Our society constantly shouts that women are sexy, men are utilitarian. And a lot of guys complain on my blog that they are none too happy about this. They want to be sexy too!! And lots of women complain that they are seen as being all about sexy and little else.

Here’s yet another example of that “women-are-sexy-men-not-so-much” holler, which I found on Sociological Images, courtesy of American Apparel. The pics are presented just as they were on their website a few weeks ago:

If you go to their site now you will still see women posed sexily and men just posed.

Occidental Sociology Prof. Lisa Wade says, “This is — all too much — how we look at men and women in our society today” and credits Caitlin Welsh with putting it nicely:

Women are presented too often not as consumers of the product, but part of the product – a sexy body sexily getting ready to surf, or a sexy body sexily wearing American Apparel. We’re used to seeing women look sexy and undressed in ads, while men in ads tend to just wear the clothes properly while also looking handsome in the face area.

When we are all bombarded with these sorts of images it all unconsciously sinks in somehow. Women start to seem like the sexy half of the species. And sexy seems to sum up who women are and how they’re supposed to be. And that hurts women, whether they feel they don’t measure up, or whether they yearn to be so much more. And too many men feel entirely left out in the cold when it comes to that sexy scale.

Source: Sociological Images

Related Posts on BroadBlogs

Women Seeing Women as Sexier than Men

Men: Erotic Objects of Women’s Gaze

Men, Women React to Male/Female Nudity