Amanda Eccleston
2/4/10
Intro to Women’s Studies
Media Culture Project
The November Edition of the GQ immediately caught my attention with the cover page presenting a platinum blonde biker chick in a leather jacket unzipped all the way to the naval with popping red lips and pouty blue eyes. Her head is tilted down and her eyes slightly looking up and if she is a puppy anxiously waiting for her next orders to follow. Sadly enough she is a successful actress and in every months edition of the magazine they chose one up and coming young, female star to give the cover page and a five page article honoring their accomplishments. An all men’s magazine recognizing women, seems empowering for women? Well Levy would strongly disagree in fact she would consider what she was doing as Tomming because of the fact that in those five pages four and a half are filled with this successful, powerful woman looking at the ground in 3 different sets of lingerie with her legs spread and half page of writing consists of her answers to sexual questions. Levy would strongly disagree with this form of liberation for Ms. January Jones because she worked so hard to gain status as an actress and as a woman and that it was all lost with this form of pornography. Levy would see this section of the magazine as choosing to work her way up through sex and then prove her talent and intelligence later.
Surrounding her body are the featured articles in the magazine; “The GQ Power List”, “Rock N Rolls original bad boy”, “January Jones Unzips, modest homemaker”, “5 reasons to have faith in the future of cars”, and “the coat every guy looks good in.” This Magazine appears to be targeting middle aged, upper to middle class, mainly white males and is definitely emphasizing power. Just the photo alone sends the message of male dominance and perpetuates the fantasies of the subordinate housewife and stresses that a man in control could be lucky enough to “unzip” this woman as if she were an expensive bag. The magazine also highlights the importance of money because without extra spending money there would be no need to have “faith in the future of cars” or to care how to “survive winter in style” and the “50 most important people in D.C” would not be of any importance to you. An upper to middle class lifestyle is what these readers obtain or strive for. This magazine is sending the message that without the specific cologne, clothing, shoes and “toys” you cannot be sheik and classy. Why would anyone not want this power and society is telling women that to obtain this power you have to be an upper class male and to be an upper class male you have to encompass certain arrogant, dominant personality traits.
The major advertisements throughout the magazine are promoting a lifestyle; the most exclusive cars, foreign watches, classy suit, the latest electronics, top shelf liquor and expensive, celebrities colognes. In fact there are so many cologne ads that my hands reek for days after every time I look through the magazine. Yet it is not the actual ads that send the message of the importance of class it is the important question that is being answered, what is behind the desire to act like or be a man? For example underneath an attractive, white man in impeccable shape there is a saying “The style of your Life” and in small print on the side it states the prices of each piece and it added up to well over 800 dollars, so if you can’t afford to spend 800 dollars on ONE outfit what does that say about your life? Or a few pages later where there is a brand new Camaro and a half naked woman, the ad to the side says “You could live without it. If you call that living.” And throughout all the electronics ads like cell phones and laptops, international travel and connection in emphasized as if to show the power and exclusivity that these objects bring. A woman does need the “biggest cock in the room” to acquire this yet every ad goes against this by essentializing, in that the gender norms and stereotypes are showing men that they have what it takes to obtain that power and prestige and with that they can objectifying or own any women they please.
In over half of the ads, especially in the cologne and watch ads, there is a half naked woman holding, kissing or hopelessly staring at the man in the photo. Again Levy would directly relate this to the Raunch Culture. In these ads there were some interesting terms that I found were reiterated gendered norms and ideals; “The one”, “King”, “Master”, “Intelligence”, “Exclusively for men” and “Members only.” How could a woman feel empowered in these ads with hardly any clothes, underneath a man who is underneath one of those terms? They not only scream “no women allowed” but the honorary man is portrayed in one way or another on every page of the magazine and how there is a clear economic and political domination by an elite group of men and how it is ordered in the magazine; upper class men, then lower class men are completely absent and women are merely a piece of meat. Through this I would argue that Levy is wrong in saying that this term to “act like a man” is only detrimental to sisterhood and female companionship because in fact the definition of a “man”, especially portrayed in this magazine, accounts for very few people in society. So everyone who is not the upper to middle class white male is left out so therefore if they strive for this power does that make them a sell out too? I think that it does more for a woman, a race, class or sexual orientation to exceed through the discrimination and prove that they can make it to the top and by saying that being “talented, powerful, and unrepentant” are male traits is to degrade women in the first place.
2/4/10
Intro to Women’s Studies
Media Culture Project
The November Edition of the GQ immediately caught my attention with the cover page presenting a platinum blonde biker chick in a leather jacket unzipped all the way to the naval with popping red lips and pouty blue eyes. Her head is tilted down and her eyes slightly looking up and if she is a puppy anxiously waiting for her next orders to follow. Sadly enough she is a successful actress and in every months edition of the magazine they chose one up and coming young, female star to give the cover page and a five page article honoring their accomplishments. An all men’s magazine recognizing women, seems empowering for women? Well Levy would strongly disagree in fact she would consider what she was doing as Tomming because of the fact that in those five pages four and a half are filled with this successful, powerful woman looking at the ground in 3 different sets of lingerie with her legs spread and half page of writing consists of her answers to sexual questions. Levy would strongly disagree with this form of liberation for Ms. January Jones because she worked so hard to gain status as an actress and as a woman and that it was all lost with this form of pornography. Levy would see this section of the magazine as choosing to work her way up through sex and then prove her talent and intelligence later.
Surrounding her body are the featured articles in the magazine; “The GQ Power List”, “Rock N Rolls original bad boy”, “January Jones Unzips, modest homemaker”, “5 reasons to have faith in the future of cars”, and “the coat every guy looks good in.” This Magazine appears to be targeting middle aged, upper to middle class, mainly white males and is definitely emphasizing power. Just the photo alone sends the message of male dominance and perpetuates the fantasies of the subordinate housewife and stresses that a man in control could be lucky enough to “unzip” this woman as if she were an expensive bag. The magazine also highlights the importance of money because without extra spending money there would be no need to have “faith in the future of cars” or to care how to “survive winter in style” and the “50 most important people in D.C” would not be of any importance to you. An upper to middle class lifestyle is what these readers obtain or strive for. This magazine is sending the message that without the specific cologne, clothing, shoes and “toys” you cannot be sheik and classy. Why would anyone not want this power and society is telling women that to obtain this power you have to be an upper class male and to be an upper class male you have to encompass certain arrogant, dominant personality traits.
The major advertisements throughout the magazine are promoting a lifestyle; the most exclusive cars, foreign watches, classy suit, the latest electronics, top shelf liquor and expensive, celebrities colognes. In fact there are so many cologne ads that my hands reek for days after every time I look through the magazine. Yet it is not the actual ads that send the message of the importance of class it is the important question that is being answered, what is behind the desire to act like or be a man? For example underneath an attractive, white man in impeccable shape there is a saying “The style of your Life” and in small print on the side it states the prices of each piece and it added up to well over 800 dollars, so if you can’t afford to spend 800 dollars on ONE outfit what does that say about your life? Or a few pages later where there is a brand new Camaro and a half naked woman, the ad to the side says “You could live without it. If you call that living.” And throughout all the electronics ads like cell phones and laptops, international travel and connection in emphasized as if to show the power and exclusivity that these objects bring. A woman does need the “biggest cock in the room” to acquire this yet every ad goes against this by essentializing, in that the gender norms and stereotypes are showing men that they have what it takes to obtain that power and prestige and with that they can objectifying or own any women they please.
In over half of the ads, especially in the cologne and watch ads, there is a half naked woman holding, kissing or hopelessly staring at the man in the photo. Again Levy would directly relate this to the Raunch Culture. In these ads there were some interesting terms that I found were reiterated gendered norms and ideals; “The one”, “King”, “Master”, “Intelligence”, “Exclusively for men” and “Members only.” How could a woman feel empowered in these ads with hardly any clothes, underneath a man who is underneath one of those terms? They not only scream “no women allowed” but the honorary man is portrayed in one way or another on every page of the magazine and how there is a clear economic and political domination by an elite group of men and how it is ordered in the magazine; upper class men, then lower class men are completely absent and women are merely a piece of meat. Through this I would argue that Levy is wrong in saying that this term to “act like a man” is only detrimental to sisterhood and female companionship because in fact the definition of a “man”, especially portrayed in this magazine, accounts for very few people in society. So everyone who is not the upper to middle class white male is left out so therefore if they strive for this power does that make them a sell out too? I think that it does more for a woman, a race, class or sexual orientation to exceed through the discrimination and prove that they can make it to the top and by saying that being “talented, powerful, and unrepentant” are male traits is to degrade women in the first place.
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