That MSNBC porn ad is obnoxious!

[Lisa0825]

I emailed to ask if they could pull that ad. Gee, could we possibly replace it by a neon drawing of a man's crotch? I hate having to see that ad everytime I check! I may just have to take a break until the 14th after the show airs!

:mad:

[Samurai_Writer]

1. It's bothering me too!

Makes it so I don't even want to log in here until after it's gone (wonder if someone will tell me!). Of course, this site has never been known for being feminist-friendly as long as I've been here. The Feminist Group is the last bastion of sanity here when it comes to women's issues and rights. Some of the misogynistic posts and threads in GD and the Lounge make me ill.

[Hello_Kitty]

2. It'll probably be up a week after the show airs

They'll so several repeats so don't look for it to go away by then. I refuse to click on it because I recognize a sleazy marketing tactic for what it is. And I love how "it's not just for men anymore!" but yet ,of course, there's a silhouette of a naked woman.

:eyes:

[bloom]

3. It's weird thinking

that it's on over 800 blogs - including feminist ones.

It would seem that the Liberal-blog-ads might have some standards. I realize that part of the purpose of ads is to spark a reaction - but at that rate - all of the ads could become porn ads - no matter what was being sold.



The local paper around here has come under fire when they have run a story on pornography on the front page (they have done that twice in the last year). They defended themselves by saying that they choose a headline story based on what story will generate the most comments on their online page. ?!?

I suppose if they ran a porn story every day - people would tune it out - or quit subscribing/ depending... But if they just do it now and then, some people get annoyed (or a lot of people) - but most people won't drop the paper. And they get a lot of attention.

[atommom]

4. Thank you for joining me in my hissyfit!

I have nothing against sex, or the human body. I just don't like the objectification, especially on a liberal site.

:grouphug:

[Heddi]

5. It's odd. I can't see it and haven't seen it. Where is it?

I've been to every DU page I can think of and even refreshed the page several times but I can't see an ad like this ANYWHERE on the site (which is why I've not complained about it b/c I think it's in poor form to criticize something you've not seen/read/heard/whatever yourself).

Can someone point me to it? Or give me an idea where I could see it?

Oh--and here's what I was originally gonna say:

Oh great! MORE MAN BASHING!!! oh you wimmen just need to stop taking things so PERSONALLY. It's jealousy, that's all. women that complain about porn are just JEALOUS that they're not hot and getting laid every night. Oh, and you're probably PMS'ing. Get laid and ease up. I mean, come on, whaddya want? First it was complaining about the t-shirts that said 'If I wanted to know what you thought, I'd have taken my dick out of your mouth" but Oh no! It's always something with you wimmen. Go protest men or something. Better yet, don't you have some dinner to be making
?


</chauvanist rant>

[spooky3]

6. I agree and was thinking about emailing the administrators. Heddi,

can you see it on this page:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=greatest_threads

[Heddi]

8. I still can't see it but I think it has to do with Firefox

I was reading another thread and people with Firefox/Mozilla can't see it, but those with IE, etc CAN see it.

[ismnotwasm]

7. It's so stupid

It's almost not offensive. I said almost. Why in the fuck would they use an image like that and say "Ladies, porn's not for men anymore" or what the fuck ever they say. Like porn is all even steven now, and women are not longer dispoportionetly exploited for sex, or still taught that their perfectly imperfect beautiful bodies are never good enough. There was just a thread in the lounge complaining about certain clothes are being marketed to little (3 year old) girls. Everyone was pretty indignant, I noticed. Few made the connection of the early and constant sexualization of females and tied it to so many problems in America.

I have my Feminista teeshirt (I've been into tee shirts lately--ordering from feminist websites) with the "mudflap" girl flipping off the world.

Men are uncomfortable with it for some reason. Good.

[Heddi]

9. I've always found it interesting

that people in general (esp. on DU) will be all up in arms (rightfully so, IMO) about provocative clothing and accessories marketed to children. Even clothing like t-shirts that have obnoxious or sexist or teen-level porn slogans on them.

And those people opine til the sun comes home about how unfortunate it is that our children are subjected to such indignities, and what parent would allow their children to wear such clothes, and how unfortunate it is that our young girls are getting the idea that one must be 'sexy' (at 7), or thin, or beautiful to succeed in life, and that our young boys are being taught that sex is all that matters, that treating women like objects is all that matters, and how unfortunate and awful it is that our children are getting the short end of the stick with regards to clothing, and music, and entertainment.

Then, three minutes later, someone posts a picture of a teen-sex-symbol, like Lindsay Lohan, or Brittney Spears, and remark about how hot their tits are, and how lucky they would be to be laid by an 18 year old, and how hot this 18 year old is, and how frumpy Brittney is when she's pregnant, and how could she walk out of the house, being pregnant, wearing a shirt that shows her stomach, wearing shorts, she should keep that locked up, stay inside the house til she delivers, no one wants to see saggy mom-tits.

All the while, getting a hard-on at the thought of a titty-fuck by Lindsay Lohan in one thread, and wringing hands and gnashing teeth in another about mixed messages that "SOMEONE ELSE" is sending our children.

Hmm...it couldn't be that...gasp...the PARENTS are sending mixed messages? Sure, daddy's a progressive and calls himself a liberal, all the while feels that women are generally gold-diggers who see men as walking check-books, think that it's perfectly okay for a woman to get her husband's permission to have an abortion, that sex-discrimination is generally always in the woman's head, that women have issues with porn and sexuality only when they're not getting any penis. And they wax poetic on DU about how anti-war, and anti-DP and anti-bigot they are with their children, and how they raise their children to be upstanding, upright Liberal citizens. But does Daddy ever wonder that perhaps his son is getting mixed messages not from the media, not from pent-up liberal feminists, but from HIM, who tells him in one breath that women are supposed to be respected, and in the next breath talking about how he was so happy that Brittney Spears turned 18 so that he could jack off to her and not feel like a pedophile :eyes:

[ismnotwasm]

13. Agreed. It's a bizarre sort of dichotomy

And it seems to do with some "coming of age" permission to sexualize young women. That famous young women like Ms Spears recognize and capitalize on this doesn't help. (Remember when she bragged about being a virgin? Until it wasn't in her best career interests)

I have nothing against men or women admiring one another, or even "lusting" (great word) after one another. It the imbalance that gets to me.

It's this blind spot many men and some women have--An inability recognize we are teaching females overtly or covertly from birth on that their highest value is based on how sexually attractive they are to men. Things like intelligence, talent, toughness, assertiveness etc. or either secondary or dismissed as not of value.

And young men are definetly getting mixed signals. We see it here on DU all the time. Many young men seem to think the women have reached sexual equality, just because they may choose to have sex.

I know a beautiful young woman who because of religious beliefs has choosen to remain a virgin until marriage. She has "movie star" good looks. She had a beloved boyfriend who could not handle her choice. He loved her,(so he claimed) but he didn't, or couldn't wait. he dumped her in the cruelest way imaginable. His perceived right to sexual access to her trumped any emotion, any courtesy or any kindness, any sharing they had done as committed partners. Even though she had made it clear from the onset what HER choice was.

[Nikia]

14. To some, freedom to dress sexual is equality

And to dress modestly is oppressive.
While agree that being forced to wear impractical clothing out of fear of being arrested or assaulted by people concerned about your modesty is oppressive, I feel that there is nothing wrong with choosing to dress that way if they choose. Some Muslim women might want to wear the veil. Some Fundamentalist women might choose to wear long non form fitting dresses with long sleeves either to display their religious identity or because they feel more comfortable, physically or emotionally. Any women might feel more comfortable, physically or emotionally, not displaying most of her body. Freedom is choosing to dress as you feel comfortable, sexual or not.
It is hypocritical for them to applaud the freedom of an attractive woman to wear as little as legally possible why making fun of a woman covering up. Of course, there seems to a double standard on who should wear what. For example, a man might want all the young thin attractive women at the beach to wear bikinis and any of them who don't are "uptight" while he might want all the heavier or older women to cover up. Freedom is wearing what we want, not what men want.

[ismnotwasm]

15. I agree with that as well

Choice is always the litmus test. But there always a societies indoctrination of little girls on what is acceptable, what is modest, what is sexy.
Many Young women when play at mating games with sexy clothes, showing off desirable attributes. Within whatever yardstick of fashion allowed, they have done so through history. At one time it was for the sole purpose of obtaining a husband. Now it seems we're a bit of flux, we want the right to wear what is comfortable, what is sexy, what makes us feel good without the judgement that comes along with it. We're not quite there yet. I hope I see it in my lifetime.

An interesting quote about veiling:

"Some say the hymen is the veil. Others, that illusion is the veil. And none are wrong. But there is more. Ironically, though the veil has been used to hide one's beauty from the concupiscence of others, it is also femme fatale equipmment. To wear a veil of a certain kind, at a certain time, with a certain lover, and with certain looks, is to exude an intense and smoky erotimine that causes true abated breath. In feminine psychology, the veil is a symbol for women's ability to take on whatever presence or essence they wish.--Clarissa Pinkola Estes

[Warpy]

10. I also saw it at Raw Story

plus Skinner posted a story about how MSGOP is flooding the net with adverts about its programming over the next few weeks. I'm sure they'll replace the neon titty lady with something else equally obnoxious, anything to stick a finger in our eye.

[politicat]

11. Not happy about it, no.

This is the time when I Miss "Ask The Administrators".

I'd like to know how much an ad costs, because I'd happily chip in a decent chunk o' change to get that ad off....

It's so obnoxious on so many levels....

[Lisa0825]

12. YAHOO! I've never been so happy to see fat Elvis!LOL

The ad is different now. I wonder if the complaints worked, or if their time was done. Either way, Elvis is a welcome sight!

[bloom]

16. "Do we want profit-hungry corporative executives constructing our culture?

Article over on Znet

Pornography Is A Left Issue

...As leftists, we reject the sexism and racism that saturates contemporary mass-marketed pornography. As leftists, we reject the capitalist commodification of one of the most basic aspects of our humanity. As leftists, we reject corporate domination of media and culture. Anti-pornography feminists are not asking the left to accept a new way of looking at the world but instead are arguing for consistency in analysis and application of principles....


Corporate media

Critiques of the power of commercial corporate media are ubiquitous on the left. Leftists with vastly different political projects can come together to decry conglomerates' control over news and entertainment programming. Because of the structure of the system, it's a given that these corporations create programming that meets the needs of advertisers and elites, not ordinary people....

Commodification

...But, to the best of our knowledge, no one on the left defends capitalist media -- or any other capitalist enterprise -- by pointing out workers consented to do their jobs. The people who produce media content, or any other product, consent to work in such enterprises, under varying constraints and opportunities. So what? The critique is not of the workers, but of the owners and structure.

Racism

...The racism of the industry is so pervasive that it goes largely unnoticed. In an interview with the producer of the DVD "Black Bros and Asian Ho's," one of us asked if he ever was criticized for the racism of such films. He said, "No, they are very popular." We repeated the question: Popular, yes, but do people ever criticize the racism? He looked incredulous; the question apparently had never entered his mind....

Sexism

...This misogyny is not an idiosyncratic feature of a few fringe films. Based on three studies of the content of mainstream video/DVD pornography over the past decade, we conclude that woman-hating is central to contemporary pornography. Take away every video in which a woman is called a bitch, a cunt, a slut, or a whore, and the shelves would be nearly bare. Take away every DVD in which a woman becomes the target of a man's contempt, and there wouldn't be much left. Mass-marketed pornography doesn't celebrate women and their sexuality, but instead expresses contempt for women and celebrates the charge of expressing that contempt sexually....

<more>


http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=91&ItemID=9272

Also see:

http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2005/12/07/treating-porn-like-every-other-media/