YetAnotherGirl sent us a link to a post at Jezebel about a sign MarketFair Mall, in New Jersey, put up (and then took down after criticism and a petition) to apologize for any inconvenience some remodeling might cause:
The sign does a couple of things. It normalizes the idea that the type of verbal harassment women often face when in public (see my post from a couple of years ago for a personal example) is, in fact, the natural outcome of how women look. Rather than feeling harassed, women should interpret such comments as the compliments they really are. Yes, yes, we can shake our heads and act annoyed, but isn’t it ultimately nice to know we look good?
The sign also reinforces a certain view of working-class masculinity, one in which working-class men are crude and lacking in basic civility, unable or unwilling to control how they express themselves, a fact that everyone else may find a bit irritating but should ultimately shrug off with a bit of a smile.
This view of working-class masculinity is reinforced in a Dutch commercial sent in by Sarah van B. The commercial is for Gamma, a chain of hardware stores in the Netherlands. In it, boys build houses out of Legos, displaying various stereotypes of rough, brutish masculinity: lack of middle-class manners (burping, nose-picking), uncontrolled bodies (belly hanging out, visible butt crack), and group harassment of women:
Sarah translates the call to the woman as “Where are those pretty little legs going?”
Such depictions normalize the harassment of women while also associating it with a general lack of sophistication, something that only the lower classes would engage in. They encourage the audience to laugh at the men who do so, finding humor in their brutish antics, but also reinforce the idea that women should just expect this type of behavior from the type of men who do manual labor.
Comments 76
myblackfriendsays — June 26, 2012
Ok, here is my (probably unpopular) opinion on this subject. I take issue with describing this behavior as harassment if 1) It occurs only once and/or 2) The person who is on the receiving end of the behavior never makes it clear that she does not like it. If someone whistles at you, and you ask them not to, and they continue to do it anyway, okay that's harrassment.
But if it is not clear one way or the other how you are going to respond to the behavior, it doesn't seem unreasonable that some men would assume that some women are going to respond positively to it...because some women do.
And if I am just being blinded by my own internalized sexism, I am open to someone explaining to me how and why that is the case (:
Alex Odell — June 26, 2012
I know that the product being Legos, it makes sense to use boys in the commercial, the main audience they're targeting. But imagine if it were a group of little girls, making flirtatious remarks at an attractive 20-something year old man. While young girls saying stuff that implies sexual interest would make the audience feel uncomfortable or aghast, when young boys do the same thing, it's humorous and no cause for concern. Kinda similar to how society sees the sexualization of little girls and boys in totally different ways, even though it's basically exploiting and harming a young kid, gender aside.
Leslee Bottomley Beldotti — June 26, 2012
I recently relayed the following story to my husband...
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While driving my car (a rare and exotic model) I pulled into a parking space in front of a coffee shop. Two young men were sitting outside at a table, visibly ogling the car as I drove up. When I stepped out of the car, one of them yelled at me, "What is a pretty little thing like YOU doing in a car like that?"
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At this point in the story my husband stopped me and said rather drolly, "I assume you disposed of their bodies properly, dear?"
HOLLA-worthy Link Round-Up | Boston Hollaback! — June 29, 2012
[...] Sociological Images takes on working class masculinity and it’s relationship with street harassment. [...]
[image] Working-class masculinity and street harassment | slendermeans — July 30, 2012
[...] here. [share]ShareEmailFacebookTwitterTumblrPinterestStumbleUponLike this:LikeBe the first to like this. [...]
Working-Class Beasts and Rape Culture — The Good Men Project — August 18, 2012
[...] This article provides an excellent example of how the Knight/Beast dichotomy plays into rape culture. [...]
waterboils — August 18, 2012
I just want to point out that street harassment is not always telling a woman "how good she looks"...it also includes when men on the street tell a woman "how bad/fat/ugly" she looks, which happens. It is all centered on the objectification of women and if one can slide, so can the other.
waterboils — August 18, 2012
This is less about the sexualization of children and more about normalizing objectification of sexuality, specifically the sexuality of women.
Working-class masculinity and street harassment [image] | feimineach — December 30, 2013
[…] [Read more: sociologicalimages] […]