Comments on: “It’s All About Men”

By: Gendered Diet/Nutrition Marketing » Sociological Images

Gendered Diet/Nutrition Marketing » Sociological Images — Sat, 22 May 2010 00:47:34 +0000

[...] marketing Pepsi Max to men, men don’t diet — they get ‘er done!, German ads for Men’s Health, eat Special K so you’ll be hot, men are fat and happy but women are just fat, and Weight [...]

By: Gene

Gene — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:36:40 +0000

Cool and sexy picture!

By: Womenofwillendorf

Womenofwillendorf — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:30:59 +0000

Yeah these adds are sending a message I’m not very cool with, as a woman. I bust my ass Swimming, Running and Cycling. Do I do it for men though? Absolutely not. I do it for myself and the way it makes me feel. Yes, I feel exhausted at the end of a work out, but it’s a good exhaustion that I derive satisfaction from.
A more appropriate picture for a Men’s Health add would have been a sweaty dude enjoying his work out. On the other side, a good picture for a Womens’ Health add would be to have a sweaty chick enjoying her work out. These women do not have healthy muscle tone, are loaded with makeup and look just plain unhappy. These photos make it seem that we do it just for guys. Hell to the no. Personal happiness through workout is, in my opinion, the best goal for any person, regardless of gender, and not to impress the other gender.

By: hoshi

hoshi — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 11:05:32 +0000

those women look completely exhausted. i want to send them to soak in a hot tub and then get some sleep. :(

By: L. G.

L. G. — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:18:02 +0000

Ryan:
You’re missing the point. The point is women and men should have the agency to look however they want and not be shamed for it.

As to this particular ad:
I exercise and take care of my body for my own benefit, because I know how I want it to function. The problem with this ad is that is implies that women should be doing that for men, not for their own benefit. This is especially problematic because this dialogue of female submission of agency to the will of men has been one spanning, literally, millenia.

By: » Strut Shamer The Pursuit of Harpyness

» Strut Shamer The Pursuit of Harpyness — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:17:34 +0000

[...] their perceived selection power, using their superior physical strength to enforce the rules. From Socialogical Images comes this German advertisement for Men’s Health (reads “It’s all about [...]

By: Всичко е заради мъжете… | Даниела и Михаил

Всичко е заради мъжете… | Даниела и Михаил — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 06:38:04 +0000

[...] на немското издание на Men’s Health, разбуни духовете на феминистките. Наистина ли се сърдят или просто… истината звучи [...]

By: dreikin

dreikin — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 02:42:34 +0000

Her legs aren’t missing – she’s not sitting on the bike, she’s straddling the bar a bit forward of the seat. The perspective covers her legs up with her torso, arms, bike handles, etc., and the black-on-black bit doesn’t help, but they’re present. They may also appear a bit smaller than you’d expect due to the rather large foreshortening effect going on there, but not a photoshop disaster.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 01:48:46 +0000

I saw this over on Neatorama and thought that there might be something lost in translation. It doesn’t really make sense…who are they selling to?

I mean It’s a men’s fitness magazine, are they trying to say “yeah these girls are working hard for you”?

I think that there is a lot of bias on Soci Image comments when it comes to advertising that deals with “fitness”. I think fitness is important and being healthy is important. I don’t think that looking like a model or doing it all for the “men” is important…but I’ll be curious to see how many commenters on this post drag out the old “why are they telling us we have to work out to be valued”?

You don’t need to work out to be valued. But you should be interested in being healthy. Whatever that means to you…meaning excercising and eating healthy is important. It doesn’t mean you have to be skinny or “look healthy”. Oy, a big rant here that’s totally off topic.

Secondarily, you don’t often see women cyclists in advertising, it’s usually joggers, swimmers, or yoga types an interesting “fitness bias” perhaps.

By: T B

T B — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:56:21 +0000

With the pink camo, the women seem like silly ‘girly’ soldiers, I think –
which would be consistent with my claim about highly patriarchal militaries, given how women are included and yet marginalized in this pink play military.

By: T B

T B — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:53:34 +0000

Check out this fitness company -

“Booty camp” -
http://www.bootycampfitness.com/

It strikes me as doubly patriarchal -
in that I think the whole “booty” notion is very patriarchal, and I think the whole militarized discipline involved in this “booty camp” is very patriarchal

By: Parapluie

Parapluie — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:22:43 +0000

Yeah, I think that first image might be a good candidate for Photoshop disasters.

By: eallen

eallen — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:29:46 +0000

Where are the first woman’s legs?!

By: Sara

Sara — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:55:45 +0000

I think the idea is that women exercise for the sake of impressing men, so men should also exercise for themselves/to impress other men.

By: Cassie

Cassie — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:42:36 +0000

ok….i really really dont get it…read mens health – it makes women sweaty and tired? WTF?