I’m not sure if anyone else has noticed but some surfing magazines are truly appalling. I found this advertisement, if you would even call it that, in Transworld Surf Magazine.
It’s for the Reed Surf Sandals Company and their Miss Reef Bikini Contest. (These are the online versions but the magazine featured these on a double sided pull-out poster) Their motto: “Celebration 25 years of Taking the Focus off our Team Riders.” Yeah…but only by objectifying women in one the most overtly dehumanizing campaigns I’ve ever seen. One side features males with their faces showing, their names in each box, or in some amazing surfing stunt. On the other side is a series of faceless women doing, well you know, what they do best, wearing thong bikinis while playing in the sand. The magazine wants its audience to judge women solely on their “bottoms.”
It’s not just this ad either. How often do surf videos feature the surfing parties? They usually consist of “dudes” catching some waves during the day and then catching some “chicks” later that night. Very rarely, with the exception of the end of the movie Blue Crush, do you see female surfers being taken seriously. Because women could never hope to rise to the ranks of men, right? So just stand their so those men have something to look at after a long, hard day of surfing. Great message.
What Can You Do?
Send your thoughts or concerns to the magazine's advertisement manager or contact the Reef Company directly.
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What if these women make the choice to wear thongs and be photographed ?
I thought being a prostitute and practicing pole dancing was the most feminist empowerment there is today so why would this not be empowering ?
Oh yes i forgot it's true that in pole dancing , contrary to this bikini contest , men don't judge women solely on their “bottoms".
I really get annoyed when I constantly hear this "it's empowering" argument. No, it isn't empowering. It is belittling. Yes, these women make the CHOICE to objectify themselves. But they're not doing a favor for the rest of the female population by doing it. When women are constantly portrayed in this light, it sends off the signal that it's OK to judge women on their looks, because look, they want it. It creates a judgmental climate. These women who choose to do things like this only perpetuate and help maintain a culture that judges and objectifies women. That goes for stripping, pornography, and any other venue where women "choose" to use their bodies to entertain men. Sorry. It is what it is.
Lets crush this paradox shall we? How can we do anything about the issue of women being objectified when we consistently have women who grab at the opportunity and defend it? Does that make any sense? You can't BE on both sides of this argument. Please don't take this the wrong way.
Women, please stop feeding a culture that just wants to exploit you, and only sees you as a piece of meat. Don't defend it. Fight AGAINST it. By saying "it's empowering" you're only furthering their agenda.
Sorry, I guess I'm a bit over the edge today.
lynne c the comment you just wrote is exactly what i believe . I couldn't have expressed it so clearly .
The first comment that i made was ironic and was intented to mock some feminists that don't get it that women who objectify themselves are not doing anygood to the feminist cause .
Thank you Lynne C for your comment. I agree with much that you have said. I sometimes wonder if passivity and apathy is also hurting the cause. At times i've spoken to friends of mine about overtly sexist advertising and sexist ideas and I find more often than not I get an indifferent response...i'm not sure if it's because these people have never stopped to consider the effects of such advertising or that they just don't care one way or another. It bothers me when other women are completely indifferent to this type of thing.
First off, no one ever said that pole dancing was the current "most feminist empowerment."
Second, did you even read the post? There was men, but with the men are more humanize. " One side features males with their faces showing, their names in each box, or in some amazing surfing stunt" As opposed to faceless womyn just hanging around and posing.
Third-The poster is also upset about the lack of women in the beach culture.
Ask your fellow bourgeois boheme uperclass feminist if she thinks that pole dancing is not trendy cool feminist and empowering .
and i have to add . What if the women see no problem in just showing there thongs and not there faces . WHO ARE YOU , Ian , to speak FOR them .
Don't you think you can just let women do what they want with their body ? Are you one of these feminist who for example speak for sex workers instead of trusting their choices ?
I hope you are not going to tell me that a choice is a complex concept blablablabla !
FYI - stéphane has so far commented on a few abstinence-only/purity threads on this site, complaining about the idea of sex being empowering, even if it doesn't seem to be in specific response to anything written in the article or comments (I think he or she called people against abstinence-only education "jealous" and Jessica Valenti "stupid"). I don't think he or she is defending it, Lynne C., but rather mocking.
I wouldn't say that taking control of your own sex life isn't empowering. However, taking advantage of the socialised idea that women are sexual objects for your own advantage is akin to claiming the benefits of malevolent sexism. By doing so you are claiming short-term personal gain at the expense of long-term and societal gain.
Women who the advantage of the sexualisation of women are taking a position that can be criticised as naive and selfish. Any power they gain from the experience is at the expense of the power of their gender. And for those at the very top of the beauty game, they are inviting constant judgement on the basis of their looks. Not all supermodels are idiots (some are remarkably intelligent), but by participating in the trade, they have chosen not to be judged on their intelligence but instead on the fashionableness of their bodies - I call that self-demeaning, naive and perhaps even stupid.
should be 'Women who take advantage...'
By doing so you are claiming short-term personal gain at the expense of long-term and societal gain.
This, 1000 times.
Not only that, but who decides what's beautiful? It's totally subjective and not measurable by any reliable means. Anybody can decide at anytime that you (general you) are no longer marketable, end of story. How is submitting yourself to that empowering, except for the occasional paycheck?