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Underground > Art, Fashion & Design >

British Vogue...Friend or Foe???

  
  

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Olulabelle
13:09 / 07.06.07
Yes I think that excuses was the wrong word. I think I mean people make allowances for Vogue that they would not make for FHM. I don't think the do it knowingly or deliberately; as in the first example you give - the fact that the cover says Vogue makes people perceive a sexualised image differently to if they were looking at one on the cover of FHM. Perhaps it's that we expect FHM to be a sexy picture and are unsurprised by it when it appears. We are clear what it shows. But we expect Vogue to represent something iconic, maybe the highpoint of fashion, so when a sexy picture appears it is perceived as something different?
 
 
Tryphena Absent
14:58 / 08.06.07
The second picture is pretty obviously a photo of a woman beginning a striptease for an audience, she's lifting her top up. It implies that she is going to remove everything. That's the real difference in the two images and it's why one of them is more sexualised than the other. The self ownership question could go around in circles for days but the fact that one image is a porn reference and the other isn't is obvious.
 
 
Olulabelle
16:01 / 08.06.07
Ok I see that. She very clearly is about to start removing her clothes. But isn't it a clear porn reference only because we have this entrenched idea of what a porn reference looks like? It's stereoptypically porn. I think the other image is just as suggestive if you spend a few minutes think,ing about it. It just gets past the porn flag filters because it's not such a stereotypical image.

Oh, I think this is probably a totally different thread.
 
 
Tryphena Absent
13:38 / 10.06.07
isn't it a clear porn reference only because we have this entrenched idea of what a porn reference looks like? It's stereoptypically porn. I think the other image is just as suggestive if you spend a few minutes think,ing about it. It just gets past the porn flag filters because it's not such a stereotypical image.

I don't think it's as suggestive because that implies that all images of women wearing few clothes are equally as sexually suggestive if published on the cover of a magazine.

Firstly the cultural connotation, the clear reference to porn counts for a lot because we can't really separate images produced in our cultural climate from that climate. That one image is a reference to an industry that is aimed at heterosexual male sexuality is not a small thing that we can discount when analysing what we see.

Secondly I think that there's a lot of difference between an image that's primarily quite athletic, selling an item of clothing and presenting body language that is self protective and one that implies exposure for men. The recognition that the second is purely for the male gaze is not just cultural but also clear in the language of the photograph. It is an image created not simply for the pleasure of the viewer regardless of their gender and sexuality and that is important. This photo is meant only for straight men. I find the first cover sexier because it isn't as pornographic, it's not coming on to me, it's as much about the woman as about me getting off on her. The second image isn't really about the model, it's about het male sexual benefit and I don't appreciate her body as belonging to her because it doesn't, it belongs to a viewer in a niche market (soft porn).

I think that both covers are suggestive but I think that the context, the body language, the intention of the images differ and that makes the Vogue cover better from the point of view of sexist imagery. All images of the nude female body are suggestive to an extent, if you look at any number of paintings of Venus, at Raphael's paintings, then you can reach the same conclusion but there are degrees of suggestion that revolve around the targetting to a person's sexuality.
 
  

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