General Discussion
Showing Original Post only (View all)DU should be collectively ashamed that people here deny that objectification of women is a problem. [View all]
On a supposedly progressive message board. It's ridiculous.
Do people really think that David Beckham appearing on billboards in his underwear proves that men and women are equally treated as sex objects by society? Do people really think that taking issue with the objectification of women is somehow calling for a puritanical/Taliban society where we can't listen to Beatles songs? Do people really not think that far too much value is placed on a woman's appearance? Or that it's all OK and unavoidable "because of evolution"?
BTW, I don't really consider myself a feminist, and in fact, I've been on the "other side" of some gender arguments here. For example, I don't think that the thread about how being a straight white male is like playing the video game of life on the easiest setting is very helpful (full disclosure, I'm a straight white male). Not because it isn't true -- it is -- but because language is important, and that particular choice of words carries with it the implication that life is "easy" for straight white males, which may rub SWMs who have faced difficulties in their lives (pretty much everyone) the wrong way. Better would be to say that being a woman, minority, LGBT carries an extra set of difficulties that straight white males don't face.
But whatever beef I may have with things like that totally pales in comparison to the fact that, apparently, a lot of DUers truly don't think that women being objectified is a problem in our society. Somehow this is controversial. Somehow the appropriateness of posting pictures of bikini models on a progressive political discussion board is debatable.
Seriously DU, it's embarrassing.