And besides, a drunk woman, was she forced to drink? Couldn’t a young (fashiony, it seems) woman to be in control of her own acts, like for example, when she hits the bar and wants to drink more than usual? Or was she brainwashed?

And, women who drink or/and do drougs, it totally turns her libido off, right, so she couldn’t feel like wanting sex with her boy or even with a one night stand?

So, then, when women drink and have sex, were they hypnotized to do so?

I did enjoy reading this discussion. Lots of smart points here, for those who were able to tolerate a little jargon drift.

Context matters. The readings on this thread are very U.S.American, but that may be the wrong frame. She looks typically Euro-fashionista to me, that is, filled with worldly ennui, sophisticated unto collapse. He’s her boytoy (younger, callow, a little anxious) and caddy when she can’t be bothered to hold up her own purse.

Could be, could be not. Jamal’s right – without more to go on these extra-textual readings are just readings-in of whatever garbage we happen to have floating around our own heads.

Context matters. The readings on this thread are very U.S.American, but that may be the wrong frame. She looks typically Euro-fashionista to me, that is, filled with worldly ennui, sophisticated unto collapse. He’s her boytoy (younger, callow, a little anxious) and caddy when she can’t be bothered to hold up her own purse.

Could be, could be not. Jamal’s right – without more to go on these extra-textual readings are just readings-in of whatever garbage we happen to have floating around our own heads.

1. I think that the image in question is an incredibly poor example of “the construction of masculinity.” Frankly, the reading seems far fetched and, in fact, “constructed.”

2. The pretension among gender scholars throughout the humanities/social sciences is a consistent hindrance to their work. I too have found that social thought undid many of my preconceptions, yet, the “in-club” factor is quite odd. Whether it is Derrida or New Haven Country Clubs, the end result is always alienation at the expense of the one in the pulpit.

(Disclaimer: My background is in economic/poli soci, not gender.)

3. If this is a public sociology blog, as I assume all sociology blogs are, the use of “discipline specific” references should be reprimanded, as this is just plain nonsense. This is not (thank God) AJS; the need to declare one’s creditentals in this regard is just silly. The brevity of the original post assumes a particular audience, one that will simply nod nod along with certain readings. The flame war will helpfully get the bloggers to work a little harder.

People who hyper-conform to and choose to embody certain mainstream masculine gender expectations (i.e. the ones that are visually represented in this ad) are indeed those who rape, no matter what their biological sex.

The point should not be to condemn or indict masculinity itself, but rather to illuminate how media images reflect and perpetuate certain harmful permutations of masculinity and femininity, thus creating a society gendered in such a way as to be conducive to rape, to blame the victims of rape, and often to excuse or fail to recognize rape. If you think we don’t live in a “rape culture” then check out the statistics: 1 in 33 men and 1 in 6 women have experienced an attempted or completed rape. Who and what is at fault here? Our social constructs of gender and those who embody, perpetuate, defend, or fail to question them!

http://www.rainn.org/statistics
http://www2.ucsc.edu/rape-prevention/statistics.html

I think there is something to the suggesions you have put forward. Maybe the picture is a step too far, although it is most definitely representative of male dominance of females.

I think the most important thing to point out here is that in describing rapists as ‘hyper-conformist’, you have still marked them out as abnormal. When you look around at the world, there are many, many examples of these social scales where one degree of belief can be significantly more abhorrent than another. For example, many liberal and progressive people still hold onto a strong level of nationalism. Taken to a more extreme degree, you have places like the highlands in the North of Vietnam, where some ethnic groups are not recognised as citizens and subsequently their economies are bare and crime rife. Take nationalism another step further, to the point where others should be exterminated, and you are looking at Hitler’s Germany.

Nationalism is not a desirable trait in humans, because it leads to division, inefficiency and most of all, suffering. In exactly the same way, there are varying degrees to which adherence to gender socialisations impacts upon us. In this ‘ultimate’ male-domination scenario, then rape is normal, but it *is* an extreme and the vast majority of society, at least in Britain, is thankfully not populated by men that think rape is OK.

It is of course, not the case the that Britain’s men are devoid of gender stereotyping. While I shy away from violence, both physical and otherwise, I *have* to recognise that if I was under attack from a woman, I would not hit back, whereas if a man were to pick a fight with me, I would be *far* more likely to retaliate in kind. Likewise, I have an almost ‘pricking up of ears’ when I hear that a woman has taken a job as a builder or something.

Nobody is perfect in every way, and quite a lot of men *and* women are mentally and emotionally bound by their preconceptions, social fears and lack of good role models. As a result of meeting and talking to people who have a more advanced outlook on these things, you can make headway. It is never an immediate change though.

In conclusion, although this article makes some good points about gender politics and the terror of extremity, it is rather alarmist and indicates something which is against the trend in (just about) most of the world.