gender

Here’s an Axe ad, sent in by Krystal-Lynn M., the idea being that if you use Axe, women will perform oral sex on you in the bathtub:

NEW: p.j. sent us this ad for Lynx, another name that Axe is marketed under in some countries:

NEW! (Mar. ’10): Katrin sent in this video about the LynxJet marketing campaign, which plays on the idea of the sexy airline stewardess who is sexually available and eager to please her male partner:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QjcUf5pG3k[/youtube]

Gwen Sharp is an associate professor of sociology at Nevada State College. You can follow her on Twitter at @gwensharpnv.

In this ad for Bud Lite, we see a reversal of the usual gender pattern–in this case, a woman has x-ray vision and uses it to imagine what men look like under their clothes. When a chubby man appears and she sees his body under his clothes, she’s disgusted and looks away:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOEMI8HRhlA[/youtube]

An interesting example of men’s bodies under scrutiny.

Gwen Sharp is an associate professor of sociology at Nevada State College. You can follow her on Twitter at @gwensharpnv.

Kate N. pointed us towards this article in the New York Times today discussing 25 years of Marines recruitment aimed at women. Below is the content of their slide show.

1974:

1976:
1978:
1980:
1984:
1988:
1995:
1995:
2000:
2000:

The article says that the Marines have only recently began a concerted attempt to recruit women. Does anyone have any information about the shift in the racial targeting? Or is that just an artifact of the slide show?

Thanks so much for the tip, Kate!

Also in military recruitment: which military would you join?, the homefront, and war as entertainment.

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CBS Sunday Morning had a segment on the new-ish phenomenon of “Maid Cafés.” I gathered from the report that they are most popular in areas of Japan where there are a lot of (male) “geeks.” Here’s a description from a Boston.com article on these restaurants:

“Welcome home, Master,” says the maid as she bows deeply, hands clasped in front of a starched pinafore worn over a short pink dress.

This maid serves not some aristocrat but a string of pop-culture-mad customers at a “Maid Cafe” in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, long known as a Mecca for electronics buffs but now also the center of the capital’s “nerd culture.”

“When they address you as ‘Master’, the feeling you get is like a high,” says Koji Abei, a 20-year-old student having coffee with a friend at the Royal Milk Cafe and Aromacare.

Here’s a wikipedia description— discussing how these cafés pull various cultural practices– Japanese manga, anime, Japanese geishas, and French (or English) maids. Apparently, there are now Maid Cafés in Canada and Hong Kong (the one in Hong Kong is called the “Master-and-maid café”). Here are some videos as well– from the U.S. news, and from Japanese news (sorry it isn’t translated). These might make for an interesting discussion on culture, globalization, and gender.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjNGX-jQS94[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0JmfyP4KPs[/youtube]

This ad for Star Wars on Spike TV suggests that Darth Vader turned evil because he was called a girl’s name as a kid. After all, what could be more insulting than that? (His name, before he was Darth Vader, was Anakin Skywalker.)

Thanks Craig S.! Craig saw the ad in the New York City subway.

Also in men must avoid femininity at all costs: eat like a man, I have to act so masculine, denigration with feminity, and my wife makes more money (the shame).

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NEW: Here’s a Noxzema ad that plays on the same idea–that women actually like being harassed:

Sent to us by Laura L., who found it at the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center website.