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Rule 5(c): Sex Sells.So I was logging into my e-mail account -- at some point I must get that inbox cleared out enough that I can see my incoming messages -- and there was an ad showing a woman's belly as she reclined in a bikini. The headline on the ad: "How to Get a Sexy Summer Stomach." Below that, another ad, this one for "Single? Over 40?"
Maybe Donald Douglas has some thoughts about this. Every day, advertisers are using sex to sell stuff and, in the Internet Age, every time a blogger mentions that he is a successful older professional, the algorithm automatically throws up a spot for Established Men.
That's a no-go, a scratched mission, because (a) I'm a successful older professional journalist, which is about three paygrades below being a successful janitor, and (b) despite the constant influx of e-mails from desperate women trying to entice me -- some of them are, coincidentally enough, relatives of the former Oil Minister of Nigeria -- the fact is Mrs. Other McCain has got more sexy than even I can cope with.
My point (and I do have one) is that the problem with a hypersexualized culture is not so much in the supply, but in the demand. If everybody wasn't trying to look hot in their sexy summer bikini so they could go looking for some SugarDaddie.com, those advertisers wouldn't be selling that stuff.
A hypersexualized culture has political consequences, "The Sex Vote," as James Poulos calls it.
Just throwing these thoughts out there, because I'm on deadline for a 2,000-word print article about IG-Gate and want to give the commenters something interesting to discuss for the next several hours. Oh, and the way to get that super-sexy summer stomach? It involves a healthy colon.
NTTAWWT.
Also, there's a Salon article about Republicans, "C Street" and "its links to three political sex scandals." Sex! Scandals! And, four decades later, Mary Jo Kopechne still could not be reached for comment.
"Hypersexualized" is dead on! Most disturbing is the mainstreaming of strip clubs. I see ads for strip clubs in the nearest big city on television (granted, late at night), and there's a freeway billboard for a local strip club in my own small city (less than 200,000) that makes me cringe every time I drive by with my 7-year-old daughter.
ReplyDeleteBut isn't there also a generated demand? I mean, good marketing creates a demand and thus an outlet for a previously unnecessary supply. Doesn't our popular culture manufacture demand and thus contribute artificially to the hypersexualized culture at large?
ReplyDeleteSneaky, sneaky, Stacy. The picture of the babe links to the paypal page.
ReplyDeleteJust in case anyone forgets to hit the tip jar.