"Who gets to be clothed and who gets to bare flesh
(in posed photography) is an issue of power." - Gail Dines
Just men, you say?
Really? So what about the Myley, Britney, Nicki Minaj, Beyonce, Gaga monsters,
The effect of media and porn upon men and boys is well known - that is a given. Yet media, indeed mainstream media, has increasingly objectified men as well - for gays and women and girls. Additionally, media has emasculated men, portraying them as the 'weaker' sex, submissive or passive and stupid in the role of husband, father, boyfriend. If you watch television and catch the prime time ads, this fact is fairly obvious - it makes for comedy, but it also 'turns gender roles on their head' and develops into "an issue of power". It also forms impressionable minds. If you watch popular women's daytime television, you see the sexualization of men - shirts off by request on Ellen - pretty much every day.
I bring this up because last week, a feminist researcher, Gail Dines said some things at at the Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation 2014 Summit in Vienna, outside Washington, that maybe accurate to a certain degree, yet her sourcing the blame strikes me as a little biased and a tad exaggerated. Why? Because she seems to be laying a great deal of the blame on gender inequality - at least that is what stands out in this particular outtake from her speech.
Based on her research, Gail Dines has concluded, "We have basically let the media and the pornographers become the sex educators" and that "the Internet has made boys porn-ready for dating." Dines is a sociology professor at Wheelock College in Boston and the founding president of Stop Porn Culture. Dines, who considers herself a feminist, lashed out at how culture has turned gender roles on their head. "Who gets to be clothed and who gets to bare flesh (in posed photography) is an issue of power," she said. "We take the onus off the perpetrator" -- the media -- "and put it on the woman." - CNS News Briefs
Obviously Dines has important research to communicate and it is important to give credit where credit is due for her anti-pornography work - yet the ill effects of Porn Culture is much more pervasive, albeit subliminal, than what is always reported. I also think it's effects upon women and men is certainly not based exclusively on "an over-conformity to the gender system as currently constructed." Although I agree there are issues of power involved - which are related to the deconstruction of gender.
Just adding my two cents here. Watch out for gender theories, they are pretty much embedded in everything these days. And keep your clothes on if you want to be in control of your life.
Really dumb dad.
Terry wrote: "keep your clothes on if you want to be in control of your life." That's it in a nutshell. Will be communicating that to my grandkids. Tempted to cross stitch that on a pillow but that might be over the top haha!
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