Society has been guiding women toward the understanding that their bodies are supposed to be sexy, and that women should look desirable to men by showing off more of their body parts. Clearly, it’s okay for men to be dressed appropriately- they don’t have the same pressure as women do to become “beautiful” in a photograph. The less clothing a woman wears, the sexier she is, according to society. This way of showing off women is not right, and we shouldn’t have to show some leg in order to be considered pretty. Only in magazines, modeling, and any type of public scene do I find this true; society can be just as judging to men than they can be to women. Women prefer tall men with a nice body, just like how men prefer women who are skinny and have nice legs. Men have to live up to a standard too, just like women.

Interesting topic, I believe society does create an idea for us on how women must always appear sexy especially in billboards, ads, media, etc. There is, I believe, a pressure created for any age woman to have what is believed of a sexy body. As noticed in magazines for example, when advertising certain things as simple as a perfume there will be a woman half naked with sexual poses to try and sell the product. This itself might even lead a man to buy the product for his girlfriend/wife because of the energy the ad is providing. On the other hand, not to often do we see men half naked. As noticed, in movies, when sexual activity is involved a woman is most of the time completely body shown whereas men only go as far as showing their butt. It focuses more on women than what it does on men. Therefore, the camera is on the woman for a minute as to 30sec for a man perhaps even less. In my opinion, I believe men just as women should be able to be sexy and not considered “gay” for doing so.

When I look at clothing websites, what I’m looking for from the model is an idea of how the garment will fit on my body. I want them to be doing something that will show me how it fits. I find action shots do this better to some degree, and find the above photos of the men just standing there rather silly. The womens photos though are no better, the ” sporty” clothing woman is not doing anything sporty, and the ” swimming” woman is showering with her butt out? I have no idea. I will say though, that despite the horrible photos, american apparel seems to be a company that as a whole encourages sexy from both genders. I weigh 105lbs and wore a pair of their mens ” sport shorts” and they were full on booty shorts So I imagine most males past puberty are going to be showing some serious skin in those! Still, I agree with the poster above who mentions that men in body hugging clothing are often perceived to be homosexual, and the ones who tend to dress that way are always assumed to be the ” bottom” or the female. I think in the last decade these stereotypes have been challenged by celebs who seem to be giving the public permission to have fun and wear colors like pink or purple v necks if they want to.

This is interesting. I’ve never noticed how brands set up women and men differently like this. I guess when I’m online shopping I just go straight to the women’s department. In everyday life though, I do feel that women have to be the sexy ones, smiling all the time, and wearing the right outfits to show off some skin, while men can have their hardcore, stern faces on with baggy, drab clothing and get away with it. Our society expects women to walk out of their house looking like models with sexy clothes and perfect skin/makeup because of ads just like this one. I feel as though people are brainwashed though. Recently, not sure what site, maybe youtube?, but I saw this video where a model was being photographed for a magazine cover. It showed the evolution of the ad from how it started to how it ended up to my publishable. The girl was laying down on her stomach with her legs bent back towards her head, with short blonde hair and skin that looked just fine, but then it showed all the airbrushing that happened afterwards. Inches were taken off the sides of her body, she was given extensions, bronzed, makeup, etc. This is the “sexy” everyone wants these days because of media. It’s sad!

I agree with this! A lot of times, women are usually objectified in ads and commercials. They are not only selling the object, but they are practically selling their bodies. Women are often portrayed to be sexy and revealing whereas men often pose in a way that makes them loom powerful. We would often see men stand up tall, hands in their pocket, suggesting they are confident and dominant. On the other hand, women are usually displayed looking weak, fragile, and innocent as opposed to powerful. Women’s bodies nowadays are extremely sexualized and the media has bombarded us with those types of images to reinforce the gender roles. For instance, I recently came across an ad in a magazine where a woman was seen on the bed wearing lingerie and posing in a seductive manner… What really shocked me was that this ad aimed to sell cereal. I don’t really understand the connection between a woman in lingerie and a box of cereal, but it is really interesting to see how the media portrays women now.

In our society women’s bodies have become overly sexualized. it has become so common in our every day lives that we don’t even notice it anymore. Before reading this post i would have never noticed the differences between the male and female images. Even though i never thought about these images, subconsciously they have effected the way that i dress. I feel that i need to dress in a certain way in order to be noticed. These images also effect the way that men see us. With all of the sexy images of women in every day life, men have started to expect more from the girls that they meet. Their expectations are never met though because no women actually looks like the models in the pictures. The way that these images portray women make us feel bad about ourselves, and persuade us to buy clothing that we may not be completely comfortable wearing. Girls clothing have become more and more revealing because that is what men expect to see.

I think it’s all about society again. Society basically shows everyone that girls are suppose to be sexy and men are just there. Every ad you see out there that has something relating to girls, the models are always showing off their breasts, legs, or butt. The models are always showing off their lips and pose in a sexy position, as well. Sometimes when I shop online, I notice that the girl section is always “out there,” while the guy section is just plain, ole boring. When I also see the models wearing the shirts or skirts, their pose is always saying “oh look at me, I’m so sexy..” I wonder if the photographers tell them to pose that way or if they just do it themselves. Sure, there are hot male models who pose in Calvin Klein’s underwear or Abercrombie & Fitch ads, but they’re not everywhere and all up in your face. I feel bad for some male models who want to be sexy because if they pose in a sexual position, some people may think they’re gay, when they’re really not. I also noticed that male models who advertise underwear are always shown to be very sexy, while male models who advertise socks or shirts are just there.

This was a very interesting article about the gender exceptions among society. I think clothing companies, like American Apparel, know that women are expected to look their best at all times. Thus, making women model pose in sexy ways to get the costumer to want to look sexy like the models. Where for men, they are not expected by society to be as sexy as women. It is extremely manipulative how companies are to get you to buy your products, they think that stereotyping sells. Unfortunately, as from men’s comments regarding the models posing in men clothing, it does not. Men and women are coming out expressing how they want to be treated the same, thus men want their clothes to be modeled in a sexy manner.

“The whole surface -sexy thing is really high maintenance. Women are expected to put up this whole front, including our habitations and habits. We are held to much higher standards. This is not privilege. It’s a form of social coercion. Female slobs get called names and ostracized, male slobs are seen as charmingly eccentric, or perhaps in need of a female servant. I figure that’s part of why the Internet overall seems so male-dominated, it’s because they have more free time.”

to mieprowan: I don’t know what you’re talking about. A male slob having free time, is seen as worse than a female on. A lazy man is seen as worse than a female one, as men are supposed to be the bread winners even in today’s society. A man is more so a bum if he’s not working or doesn’t have a decent job compared to women. What is a female slob anyway? One who is chubby or fat?