My personal study: Women in soft porn menswear

This is a study, by me, of soft pornographic clothing by brands commonly found in retailers throughout Australia. All brands are stocked in stores in Australian shopping centres. The brands I selected include Two In The Shirt (T.I.T.S.), Unit, Hustler, Nena and Pasadena, Jetpilot, Og Abel, Roger David and 187. They are sold in City Beach Australia, Waves, Liquid Surf and Roger David, to name a few. This study was based on 50-60 shirts.

Note: This is a "study" I did myself, on shirts that were specifically chosen because of their soft porn images. They ranged from shirts featuring girls in bikinis to...well, worse. I wanted to explore the common themes or depictions of women on this disgusting yet tragically fashionable trend.

Also, I did not include pictures this time, so don't be afraid!

Each time I found a shirt that met one of the following criteria, I made a tally of it. I have listed the most common results first, going down to the less common.

DEPICTIONS OF WOMEN.

Decoration 30

Porn Stars 20

Punching Bags 5

Gold diggers 4

Angels 3

Bitches 2

These depictions were based on both slogans and images. By the term 'Decoration' I mean that the women had no real function other than being a near naked prop. For example, there were several shirts that featured women and cars. One of these involved a semi naked woman fixing a car, and another washing a car, but six of them were of a woman either sitting on or standing in front of the car- not doing anything but being there displaying their bodies.

FREQUENTLY USED PROPS.

Cars- Fixing 1, Washing 1, Decorative use 6

Alcohol, drinking 6 (limited to Wifey shirts)

Weapon (usually a gun, in one case a knife) 5

Bike (for riding or sitting on) 5

House duties 3

Bananas, eating 2

From this you may deduce that the activities women were shown to participate in were posing near cars or bikes, drinking, using guns, vacuuming and seductively eating bananas. I don't know about you girls, but I can't seem to stop myself posing near cars and eating bananas...

POSES/ IMAGES

"General" sexual references 13 (semi naked women, references to sex)

Sexual activity (lesbian activity, touching) 5

Sexual poses 5

Legs spread 4

Putting things in mouth 4

S&M 1

Violence 1

It is important to note that when I refer to "General sexual references" I only included shirts that were of a very sexual nature. Obviously, all the shirts I reviewed I considered to be of a sexual nature, but I did not include clothing with pictures of simply girls in bikinis- it had to be further down that road. Therefore, "Sexual poses" refers to overt sexual poses, not just pouting girls in bikinis.

USE OF MOUTH

Mouth covered 6 (including one instance of entire head being covered)

Putting something in mouth 4

Additional references to silence 3 (gags, shhh sign, bandannas, word silent, silence included in slogan)

It seems to be a theme in many of these soft porn shirts that women's mouths are actually covered, by bandannas, gags and other objects. The obvious interpretation to me, is that women and girls are being silenced. I find that a very disturbing notion, that through the medium of t-shirts, half of the population could be so marginalized.

BODY PARTS

Focus on one specific body part 5 (Mainly backside and breasts)

Eyes covered 1

I think that having the model's eyes covered, as well as many more images showing only the model's torso or hot body parts, leaving her head off the image, makes her just a body or an object, and makes it easier not to view her as a person.

RACE

Black women 2

Black women exposing backside 2

Black women featured not exposing their backside 0

Basically what I have seen here is that ONLY white caucasian women, who are also thin, beautiful and sexualised appear anywhere in these pictures, except for a few rare instances. These are, 1) T.I.T.S. brand Latina Wifey shirt, with a barely clothed Latin women, with her legs open, eating a banana in an alluring way, for lack of a better word. 2) and 3) are both black women, who are wearing g-strings, as the focus of the picture in both case is their backsides.

This means that there is no representation of black women anywhere, except when they expose their backsides. That is the only time black women are used.

After noting all of the above, I couldn't help feeling a little more concerned about the messages they send about women and the roles that they have, or that are expected of them. Whether ironing, playing cards or standing in front of a car, women are expected to be beautiful and resemble porn stars- but also remember their most important purpose is posing and eating sexy foods in a sexy way.

Who wears the pants?

So awhile back I was blogging about a book I have been reading, called The Depression Cure, which is about adopting a lifestyle that is conducive to health and well-being, through diet, activity etc. The author compares modern day living, in the age of sedentary lifestyles, convenience and instant gratification with the very different way of life of hunter gatherers from the past.

Despite having easier, more luxurious lives nowadays in some ways (at least physically), many people are struggling with depression. Before though, despite having physically demanding lives involving finding water, hunting for food and doing what is necessary to survive, depression was very rare, if not completely unheard of. Based on the authors' studies, this is still true today with the Amish, and other hunter-gatherer tribes who still live a simpler lifestyle.

Anyway, so getting back to the point, which isn't actually about depression today. This just got me thinking.

I was thinking about how in some ways, although there are medical, technological and other excellent advancements, humans were designed to live a different lifestyle to the one that many of us do. Compare being outside, getting some sunshine and searching and hunting for food to sitting in an office ALL DAY, and not going outside. Or else being with your family and friends always, as compared to lonely people, all isolated inside their houses, disconnected in reality but trying to socialise via facebook. (I bet there are plenty of Mums out there who know what I'm saying, righhht?) What I am saying is what you have most likely already come to- that in a lot of ways, the way we live life now is kind of backwards. We are inactive, isolated, eat an excess of junk food that is of no real use to us, and let's not get started on preservatives and additives and the way our food is grown...seeing as how it's a big subject on which my knowledge is very limited! Feel free to share though.

So this was my thinking: We were designed to live in a certain way and take on certain roles so we could function at optimum capacity.

I had an epiphany today. It was pretty simple I guess, but I was thinking of what qualities I found attractive in men. Now this might be just me, but I don't think so- I like masculinity. Strong, tough, manly men. And then it occurred to me- of course I do! It's simple biology. If I am a woman looking for a suitable mate, then surely I will be attracted to someone who I will be able to successfully reproduce and ensure the continuation of our species, one who exudes masculinity. Makes sense.

Now here's where it gets interesting. Gender roles in the 21st century are a lot more flexible. In a way, anyone can do whatever they want. Women have a lot more opportunities for careers outside the home, rather than being solely the nurturer. In building a career women often take on more "male" characteristics. We want our men to be more sensitive and understanding. (I'd probably settle for even listening when I talk but meh.) We want them to plan more romantic evenings of their own accord and consider our feelings all the time. Women are becoming more like men, and men are becoming more like women.

So what do you think about men and women? Is it good to evolve, or just natural? How do you think this impacts on relationships? Do you think this is liberating or inhibiting?

Discuss!