“Men are more visual”
“Men are more aroused by what they see”(as though this is a good thing!)
“When men like what they see they buy something”
“Women are not as visual which is why ads are not aimed at them”
There are flaws with this theory.
#1: prove to me that men are more visual. From where I stand I am just as visual as any man I know. You show me an ad with a hunky man compared to an ad with a regular man and I know which ad I prefer, I also know which product would appeal to me more. When I see a half naked man I pause to look. When I see a hot man I turn my head to watch him pass. I may not get sexually aroused by what I see, like I’m told men do (who says this is a good thing anyway?), though I still like what I see, I'm still visual and still want to see more.
To prove the point the recent Old Spice ad with the hunky bloke asking ladies to “look at your man, now look back at me” was a mega hit! So is it really that women are not as visual as men… or just male CEO”s trying to convince us that women aren’t as visual. In truth I think men fear being sex objects as much as women don’t like being sexualized. They fear women ogling men as much as they enjoy the liberty of ogling women.
#2: is it a good thing to be arousing all the boys and men in our society? It is no wonder that sex addiction in western societies is on the increase! As soon as your old enough to see you learn sex is the MUST HAVE thing of the decade. Boys must have it. Girls must be it.
[Incidentally sex addiction only occurs in counties with overt and blatant sexualization of its people – experts equates this to sex addiction not being a real condition and that it is really about sexualization being easily accessible. The term sex addiction is just an excuse for lack of control. I wonder why men want to give their control away so easily?]
#3: I’ve been told sex sells ads geared towards women have been tried yet fail dismally. Ok. I’ve lived a number of years on this planet and in my life time I’ve seen only a handful of sex sells ads geared towards women. One of which (about oranges and male butts with the slogan “Just squeeze”) was banned because men didn’t like its sexual connotations. Where as an ad with the slogan “Go for the lemon” about a barmaid in a mini reaching for a lemon is perfectly acceptable by men for its sexual connotations (slightly hypocritical and one sided I think).
I once dated a guy who would fly into a rage any time there was a hunky man on TV, accusing me of wanting to screw the guy – and this wasn’t even sexualized men on TV - while he openly ogled females on TV. Perhaps if the tables were turned and ads were aimed at women this is what we’d have to contend with. Guys constantly feeling insecure about themselves because the imagines of hunky men make them feel less of a man. Men don’t seem to realize this is how women feel. Or they don’t care or thinks it’s normal.
We think sexualised ads aimed at boys and men are ok, normal, alright, necessary. And I say boys because our sons are privy to these images. You can't leave your house without seeing some sexy half naked chick somewhere, on a billboard, a bus, a bumper sticker, magazines stands.
"I see half naked girls... they're every where"
#4 if men already have high libidos while women have low libidos and men wish women had higher libidos, would it not make more sense to reverse the roles and create ads targeted AT women instead of men? Why keep arousing men with titillating ads when their libidos are already high? Why refuse to arouse women with ads geared towards them when men wish women had higher libidos?
I know it's also a spending thing and men have more money than women. There is more money to be made from men which is another reason for sex sells being geared towards them and not us.
I guess sexualization is about power. You can’t have power as a man while you’re a sex object and it goes to say that women cannot have power while we are being sexualized. It is safe when you think about it, to keep women sexualized while refusing to sexualize men. If men were as sexualized as women we’d be equal and thus the power would shift. Just an idea.
At the same time sexulization takes away a man's power to choose weather to be aroused or not. The simple fact that sex addiction is common in westernized civilizations shows men out of control. Perhaps sexulization is not 'more power to men' after all.
