tdaxp points out this article from The Economist, on a university study finding sexism in its choice of photographs:
In a newly fashionable effort to quantify claims about how power is transmitted through words and images, Yana van der Meulen Rodgers and JingYing Zhang, of the College of William & Mary in Virginia, have analysed The Economist's photographs.Honest, honey -- I just read it for the interviews.
Their paper, “A Content Analysis of Sex Bias in International News Magazines”, asks, first, how often are women portrayed compared with men? Second, how often are men and women depicted in a sexual way? For answers, they looked at all the issues of five news magazines, including The Economist...
All the magazines studied contained an over-representation of women depicted in sexual ways. But The Economist, apparently, had more frontal nudity in its photographs than all the other magazines combined. When it came to “partial breast exposure", it was at the top of the league.
NOTE:
The link at tdaxp goes to The Economist's subscriber-only site. I've linked to a free version.
10 comments:
The economist is hot stuff. I always spill my seed by the time I get to talks about third quarter profit forecasts.. Every other economic magazine out there has to resort to cheaper gimmicks, like discussing fiscal responsibility, before I even get hard.
Posted by A. Greenspan
Am I so horny because I read the Economist? or do I read the Economist because I'm so horny? Now, there's a conundrum! I should mail that one in to The Economist and see what they think!
Posted by Lord Smartingford of Braintonshire
Their issue reviewing the problems with corporate mergers had a picture of two camels humping on the front cover. Who says economists can't have a sense of humor?
Posted by Nobody
Coincidentally, I've just read the issue following this and I especially liked a letter which read (I paraphrase):
Dear Sir,
Re: your article on nudity. As a recent subscriber, I feel cheated.
Yours, etc
Posted by Fluoronaut
they should also have included the category of which sex gets paid more. if power and money are one in the same, then in that context, women actually have more power in that profession.
Posted by matt
I love how in order to prove their politically correct point they completely remove any consideration for free will in the women being "portrayed" that way. I don't know if they've noticed, but a hell of a lot of women LIKE looking sexy. What's the farking problem here, you psycho utopians?
Posted by boy
Yes. Some might LIKE looking sexy. But do the models choose which photos go to press? Or is that the editors job? The point is, it makes women sexual object; though the models might like looking sexy, it promotes the idea that their only purpose is TO look sexy. The researchers aren't that these women were forced, against their will, to pose in these sexual ways - they're simply saying that its sexist to have a gross misrepresentation of women in only "sexy" portrayals. Think about things before you talk next time, ok?
Posted by Smarter Boy
"it promotes the idea that their only purpose is TO look sexy" - Smarter Boy
You have to think that in order to make it that way. If you didn't think that way there wouldn't be a problem. This is much like the way diversity is championed, but the second we notice someone is a different color than white, then we are wrong. FUCK YOU AND YOUR PC FRIENDS!!
Posted by Smarterest Boy
Boys, boys, boys. The most important debate here is whether sexy pictures of men or women are even worth debating in the first place. So much time and effort is spent worrying about the natural image of the human body. Remember the Janet Jackson fiasco? All over a breast! Hello, it's just a BREAST! At the same time, we allow teenagers to play ultra-violent video games, and watch "reality TV" shows that glorify lying, cheating, stealing, and selling your dignity. Where are our priorities?!?
Posted by Stevie T
I agree with everyone who said this shouldn't even be an issue. Make this an issue when all the other problems in the world have been solved, like poverty, like illiteracy, AIDs epidemic, hunger, cancer, stupid politicians (GWB, looking straight at ya...voted for Kerry), etc. Who cares if women are portrayed "sexy" or not sexy more often than men? There are male models too, and guess what, they don't choose their own pics either, AND they get a hell of a lot less money than do females. Yes, you get a pic of a naked woman breast feeding the kid in public now and then... big deal... if men breastfed kids, you'd see that too. You also see tons of pics of starved naked African boys with bloated stomachs and little willies. Are you gonna bitch and whine that the "Africans people" are portrayed as the poorest nations in the world? Because they ARE... so get over nudity and women... go on to solve more important world problems.
Posted by Dima
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