Beyond the 'Sexualization of Culture' Thesis: An Intersectional Analysis of 'Sixpacks', 'Midriffs' and 'Hot Lesbians' in Advertising
Beyond the 'Sexualization of Culture' Thesis: An Intersectional Analysis of 'Sixpacks', 'Midriffs' and 'Hot Lesbians' in Advertising
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DOI：
10.1177/1363460708100916
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发表时间：
2009-04-01
期刊：
影响因子：
1.5
通讯作者：
Gill, Rosalind
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Gill, Rosalind
本文认为，“文化性化”的概念过于笼统，无法成为有用的概念工具。该条有两个主要目标。首先，它试图询问的概念，“性化”作为一种理解的方式扩散的性明确的图像在当代广告。它不是采取“赞成”或“反对"”性化“的立场（以熟悉的方式），而是试图打开这一概念，以探讨通常在这一标题下归类的各种做法。以广告为例，它认为“性化”远非单一或同质的过程，不同的人以不同的方式和不同的意义“性化”-事实上，许多人仍然被排除在视觉文化中所谓的“欲望民主化”之外。其次，本文发展了一个女权主义的交叉分析，批判性地阅读一些不同的方式，广告可能会说是性化。它着眼于当代广告中三种不同的、对比鲜明的、但很容易识别的“人物”：好看的男性“六块腹肌”、性行为主体的异性恋“腹部”和“火辣的女同性恋”，通常与她美丽的替身或其他人交织在一起。其目的是强调，性化并没有在性别化、激进化和分类的过程之外运作，而是在一个仍然存在深刻的年龄歧视和异性恋规范的视觉经济中运作。本文认为，关注差异是至关重要的理解的现象，做法和范围内的制度，往往被混为一谈的标题下“文化的平等”。
This article argues that the notion of the 'sexualization of culture' is too general to be a useful conceptual tool. The article has two main objectives. First, it seeks to interrogate the notion of 'sexualization' as a way of understanding the proliferation of sexually explicit imagery within contemporary advertising. Rather than taking up a position 'for' or 'against' 'sexualization' ( in the familiar way), it seeks to open up the notion in order to explore the diverse practices that are commonly grouped together under this heading. Using advertising as an example, it argues that 'sexualization' is far from being a singular or homogenous process, that different people are 'sexualized' in different ways and with different meanings - and indeed that many remain excluded from what has been called the 'democratization of desire' operating in visual culture. Secondly, the article develops a feminist intersectional analysis to critically read some of the different ways in which advertising might be said to be sexualized. It looks at three different and contrasting, but easily recognizable 'figures' within contemporary advertising: the good-looking male 'sixpack', the sexually agentic heterosexual 'midriff' and the 'hot lesbian', usually intertwined with her beautiful double or Other. The aim is to highlight the point that sexualization does not operate outside of processes of gendering, radicalization and classing, and works within a visual economy that remains profoundly ageist and heteronormative. The article argues that an attention to differences is crucial to understanding the phenomena, practices and scopic regimes that are often lumped together under the heading 'equalization of culture'.