http://www.upworthy.com/think-seeing-a-little-male-nudity-on-tv-is-too-explicit-then-its-time-to-hear-the-hard-truth
Hahahahahahahahaha yes! I mean, it's simplistic and not necessarily suggesting social change...but come on TV creators, how about a LITTLE equality in the naked screen time. If you can't beat em, join em, right?
I started to watch Game of Thrones, but stopped after the first three episodes. The sex usually has nothing to do with the storyline, so much so that you can just fast forward right through it and you will have missed NO important plot points. It was just too much violent sex, literal (glorified!) rape, gratuitous female nudity alllll over the place and some pretty fucked up ways of depicting the "savages"...meaning they were all people of color (real cute, HBO...). I picked back up in the third season, because it seems that maybe the creators listened to the (also largely female!) audience a little, and toned it down a good deal, although still not perfect, at all.
(Spoiler alert, if anyone that watches hasn't seen season three)
The Red Wedding is an event at the end of the season where this one whole family basically gets exterminated. One thing (which was actually not even in the book, therefore all the more puzzling as to why they felt they needed to include a graphic scene portraying it) is where the pregnant wife of one of the sons in the family gets stabbed in her pregnant belly; the mom also gets her head cut off in a pretty gruesome manner; they show it all fairly graphically. So the question here is, they can show a PREGNANT WOMAN GETTING STABBED TO DEATH IN THE STOMACH, but an erect, or even a non-erect penis, is out of the fucking question- THAT is what is TOO SHOCKING?? WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!
[Worth mentioning though, there have been a few naked (and gay!) scenes with men, but not to the extent that the women are naked. And the camera surely doesn't seem as fond of lingering over the penis as it does breasts or the vagina...smh It is a fucking man's world.]
Overall, I appreciate the plea for some more equality in the naked screen time in all tv shows. Yes, women being naked all the time and objectifying them is so incredibly problematic. But, is it going to stop sometime soon? If there was an absolute equality in the amount that women and men are naked on TV, what would that even be like? What effect could that have? Is that even possible?
What are peoples thoughts?
this little diddy adds to my thoughts http://www.upworthy.com/why-is-it-ok-to-show-women-being-tortured-on-screen-but-not-doing-this?c=mrp1
ReplyDeleteI like Game of Thrones. George RR Martin came up with a lot great woman characters but there is a lot of rape and violence towards women, especially in the show.
ReplyDeleteThe stabbing during The Red Wedding was sooo unnecessary but of course the real reason why the tv show has all this objectification and violence towards women, while barely any on men is because like most things in the media and the world, the shows target audience is a heterosexual white man.
Seeing a penis on TV or movies is so rare that when I see one it almost shocks me! Yet, when I see a boob it doesn't phase me at all. Maybe it's because penises are so ugly ;)
ReplyDeleteBut there is definitely something behind peoples' reactions to penises vs. breasts in the media. It's like men are too powerful or elite to be shown in such a vulnerable position.
My friend and I were just talking about this issue the other day. We both stand behind the more penis movement. I agree with Claudia that it doesn't seem that female nudity will simply disappear from television. But, even if it was an option, I don't know that I would agree with it. I know this is awfully hippy-dippy-liberal of me, but I don't see the problem with nudity if it isn't objectifying anyone. I think we need to better walk the line between sexualizing and objectifying women, and stigmatizations of sexuality and physicality (for example, I believe there are still restrictions in the media against showing women having an orgasm). I think a more equal depiction of male and female nudity is a step in this direction.
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ReplyDeleteHannah, I totally agree with the no problem with nudity, if no one is being objectified. Could that come from more male nudity then? Or is it a combination of the more male nudity and changing the way we show women. It seems that it would require a mix of the two.
ReplyDeleteKristen, interesting perspective about the need to not be vulnerable.. I could definitely understand that.
And yes, Ebony! It is definitely worth mentioning that there are a lot of awesome women characters on the show! So so many, and alot of whom are powerful and smart, and their presence redeems the show for me. But, I can't help but be upset that most of them have had to get naked on the screen. Now, objectification? I guess not all of them are objectified...but I will stand by my argument that the large majority of the nudity is sexual objectification. And while the violence does target males and females alike, I can't stand the connections they've made in the past between sexualizing the violence of women. Man, I could go on about this...