We see them every day on television, in magazines, and in advertisements. Hot, sexy, built male models used to sell consumer ideas to the public. Their built six packs gleaming with perspiration would make any woman’s heart beat race and any man’s body boil with envy. Many people do not see the sexual exploitation of men occurring within advertisements because the popular attention is on the woman standing next to him (or lying beneath him). However, men’s sexuality is used to sell products.
To understand the unnoticed sexual exploitation of men is to understand the value of men and women within Western society. Hesse-Biber explains that the Western culture “judges a man primarily in terms of how powerful, ambitious, aggressive, and dominant he is…” (32) These traits are all related to the mind and none with the body. Therefore, a man is not judged or understood solely on his physical qualities but more so of his success. A woman is understood in the complete reversal than that of a man. She is judged solely on her appearance and less on her success, making her more of an object than a human.
There are still those advertisements that only include men. These advertisements, in most cases, are usually black and white, which, as Pat Kirkham states in his article, “is an essential element in the overall rational and objective tone of the male” (268). This “tone of the male” includes the male being shirtless, exposing his well built torso, starring either straight into the camera or away as if in deep thought. The sexiness of the image itself would inspire men and women to buy the product that the man is portrayed to be representing.
Works Cited
Hesse-Biber, Sharlene Nagy. Men and Women: Mind and Body New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Kirkham, Pat and Weller, Alex. "Cosmetics: A Clinique Case Study". Dines, Gail and Humez, Jean M.
Gender, Race, And Class in Media. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2003. 268-273.
Men ad 1: http://www.mimifroufrou.com/scentedsalamander/images/tom%20ford%20for%20Men1.jpg
Men ad 2: http://www.lgbttobacco.org/files/Parliament%20Gay%20men%20and%20dog%20ad.jpg
Men ad 3: http://blog.lib.umn.edu/raim0007/gwss1001/derekb-1-thumb.jpg
Men ad 4: http://fb-i.com/blog/wp-content/uploaded/2007/11/whiskeyone.jpg
Men ad 5 Calvin Klein Ad: http://ccit300-f06.wikispaces.com/space/showimage/calvin1.gif
Men ad 6: http://www.mimifroufrou.com/scentedsalamander/i/Calvin-Klein-Man-Ad.jpg
Men ad 7: http://profmulder.home.att.net/SampleAd2_files/image002.jpg
