SEX SELLS….BACON?
(Women-Nature Association)
Carol J. Adams where have you been all my life? I almost became a vegetarian reading about Adams…almost. Reading Adam’s interview by Annie Potts was really insightful and, it definitely has given me the thought to make certain lifestyle changes. I was vegan for a short while but, I gave up after about six months. I don’t see anything wrong about choosing to become vegan or vegetarian but, I also don’t see a problem with consuming meat for sustenance. This interview has, in a way, adapted those feelings. I’m not quite sure what I feel now but, I’m giving it quite a great deal of thought. Last week, my class read a great deal about vegetarianism and gendered foods and, quite honestly my mind is blown and scattered all over the place. I’ll update what thoughts or decisions I arrive at regarding vegetarianism soon…
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WHAT IS ANTHROPORNOGRAPHY AND WHY SHOULD I CARE?
Carol J. Adams coined the term ‘anthropornography’. In her words, ‘the depiction of nonhuman animals as whores’ (The Philosophy of Meat, Carol J. Adams, Philosophy Now). I have never heard of this before and, I can only describe reading this as an awakening. I have never noticed the sexualization of animals (or meat) before but, now it’s all I can notice! So many advertisements, past and present, depict animals in sexualized or provocative images or scenarios as a way to sell their product. I’ve analyzed three images from https://caroljadams.com/examples-of-spom/ and, I’ve chosen one from an google search.
The first image I chose from Carol Adam’s slideshow is that of a bird posing in lingerie atop a neon sign. I wish I could say I was being silly or joking but, the bird looks like it belongs on a strip club’s sign. The bird looks like an exotic dancer welcoming customers in. This picture is so blatantly aimed at straight, cis men (although I shouldn’t assume). The picture says, ‘In, Out’. I’m not sure if that stands for the popular California restaurant or not but, clearly it is meant to ‘seduce’ people in a way to buy this product.
The second image I chose from Carol Adam’s slideshow is pretty self-explanatory. ‘We’ve got the best racks!’ is depicted over the image of a man in between two woman showing cleaving. A rack of ribs is on the table between them. It’s as if the advertiser wants people to think that if they come into this restaurant, only beautiful women in revealing clothing will be there to serve them their ribs… Combing through these images is almost comical because, how can anyone take this seriously? By the same token, I had admitted that I hadn’t noticed this kind of advertisement before.
What’s troubling to me more than anything is this: Did I not notice anthropornographic imagery before? OR am I just so used to a patriarchal driven society, that profits off the bodies of women, the sexualization of females, and the misogynistic practice of it all??
…….I’m going to go with the latter.
Finally, the third image I chose from Adam’s gallery was that of a McDonald’s advertisement. I was really drawn to this image because, it directly correlated to my last blog regarding gendered foods. In my last blog I talked about gendered foods and, how for some reason men think eating meat is manly. This is most likely the reason. Advertisements like this, that literally state manliness right on it, just further depict the patriarchal need for validation of their masculinity. ‘Masculine = Sexy. Sexy = More Women Want Me’; I am actually quoting my fiancé here. I asked him his thoughts on both this week’s and last week’s blog topics and, he agreed it was disgusting to say the least but, I could understand how he would arrive at that presumption.
It’s like what Adams said in The Pornography of Meat, ‘Advertisements contain all that we image to be good and powerful on the side of white males, juxtaposed against all that we hold in low esteem’. All three of these images demonstrate what is generically wanted by straight, cis, white males: masculinity, power, women (or at least the female aesthetic). What is even more disturbing, I think, is that this has enabled a loss of compassion. We are all animals, yet non-human animals are sub-par and readily available for sexualization, consumption, and abuse. They are not living, sentient beings in the eyes of the western world anymore. They are just ‘props’ ready for our everyday intentions. As Adams said, ‘The war on compassion, further, has caused people to fear that beginning to care about what happens to animals will destroy them because the knowledge is so overwhelming’. Where is our compassion for non-human animals? Where is our compassion for women? I’m beginning to believe we are one and the same, if not in different forms.
Finally, the last image I found is from the article Meat Advertisements Support Rape Culture (https://medium.com/@ProtestKitchen/meat-advertisements-support-rape-culture-d98fecc38356 ). I STRONGLY SUGGEST THIS ARTICLE. This advertisement immediately made me angry. I think a primal part of me just wanted to scream ‘How dare you!!!!??”. The fact that the advertisement shows a provocatively dressed pig with the words ‘Moaning for the Bone’ over it, needs little explanation. This is the epitome of rape culture: ‘She was asking for it’. To me this picture just exemplifies what Adam’s was essentially preaching: there is little compassion or regard left for women or for non-human animals.
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ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
‘the depiction of nonhuman animals as whores’
Advertisements contain all that we image to be good and powerful on the side of white males, juxtaposed against all that we hold in low esteem’.
‘The war on compassion, further, has caused people to fear that beginning to care about what happens to animals will destroy them because the knowledge is so overwhelming’.
The Philosophy of Meat, Carol J. Adams, Philosophy Now
The image you chose reminds me of the Dairy Air ice cream logo. The logo is of a cow, with a large bottom in the viewers face, and other anthropomorphic features. The nonhuman animal/ human female connection is present and both or objectified.
https://www.thecut.com/2017/12/dairy-air-ice-cream-changing-controversial-sexy-cow-logo.html
Thank you for including that link!
Hey Jassy,
I’m glad to see that the class has a strong influence on how you live your life and that it’s making you reconsider having meat in your diet having added it back after your stint with veganism. I am myself starting to ponder what role I myself play in the suffering of animals. I am right there with you that there is nothing wrong with eating meat for sustenance, but as we have learned, there are other alternatives that spare non-human lives. I haven’t made any effort to cut back on meat eating myself, cause like what I assume to be many other people’s reasons, I would view that as an inconvenience right now, and admittedly I don’t think too much of the suffering of animals when making day to day decisions. It’s not a top priority, so it’s easy to stick with what we have been doing when the ugly truth is not staring us right in the face. Like you mentioned also, we are so used to imagery that works in the opposite direction, encouraging us to degrade animals and woman, that having compassion is a foreign idea at this point.
All three advertisements that you posted are clearly directed towards men, which makes sense because as Adams asserts, we live in a society with male primacy, so at a fundamental level it makes sense that advertisements would appeal towards male since they are the ones who are theoretically more lucrative to sell too. “Even now, in terms of evolutionary depictions, the humanized human who emerges out of his primate ancestors is marked as white male. Casting individuals as animalized humans is usually influenced by race, sex, and class” (Adams 15). In trying to create appeal and make a home in society for a product, it makes sense to cater towards men, specifically white males, as they are considered be at the top of our cultural period, so they are seen as the most advanced, the prime consumer and top priority as well as influencer, which unfortunately translate to oppressor because human’s dominating nature. If men like something than it will proliferate in society, which is the goal of advertising. But do the sexual appeals in these adds work in earning men’s business? In her blog, Alina Gorbatch explores this topic, and finds that prompting a male sexual reaction is not the best bet. “A meta-analysis of 78 peer-reviewed studies conducted in 2017 showed that when it comes to sex ads, consumers remember the sex ads. They don’t, however, remember the product, nor do they feel like buying it straight away” (Gorbatch). While it’s important to grab the consumer of the ad’s attention, it is obviously the goal of the advertisement to prompt the viewer to buy whatever good or service is being sold, so this marketing appeal is not conducive. That further illustrates how foul these advertising tactics are, in that they don’t even do their job properly, yet they further the narrative that women are objects to be used at men’s whim.
https://awario.com/blog/does-sex-sell-advertising/
Hi!
I have not made any cut backs either but, I am glad to hear that its made you question lifestyle choices too! It is has become increasingly difficult for me to NOT think about my dietary choices after reading Adams article. It’s almost as if there’s a cartoon bubble over my head with images and information about the sexualization and mistreatment of animals. I was honestly thinking of going back to vegetarian but, in the current state of the world COVID-19 has made grocery shopping incredibly difficult.