Sexism or sexually assertive?

I've been wanting to talk about the idealistic feminine beauty often portrayed in magazine ads and how confusing it can be defining the myth being sold. Are the products been sold by sex or by sexual confidence?
At the end of the day both use the promise of sex but first we must decode what's going on.

A lot of the time these ads are construed as sexist, prominently to women but also to men. Much of the way the advert is perceived has to do with context. An image of an ideal woman in skimpy lingerie in a womans glossy magazine suggests that the model is expressing her freedom, embracing her sexuality and showing confidence. In a mens mag she might be seen as a sex object or subservient.

I think that if the women and men in these ads have the confidence to show their sexual assertion then that is brilliant and inspiring but its when it comes to what the adverts are selling that it becomes a problem of morels.That's when the lines blur and it becomes harder to tell if the models sexuality is being used positivity or degradingly. And even then its a matter of opinion.

It kind of comes back to that age old argument, 'Flaunting your gender and thus sexuality is aright when it suits your needs but when it doesn't then its sexist.' Which is bullshit but there's some logic in it somewhere. (I want to be treated as a lady but I can go chop wood and fight mountain lions too!(yay stereotypes!)). There are no solid boundaries which leave the argument open for endless debate. What's your opinion on this one guys? And who the hell decides what the ideal feminine beauty is anyway? Is it different for men and women?


Image and Representation: Concepts in Media Studies. By Nick Lacey 
Second edition 2009
Chapter 5. 5.2 Representations of gender. 


In the thirty years since Goffman's study, we would expect that the representation of gender would have evolved to take into account women's increasing equality in Western society. Studies have found that women's freedom is now often expressed in consumerist terms: 'the traditional images of the 'with-mother-housekeeper' is now being replaced by images of sexually assertive, confident and ambitious women who express their "freedom" through consumption' (ibid.:81).
In other words, to become this 'ideal' woman, the target audience need only buy the product or service on offer; there's no need for any 'collective struggle for social and political change' (ibid.:95).
   However, it may appear that at least there is an acknowledgement that women do have active desires and can be confident enough to assert them. the 1998 Wonderbra advert, featuring Eva Herzigova and copy saying 'Hello, Boys,'arguably encapsulated this new idea of femininity. Angela McRobbie suggested this this image was indicative of post-feminism, the wearer of the bra was confident in her sexuality and actively soliciting 'boys'; however, her confidence was reliant on the display of her breasts: 'it was, in a sense. taking feminism into account by showing it to be a thing of the past, by provocatively "enacting sexism" while at the same time playing with those debates in film theory about women being the object of the gaze and even female desire' (McRobbie 1996:32)

More recently, the Opium perfume advert featuring model Sophie Dahl lying naked, apart from a pair of high healed shoes, with one hand on her breast and her thighs parted, simulated a debate about the extent to which this represented a self-contained female, in no need of a man, or a sexual exploitation:


The Opium picyure of the nude woman was really terrible...Advertisers feel they have to shock to be memorable, to be effective - a problem that's become worse in the last five years. People are so used to these images they no longer see or react to sexism. But when such intimate scenes are exhibited in public it threatens everyone, not just women. (Florence Monterynaud, the founder of the Chiennes de Garde (guard bitches), quoted in The Independent, 26 November 2000)


On the other hand:


Sophie Dahl's body is... available for reading as an emblem of liberation, fun, self pleasure and pride, not only within an older libertarian tradition which celebrates porn, but also a much wider readership for which sexy images have become the currency of the day. (Feona Atwood, quoted in Gill 2007: 38)

The context in which the ad was seen is also likely to have an effect on the reading. If the ad was in a woman's magazine, then the latter view is more likely to be predominate; however, if the same ad were in a men's magazine, it's likely that women would take the former view (the men, however, are likely to view the image with lust). While we would expect men to be more likely to see women as sex objects' theorists have suggested that the way we should see a text is inscribed in the text itself.