Another very interesting material from the last class for me were the different promotional spots by Roxy. Especially the Biarritz spot showed how much surfing has become dominated by commercial aspects. And it also shows that producers of such spots really still believe in the notion that sex sells best. That this damages the volatile gender roles in a very "body dominated" sport, is a bad side effect, if not even a really severe consequence.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Week 7: Bikini and Gender Perspective
Well, what have atombombs and popular beach clothing in common? The history of the Bikini as a popular choice for women to dress on the board and at the beach, should also remind the people of the history of the Bikini atoll. This was the site of US atombomb testing on the Marshall Islands between 1946 and 1958. The population of the atoll was evacuated by the US government, but everything the tests left behind on the island is now highly radioactively contaminated. I would really be interested in seeing some of the library offers on those tests, because its hard to believe that the complete population was just expulsed from the island. And I am still curious how beach clothing named after such a tragic site can still be selling so succesful.
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Dennis -
ReplyDeleteI highly recommend checking out those resources on the Bikini Islands in the library - they've only recently been declassified by the government and are very eye-opening. What are your thoughts, in terms of sex selling best, of those female athletes who embrace their sex appeal and use it to their full advantage? Are they hurting the overall cause of gender equality by being complicit in degrading ad campaigns, or are they simply making the most of their opportunities?
- Trey