And while we’re at it…
Another theme re-emerged among the safer sex ads that Julie C. pointed us to: the use of insects arachnids and reptiles to symbolize sexually transmitted infectiousness (you might have already seen a preview here).
After the jump, partly because of the creepiness factor:
These next two are supposedly “safe” because they’re… I don’t even know… but they’re supposed to be condom ads:
The social construction of animals (spiders = evil)? The social construction of body parts (the penis = a snake)? I don’t know. I just think the trend is interesting.
Comments 11
SociologicalMe — June 18, 2009
The ones with their mouths sewn shut remind me of PSAs against FGM. The concept doesn't translate to safe sex for me, at all. The rest are creeptastic. Also it seems to me that all of these ads are directed at women- look how scary and bad penises can be, you'd better protect yourself. Not that I think we need a vagina dentata co-campaign, but I still dislike all the responsibility being put on women. In the long run it's probably no great thing for men to have their bodies/body parts constructed as dangerous animals, either.
yikes — June 18, 2009
What a world!
Miriam — June 18, 2009
I could have gone without seeing those...
I'm also struck by how men/male genitalia are demonized in these ads.
Bug Girl — June 18, 2009
There were some similar ads from this same group a year or two ago:
http://membracid.wordpress.com/2007/12/28/arthropods-sex-and-hiv/
Also, um.
A spider is not an insect. Just so you know :)
Bug Girl — June 18, 2009
hmm, looks like link broken--try this one for the photos of the ads:
http://tusb.stanford.edu/2007/04/hivaids_awareness_ads_youll_re.html
Titanis walleri — June 18, 2009
"The social construction of body parts (the penis = a snake)?"
iirc, that one, at least, is a very old concept in human cultures...
Lisa Wade, PhD — June 18, 2009
Ha! Thanks Bug Girl. Fixed.
Kitty — June 18, 2009
the 2nd one seems to be a play on Vagina dentata
Rhiannon — June 19, 2009
quote: “The social construction of body parts (the penis = a snake)?”
Titanis walleri, that's what I came to say - that we've had the term 'trouser snake' for a long time.
thewhatifgirl — June 19, 2009
Miriam, I think men and women's genitalia are constructed as bad in these pictures. In fact, the first one, with it's prettiness and rosy haze marred only by the spider, seems to suggest that women's genitalia are not only dangerous but deceptive. The same could be said of the picture of the man with a snake in his underwear, though it's not quite as light colored and pretty.
The play on light and dark is very interesting to me as well. Do dark-skinned people not need to use condoms, or is it just that they are already such snakes and spiders (in other words, already all infected and out to get pale people with their nasty, bestial infections)?
Anonymous — July 27, 2009
Sad! They also demonize people with STIs, etc., as sneaky and venomous, as though they're trying to harm others when most are simply unaware they're infected.