If it is true that advertisements employing female sexuality to sell products degrade women in the process, then the opposite is also true that advertisements employing male sexuality to sell products degrade men in the process.
From my subjective, male point of view, I do not take offense when I see men portrayed sexually in advertising. Do I feel less of myself or do I feel a loss of dignity about the male persona? No. I definitely take offense to advertising that portrays men and women as being stupid, but that’s another debate.
Advertising that uses female sexuality gets my attention and, if anything, arouses my natural instincts. Do I think less of women? No. Do I think women lose their dignity? No. What I am thinking is quite natural and, in fact, exalts women.
The first time I let it all hang out on a nude beach, I was swept away by the feelings of liberation as I embraced not just my own sexuality, but the sexuality of humanity. Less than 10 percent of the people on that beach could boast a physically attractive body – as we might commonly define it: well shaped limbs, breasts, buns, and genitalia. I was truly amazed by the scope of dimension and shapes of all aspects of the human body. If anything, advertising is missing a huge opportunity.
Meanwhile, on the beach … after a while, those of us sporting the physique of the other 90 percent, began to appear to me as specimens of natural, imperfect beauty. None of us, of course, would get a call from Calvin Klein to become the spokesbody for the next great brand or product. But, it was fun to watch everyone feeling comfortable; some so comfortable that the obvious parade up and down the beach didn’t go unnoticed.
The human body in movement is a thing of incredible beauty; at once it is the art and science of motion. Volleyball took on a whole new meaning to me, as did Yoga.
It is sad that we spend more time finding negatives and faults with nudity or sexuality in any form. Most products that use sexuality do so because the product is, in some way, connected to it. Why do we try to defy it? Why do we try to deny it?
There are many answers that research offers to those questions, but I find those explanations more degrading to humanity than the advertising itself might be to anyone else.
