Sexual objectification doesn’t only apply to women yet many people choose to solely focus on the ways the media shows women. Why not men? Advertisements where men are shown as objects and are used as a lure for women’s attention appear all over, however people choose to overlook them. There seems to be a double-standard to which the public deems acceptable for women and men in advertising.
Dolce and Gabbana’s advertisements are filled with images depicting men as objects or using their bodies to entice women. The man on the surgical table with the lights around him depicts how he is there to be scrutinized and seen instead of heard. The other men represent how dispensable men are where another one with a “perfect body” can be the replacement. In John Berger’s Ways of Seeing, he uses a quote about being naked compared to being nude: “To be naked is simply to be without clothes, whereas the nude is a form of art” (1). These men are not simply naked, they are nude. These photos are seen as artistic and are therefore sought after.
Sales of men’s beauty products have increased 30% over the previous decade, demonstrating how these ads effect personal satisfaction(2). Almost 20% more men are having plastic surgery and one quarter of anorexia and bulimia cases are males(2). There is no denying advertisements such as this one promote these feelings and statistics.
These advertisements do have an effect on what men perceive women want and how they should act or look like. These effects show by what young men strive to look like, which is big arms and a V shaped body (larger chest and shoulders with a small waist). Women covet designers such as Dolce and Gabbana, which is why men see these models and associate women’s desire with physical appearance.
This advertisement does not only alter males way of thinking, it inadvertently makes women believe this is what they want. They see ripped abs, muscles and a chiseled jaw and believe that is what a man looks like and that is no less than what I expect. So who’s to blame for this? Men?Women? Maybe instead of only focusing on how women are objectified we should see if were holding men in advertising to double-standard.
Works Cited
1. Berger, John. Ways of seeing. London: Penguin Books, 1972.
2. Day, Elizabeth. "Depressed, repressed, objectified: are men the new women?" The Observer 3 Aug. 2008. 9 Oct. 2009.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/aug/03/gender.healthandwellbeing
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