The beefcakes, hunks, and hotties of Magic Mike: Men empowered through objectification

We began to touch on the subject of objectifying men in last Thursday’s class. Is it ok to objectify men? Do women objectify men in the same way? Are men asking for it? In that same sense, are women asking for it?

The idea of objectifying men is of much less concern for our society than the objectification of women. While women get a lot of support for their efforts to stop the objectification, men do not. Why is this? We’ve already seen in Mike’s last post that men get photo-shopped just as much females and we’ve read in ­­­­Aubrey and Taylor's (2009) study that this does affect male self-consciousness and sexual confidence. So where is and why is there a difference between the male and female objectification? 

 

Most recently, the film Magic Mike hit it big in the box offices. Women of all ages ran to the movie theater to get their fill of abs, dancing, and pure sexiness. I read various articles, tweets, and posts that said how it was about time that women got the opportunity to stare at men just like men get to stare at women. Forget the quality of acting or the emotional plot line -  this movie was novel because it allowed women to stare at men’s bodies for an hour and a half – and that’s it! The value of this movie was  nearly 100% based on the men’s bodies in it. 

While many movies focus on the bodies of women and their attractiveness, I do not think that female objectification is taken to the same degree that this movie took it with men. Could you imagine if a movie about 5 female strippers came out? How would people react if men were lining up outside the theater to drool all over 5 female bodies??

Because there is clearly a difference here, I started wondering why. I read an interesting article about Magic Mike and why it is more tolerable to objectify men – and why objectifying men really isn’t even the same as objectifying women.

The article strives to claim that both male and female objectification are degrading. However, while female objectification reduces a woman’s power in Hollywood movies, male objectification actually strengthens and worships the male. How can this be?? The article shows how this might just be plausible…

• Women’s sexuality is highlighted in movies to help make their seemingly powerful personalities seem less strong or worthy

o   For ex; Anne Hathaway in Love and Other Drugs is naked for most of the movie. While she is a strong, tough female, she appears to be very weak because she is butt-naked more often than not.

• To make women relatable, you have to show their weaknesses and strip them of their dignity- says Anna Faris

o   This is often done by focusing on their bodies

• Male objectification does not strip men of their power, but actually gives them more power

o   Men with great bodies are seen as powerful, successful, and highly admired – case in point with Mike from Magic Mike who always has tons of screaming girls around him.

o   He also exerts power over the women as he is stripping- taking the lead, telling them what to do, etc.

•  Men that are objectified in movies are still given personalities – usually hidden tenderness, thoughtfulness, and lovingness.

o   Females that are objectified rarely have personalities or any redeeming qualities

• Finally, the way men and women admire the opposite sex is different

o   Women scream, drool, and go crazy for sexy men

o   Men seem to sit back and take in the view of the sexy woman as if it’s her job to please him 

After our discussion on Thursday, I think this article about Magic Mike sheds light on why we think it’s more acceptable to objectify men than women. While women are reduced by objectification, men are empowered. Clearly objectification is not the same for each gender. As one commenter on the article said…“let’s all objectify each other! That’s equality, right?!” … well, I’m not so sure now. 

Swong, S. (n.d.). Magic Mike Matthew McConaughey Strip Scene: How Modern Movies Objectify Men. PolicyMic. Retrieved August 7, 2012, from http://www.policymic.com/articles/9592/magic-mike-matthew-mcconaughey-strip-scene-how-modern-movies-objectify-men

Promiscuity and Rape in Friday Night Lights

After reading Ferguson et al.’s (2005) article, I started thinking about incidents of sexual harassment and promiscuous women that I have seen I media.

The first incident that came to mind was from Friday Night Lights - great show if you haven’t seen it!

A character, Tyra Collette, is portrayed as a confused, troubled girl who in the past has been very promiscuous. The other main characters know her as the school slut, more or less. She is described as the town’s former bad-girl who is now “hoping to rise above the stereotype of the blonde, over-sexed female” (Wikipedia). As the seasons progress, the show dives deeper into her story and she is portrayed less promiscuously as she begins to rearrange her life around college dreams and a healthy relationship.

 

In the second half of the first season (Episode 20 “Mud Bowl”), Tyra is studying at a diner where she is approached by a man. After they speak, she heads out to her car alone. As she is walking out, the man follows her, attacks her, and tries to rape her. Tyra ends up fighting him off by burning him with a cigarette and pushing and shoving her way out of there…

First, I think it is interesting that it is her character that falls victim to this harassment. Of course it is the over-sexed, promiscuous girl that almost gets raped... Lyla Garrity, the wholesome hometown sweetheart in the show, for example, would never have been sexually harassed. Even though at this point in the season, Tyra is getting her act together, studying for exams, etc, the show still chose to put her in this situation, which is stereotypical due to the fact that she was once the troubled, promiscuous girl. This reinforces the idea that Ferguson (2005) was pointing out that it is a common misconception that more promiscuous girls are more likely to be involved in harassment or rape, because they’re “asking for it”. 

While the show uses the stereotype of the promiscuous woman as being the victim of sexual harassment, the show combats these conceptions as well.  Tyra’s promiscuity does not affect the seriousness or injustice of the event, as the issue is handled in a very serious tone and lasts throughout season 1 and in to season 2.  The trauma that Tyra goes through is extremely emotional and shows that she was significantly affected by it. The show also makes it clear that she was not at all responsible (seeing as how she was sitting at a table doing homework before it happened). These two things contrast the Ferguson et al. (2005) article which shows a link between the victim’s promiscuity and viewing the victim as being less traumatized and more responsible. 

Overall, I find it typical that it is the promiscuous girl who almost gets raped. The show may give the idea that Tyra’s overtly sexual nature (boobs, lips, reputation, etc.) leads her to be more susceptible to these acts. At the same time, however, while it is characteristic of this type of character to get in trouble, the show makes sure that it is not taken lightly as it is clear that she is seriously traumatized.

As the Ferguson et al. (2005) article stated, physical, rather than verbal, harassment is more consistently seen as being inappropriate, traumatizing, and in no way the victim’s fault. The fact that Tyra’s incident was seriously physical, it seems obvious that the show would not make light of the incident. But that leads me to wonder about less physical or less observable acts of harassment. Would the show make such a big deal if Tyra was verbally harassed? Probably not, and though I’m not certain, I’m sure in earlier episodes she was verbally harassed - clearly they didn’t take it seriously as I cannot even remember for certain. It is media portrayals like this that reinforce the idea that verbal harassment is not serious and can be dismissed, especially when made towards promiscuous characters like Tyra. If verbal harassment were always portrayed with such seriousness as physical harassment, people would realize that comments, requests, or gestures of that nature are inappropriate.