Economists are quite concerned with the objectification of women and nonhuman animals. So many advertisements we see today on billboards, television and in media online are objectifying women and animals. Women and nonhuman animals are being consumed by the consumers, which are most often middle class white, men. Images are chosen carefully and with purpose to draw the attention of the consumers. A Adams says, “viewing other beings as consumable is a central aspect to our culture…viewing some individuals as consumable is so central to Western culture that most of us fail to notice it. (Kemmerer)” We often shrug off the fact that humans and animals are being degraded so obviously. This first image stood out to me for a few reasons. Here we see a cow, which would normally be a quite large animal, looking rather thin. This cow is in a seductive pose with her legs crossed and red lipstick. The part of this image that struck me the most was the tape measure wrapped around the cows waste. As we know from our societal standards, most men want women to look and act a certain way. Many women struggle with their body images as well and often feel they are not good enough for male consumers. The cow is clearly being sexualized by the way it is posing. As Adams mentions, “animals are assumed to want it like women. One can consume either a pig or a woman. One can exploit and destroy a calf or a woman.(Kemmerer)” We can assume that this was the intention of the creator of this image. It is a way to objectify women without being so upfront about it because they are using an image of a cow.
This next photo I choose can relate back to what I said about animals, “wanting” it like women. This sticker is most likely on the back of white man’s truck, the consumer. This sticker
is ironic and I am sure to some suppose to be comical. This bumper sticker is comparing a nonhuman animal, a deer, to a woman. Once again an animal is being sexualized. This sticker makes the wrongful assumption that women are always horny, that they want it. Assuming women are constantly “horny” can lead to violence and things such as rape or sexual assault.
In this photo instead of seeing a living cow posing in a feminine way with lipstick, we see a dead piece of meat with a belly shirt and a jean skirt. The quote at the bottom states, “it’s not acceptable to treat a woman like one.” I am not sure exactly what kind of animal this is coming from but we can assume it means do not treat a woman like a piece of meat. Yet the fact this raw piece of meat is dressed in womens clothing is quite disturbing to me. The process it took of butchering this animal and then dressing it up is objectifying both woman and nonhumans. When looking at this picture we could question why use a picture of raw meat? Adams answers this question herself, “It is as though through the use of raw meat there’s some sort of fantasy that one can experience life again as, “raw, fresh, and tasty. (Adams)” There seems to be some irony here saying giving positive connotations to the raw meat. Clearly seeing an image of raw meat may be alluring to consumers. Yet for the women, who are being consumed, and who are being compared to a piece of raw meat, they would not be flattered. Here we see, once again a nonhuman animal being sexualized wearing a belly shirt and skirt. “Animalizing women and feminizing animals helps in this process (cultural consuming) because it renders women and dead animals used as flesh as commodities.(Adams)”
I choose this picture of Pamela Anderson, where they break down her body parts into different portions. This photo is telling people to go vegetarian, yes this could be a positive thing, that would end the suffering of nonhuman animals. Yet this picture says clearly, “ALL ANIMALS, have the same parts.” This is animalizing women at its finest, saying all women are animals. Clearly we can see that men would be the main consumer here and the women being consumed. I chose this photo also because Adams is asked about a photo like this in her interview. She talks about PETA directly saying, “Everytime PETA uses a naked or nearly-naked woman to advertise anima;s’ concerns it not only benefits from sezual inequality, it also unwittingly demonstrates the intransigence of species inequality. (Adams)”
Citations-
Kemmerer L, “The Pornography of Meat by Carol Adams”, Philoshpy Now Issue 56
Potts, Annie, Adams, Carol “The Politics of Carol J Adams”
I liked the fact you brought up the ways in which women struggle with their body image on a regular basis. Our generation has been born into a time of technology, we have TVs, Social media, and Youtube. All of these platforms are continuously showing girls unattainable bodies, as well as, telling them how their bodies should look. With all the photoshop and airbrushing that occurs, it’s hard to differentiation between the fact and fiction sometimes. I like the quote you put at the end by Adams. It shows how men just few women are a piece of meat to be devoured. And the fact that all these advertisements are catered to men makes the ad even more insulting. As if we can’t or don’t eat meat, as though it is a taboo thing for women to want to eat meat. When I see the measuring tape, it makes me think of the way in which women feel they must watch their figure in order to be seen as “sexy.” For your picture of the cow dressed as a women, I had somewhat of the same thought process as you. I agreed with the idea that women shouldn’t be treated like me but was disturbed at the fact that the image they decided to choose was raw, butchered meat on a hook, in women’s clothing. It may come off as a positive ad but the image makes the idea behind it somewhat questionable. All in all, I liked your blog and enjoyed reading how in-depth you thought about each image.
Hi Allie, great post this week. You had some really great thoughts. I too chose the photo of the ‘sexy cow’ because there were many details in this photo to discuss, all very degrading. Like you first pointed out, a cow is usually a much larger animal than the one featured here. Men like their women small but their meat large, yet we are equally objectified, will we ever win? You briefly discuss the intentions of the creator of this photo, is to simply objectify women. This kind of baffles me, was someone just so bored and decided to sit down and draw, quite frankly a very repulsive image. I do wonder where Carol Adams found this photo. My guess is probably social media, where people hide their hate behind a keyboard. I liked the second photo you chose, and I can say with all confidence that it’s on the back of a white man’s truck. While I agree with your analysis of it, upon first glance it reminded me of our poaching problem. How animals are often killed for the sole purpose of their antlers, apparently they’re worth a lot of money. This aspect led me to think about what you mentioned about assuming a woman is always ‘honry’. This is just disrespectful and can as you said lead to more violent actions, rape, sexual assault, etc. The idea of selling an animal’s antlers for money could be compared and discussed in terms of men buying women off the street, as the exchange of money is involved in this form of objectification. This discussion reminded me of another one of Carol Adams’ photos, the picture in which a man is holding a woman’s leg and pretending to take a bite of it. In front of him is a big plate of various fried meats. Much like the next photo you chose, women and meat are seen to be one in the same, sick. As if comparing us to live animals wasn’t offensive enough, really we are just simply seen as meat. You started some great conversations this week, which is important if we ever want to prevent these offensive comparisons. Keep up the good work!!
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