Eye of the Beholder

[qos]

I've been thinking a lot about my own reaction to the statue I posted about last night. The fact is, I have plenty of sexual images in my own collection -- including one small statue of a scantily dressed female pirate -- which many people would find as offensive (if not moreso) as the Mary Jane statue.

So what is is about *this* statue that bugs me? And what does the answer say about me? And why am I disgusted by bent-over MJ when I have far more explicit images that I enjoy?

I'm still working on good answers to these questions, but I intend to post about it when I do. There will be images involved, so it will be posted under my General Sexuality filter.

Just wanted everyone to know this topic is not yet closed for me.

Comments

[qos.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear what?

That I haven't forsworn all sexy images?

[southernselkie.livejournal.com]

No, that you were willing to think again about what some people find sexy as well as what you or I feel is sexy. I agree, the statement about women should be "yadda yadda..." was not cool, but the image itself may not be such a horror. I have to say, there are times that Sean has walked in when I've been bending over laundry or a load of dishes and he has made comments, and vice versa. Just a thought. You are just usually not so judgemental. It startled me. And, I have a friend who has a very similar statue because he finds it sexy, and he is a man who shows women all respect and honor.

[qos.livejournal.com]

I think that for me it's the reduction of a woman's character and meaning to a sexually-available menial. And -- and here is where I had to really start deconstructing my own response -- it's the hand-washing the costume combined with the fuck-me pose that pushes the image across my personal 'yuck' threshold.

Perhaps it's that the overall impact of the statue is to reduce a character who doesn't act this way in the comic to a caricatured bimbo that appeals to the lowest common denominator of the adolescent male crowd. They could have made a sexy MJ image that didn't (as athenian_abroad pointed out above) diminish her in this way.

I've had the same experience as you of having my partner come in and enjoy the view of me bent over doing chores. But I don't think either of us would like to have that pose captured, our clothing reduced to the bare minimum, and have that version of us published as the image of who we are.

[southernselkie.livejournal.com]

True. And that's a valid point. Again, I'm not saying you are wrong. I'm just saying I am glad to see you deconstructing and thinking about it. I think that remains important for both of us. And the point that there are images we both enjoy that other people would find grossly demeaning,(my current icon is an example) is a perspective to note. Again, I just like seeing the deconstruction and thinking about where things come from. Make sense?