Let's Talk About Sex Baby

               This week’s reading from, Gendered Media, was centered on sex. As much as Ross tried to give the benefit of the doubt and represent all sides of the story, it was pretty clear Ross was already decided on the topics of pornography and women in the media. As a matter of fact, Ross is pretty much on a soapbox the entire time. Don’t get me wrong, what she has to say is important and I agree with the a lot of her statements, I’m just making an observation. It’s tough to write in this field especially when you feel as passionately as Ross. I’m not sure this text would have been as effective if it would have been written as dry as the Ott and Mack text, it just kind of seems to drag on sometimes. Well enough of my soapbox, back to the blog… Sex, you knew it was coming…In chapter 3, pornography is the main topic. Ross discusses the history and the primary argument that surrounds this billion dollar industry. She mentions that the turning point in “sexy media” came when these graphic depictions of erotic females caused individuals in Britain to question their morals and roles in society. Ross then moves into her conversation of fantasy versus non-fiction to support the use or dismissal of pornography. One thing that I started to think about when “they” couldn’t come to a consensus was that this situation of censorship is similar to the argument of how to classify violence in the Ott and Mack text. This notion of sex has various modes as explained by Ross’ example of Marilyn Monroe just like violence can’t be categorized in one static compartment. The image of fully naked woman in Scarface is a part of classic film making but the image of a fully naked woman in Playboy is erotic. It was interesting to me that Ross did not explore multiple combinations of reasons for participations other than (implied dominance or violence) such as sex for education (i.e. how to please your partner or something along that line) for example rather than simply highlighting empowering functions of “sexy media” for women. Like I said I’m not against what she said at by any means, I guess I wanted her to be more balanced but then again there’s probably a separate book just on this topic alone.

               In chapter 4, Ross talks about women in the media and politics. This argument of sex is not as provocative as before, well not in the same sense at least. This discussion is the classic conversation of how woman are not males equals no matter how hard we work. We are always reduced to our sex, or gender. The primary argument used in this instance is the nurturer versus the bulldog versus the object. The media push women into one of these three roles and rarely do they embody multiple functions. If by chance a female does receive the chance to be in a position of power, she is hyper-scrutinized.