So we’ve all heard about women as sex objects in advertisements, movies, music videos etc., and how even women begin to look at women through the eyes of men, thanks to the caressing pan of the camera in movies, over women’s bodies etc. The institutionalizing of the sexes, of what is ‘real’ and of what is ‘normal’ (1971, Berger & Luckmann).
Well…in the advert above and on the catwalks – the sexualizing of men.
There are many reasons why the sexualizing of men haven’t received as much attention as the sexualizing of women. If one were to think D&G, then it’s a good enough place to start the reasoning process.
After studying feminism, I moved into the field of ‘masculinity’ and I’ve written some about it some years ago, entitled:
Creating Masculinity: A Linguistic and Visual Semiotic Perspective on the Construction of Masculinity. Department of English Language & Literature. National University of Singapore (NUS), 2000.
On my part, with regards to the catwalks and advertisements, I’m not complaining about the sexualizing of the sexes, men or women.
I’m rather enjoying the view.
As alternative reading to the feminisms of Hélène Cixous, Luce Irigagary, Julia Kristeva, Germain Greer, the works of Michael Kimmel, Michael Messner, Maurice Berger et. al. bring you into the world of ‘masculinism’ and ‘the construction of masculinity’:
- Berger, Maurice, Wallis, Brian and Watson, Simon, 1995. Constructing Masculinity. New York, London: Routledge.
- Kimmel, Michael and Messner, Michael, 1998. Men’s Lives, 4th edition. Allyn and Bacon.
- Kimmel, Michael, 2000. The Gendered Society. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
References:
- Berger, Peter L. and Luckmann, Thomas, 1971. The Social Construction of Reality: a treatise in the sociology of knowledge. Penguin Books.