[sudo-discuss] Erotica and women's bodies

[GtwoG PublicOhOne]

Romy & Yo's-

Re. "womens' bodies with their faces cut off."

Wow.  Thanks for pointing that out.  I never noticed that before (OTOH
attempts to do "sexy" in advertising generally don't get my attention),
but I vaguely recall seeing ads like that somewhere. 

I agree, a torso minus a face is depersonalizing and objectifying as
hell, unless there's a very good reason for taking a photo that way
(e.g. medical contexts).  Being looked at "that way" produces the creepy
feeling that the looker's intentions are non-consensual.

The only borderline-legit reason I could see for doing it in clothing
ads is, "we want you to imagine yourself wearing this, and we don't want
to risk putting you off by showing a face that's substantially different
to yours, so imagine your face on this person's body."  But it would be
foolish to think that's what's intended every time that photographic
method is used.

This brings up the question of what people find sexy in photography. 
For me (gay male), a photo minus a face is a non-starter: there's no cue
for communication with the person.  Nudes in general don't do it either:
all the usual contextual cues as to someone's personality are missing,
so why would I even begin to imagine being in an intimate context with
someone I don't really know?  I've always felt that way but now we have
the HIV pandemic to reinforce it: in general it's not a good idea to get
intimate with someone you don't know very well, because the outcome
could be a life-threatening illness. 

For that matter, now that massively-drug-resistant gonorrhea is loose in
the USA, which is hella' easier to catch than HIV and can kill you in a
matter of days through a raging bacterial infection, it's probably a
darn good idea for everyone to "get smart & play safe" ALL the time,
zero exceptions, even more so than with HIV.  In which case photography
that portrays an objectified sexuality without communications isn't just
gross and exploitative, it's a public health hazard that reinforces
attitudes that put people at risk for their lives. 

-G.


=====


On 13-05-04-Sat 10:34 AM, Romy Snowyla wrote:
> It's interesting to me how porn a 
> Nd erotica always advertise with women's bodies with their faces cut off 
> American apparel digs this etc 
> Lots of art theory discusses this 
>
> I would love for any Sudo room event to break the mold and show men's bodies in any erotic theme as well ... Also would love to see the male body as the focus of any erotic film or dance to balance out the Imbalance and unnatural obsession with t and a we see on the porn industry 
>
> Sent from my iPad
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