Taylor sent in this ad, found at Blame It on the Voices:
It ran in Esquire in 1959 and our post on the emergence of Playboy Magazine may give the ad some interesting context.
Taylor sent in this ad, found at Blame It on the Voices:
It ran in Esquire in 1959 and our post on the emergence of Playboy Magazine may give the ad some interesting context.
Comments 14
Allie — May 13, 2009
WHAT??? This cannot be serious! Wow.
Elyse — May 13, 2009
Wow....
dreikin — May 14, 2009
There's an inobvious, or more likely unintentional, stereotype there as well: Men as stupid. Why? Because the guy holding the girl up by the rope would absolutely fall over the edge IRL. Doesn't matter how strong he is, either - unless his shoes are nailed into the ground, there's no way he could stand straight up with the rope so casually - and improperly - held, bearing a load much larger than a small kid and NOT tip over.
anna — May 14, 2009
i disagree with dreikin, it's probably more like a "men are strong because they can hold the weight of a woman with just one hand" kind of thing
anon — May 14, 2009
it's true. i was a total drag in the latest hiking trip i took with my husband and a friend of ours. our friend raced ahead and finished the hike 20 minutes before me. however, our friend is a woman and my husband was in the back breathing hard with me!
fwiw, i really like the sweater on the gentleman on the left. i'd wear that any day! the sweater on the righthand guy is a little too robin hood for me. oh well.
Julie — May 14, 2009
This was so timely as I unintentionally instigated a men vs women conversation the other day after I discovered that a majority of the blogs I read are written by men. It was gnarly. This image, however, is striking simply because 1959 was not that long ago. And even though we've come a long way in terms of equality, a large % of the population, both male and female, still probably follow these stereotypes, in a diluted fashion.
Village Idiot — May 14, 2009
Yeah, it sucks having women around when I'm in the great outdoors, and especially on a mountain. I'd MUCH rather spend my time outdoors with other men. When there's no women around it's easier to relax and admire each other's magnificent sweaters and playfully tease each other about the length of our knickerbockers. Unfortunately, at least one token female has to be dragged along with us lest anyone think we're gay (we're "playboys," goddamn it!).
pcwhite — May 14, 2009
holy crap. that's the baldest i've ever seen an instance of sexism.
just...holy CRAP.
Endor — May 15, 2009
"It ran in Esquire in 1959 "
And apparently, Esquire hasn't changed at all in 50 years.
Bagelsan — May 15, 2009
Yeah, it sucks having women around when I’m in the great outdoors, and especially on a mountain. I’d MUCH rather spend my time outdoors with other men.
I was gonna say! That's some pretty intense man-on-man eye contact, not to mention an astonishingly luke-warm appreciation of the ladies as well: "useful --even pleasant" is maybe not the first way I'd describe a group of people I'm (theoretically) sexually attracted to, is all I'm saying...
("Oh, it's a lonely life! Dressing. Undressing. Knitting exciting sweaters...")
Abby — May 16, 2009
OK, this is probably more appropriate for Literary Images (if there were such a blog - is there?), but has anyone else read Pale Fire by Nabokov? The guy on the right is exactly how I picture Kinbote (except with a beard). The disdain for women, the mountain climbing, the barely-disguised love for strapping young men... I swear, this ad is based on that character.
Tamara — February 21, 2011
Are those "bone buttons" made from women's bones?
Stop! This article on crass gender-based marketing is just for men | Arwa Mahdawi | — October 14, 2011
[...] the 1960s. The 50s and 60s being a time when it was culturally acceptable to say things like “men are better than women” and sell coffee with cheerful allusions to domestic violence. But attitudes have changed, [...]
Stop! This article on crass gender-based marketing is just for men | Arwa Mahdawi | aboutstockexchange.com — October 16, 2011
[...] the 1960s. The 50s and 60s being a time when it was culturally acceptable to say things like “men are better than women” and sell coffee with cheerful allusions to domestic violence. But attitudes have changed, [...]