pleasure. why should we deprive women of a privilege men have had since the dawn of time?
But what good does it do anyone to be vengeful? This is like a minor version of the argument I have with other fanfic writers, who explain the reason for writing male rape fic is because “guys need to be punished for not fearing rape in real life”. And that sounds ridiculous, right?
Eradicate may be too strong of a word, then, OK. Upon further reflection, here’s a more clear statement of my view: It is our responsibility as humans to be aware of when we are objectifying people. The problem is not that objectification happens, because it does happen, and as Jasmine said, it’s not always negative. But making an effort to be conscious of when we are objectifying others (regardless of sex) can help us check ourselves for negative or damaging behavior – not the objectification itself, but what we do with it, how we express it. I still disagree that… Read more »
I know I’m very late to this but, “basically any barely legal blond bombshell,” is inaccurate, the females you gave as an example are all well into their 20s, plus Scarlett’s a great actress. She doesn’t fall into the camp of popular because she’s hot. Her hotness helps, just as Chris Helmsworth attractiveness helps him, or Chris Evans, Ryan Goshling Jude Law. Name any big young male star and his sex appeal is usually what gets them attention. Each of these guys and others can be seen shirtless, camera’s coming in for an butt shot (Averengers did it with Chris… Read more »
that means that 75% of eating disorders are female (the overwhelming majority). i’m not saying that men don’t have them or that it’s not an issue, but it is a far more prevalent problem with women.
Tag line of the movie is horrible, everything else about it that I’ve heard is fine. Man watching a movie with a similar tag line deserves getting called out.
The thing for me is that I find most movies to be poorly scripted and not at all captivating. I’ve not seen many films in recent years (aside from foreign films or documentaries) that were in any way even remotely interesting to me. And this is fodder. But, many people who watch movies enjoy going for the mindless fodder that it is. And the thing for me with this film (after having Googled it at my sister’s behest) is that objectification itself isn’t a bad thing. It’s not inherently awful. I think it becomes a bad thing only when it… Read more »
25% of people with eating disorders are men or boys. I don’t think you can hide behind the premise that men don’t have body issue problems because of media portrayal anymore.
Body image issues in both males and females is one of my main areas of research interest. I certainly would never suggest that media portrayals of male bodies does not contribute to disordered eating behaviours or body image issues. However, what I am suggesting is that objectification, in and of itself, is not inherently bad. It becomes insidious when there is no diversity.
One of my female friends saw both Ted and Magic Mike. She’s watching Brave this weekend. She gave Ted 4 stars out of four and Magic Mike 2 starts out of four. She wished there were more stripping scenes in Magic Mike. She thought those were the only fun scenes. She told me Ted was really cute. I asked about Magic Mike. She just laughed. I take it Magic Mike was not quite crap. She defined 2 stars as not a waste of time, but nothing special.