"She Makes Fitness Look Lke Fashion"
 

I read this in the Times this morning and was just wondering what people thought. It's a profile of a butch executive for Equinox.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/30/fa...-up-close.html

I had the same reaction. I used to buy the "it's different when a butch does it" cultural justification for behavior that demeans women, but I'm over that. I wouldn't trust this person.

She does look a lot like KD Lang. Other than that she just seems gross. To say I am a pig and ogle after women is just as sexist as any man doing it.

I think the subtext is about "meat."

And it promotes the idea that the purpose of women getting hot for each other is to arouse men.

I still feel icky, when I get the "can I watch?" response, when straight men learn I'm gay.

The culture of male role models supporting this ad is abundant.

I love butches who look beyond that, and create something that is truly their own.

Example: Butch "A" made a demeaning blond joke around me at the Center in NYC once, and Butch "B" said to her, That's not okay.

I didn't need rescuing, but it felt good to have support.

Butch "B" wasn't emulating a stereotype. Butch "B" got my attention.

Wow. Where to begin? She's certainly an asshole, and she probably has a drinking problem. She obviously gets plenty of positive reinforcement for her irritating behaviours, so she has no reason to behave differently. I'm actually grateful for the photo so I won't even bother oggling her if/when I see her around town.

I oggle women. ALL the time. I oggle beautiful/handsome women of every age, size, race, and gender presentation. It's partly because I'm a sculptor, but it's mostly for the same reasons that the abovementioned asshole oggles them. I love to look at women. ESPECIALLY handsome butch women. I will oggle them more blatantly than I oggle feminine women because that's where the heat is for me. Why is that bad?

I'm really glad you responded, Cheryl, I always appreciate your honesty and smarts.

I've been thinking about that second part, too. The "ogle" part. I "ogle" too, in my way. But something about bragging to an observer, "I'm a pig," after ogling, seems, I don't know. Different. But different is okay. I have to think about this and I have to go out to dinner now. I will check back later!!

She's ogling after a woman who is a waitress (working at her job) who is dressed in a certain way which seems to be for the entertainment of the clientele, then tops it off by saying I'm a pig. To me that's gross.

yeah, what Bulldog said.

It's the power thing, the aping of a straight male who wants to make sure his buddies knows he has a penis and knows where to insert it.

I work in a sexist environment the likes of which I haven't had to deal with in a long long time. I worked in literacy and social justice settings for 15 years but now I'm in it for the nice (-ish) salary and the pension and perks and pleasant easy fun work. But it's a trade off. I am on guard an awful lot and while I am admired and liked, I also have to protect myself.

Don't want to go into specifics, not sure why I went there.

To me, there's a way to acknowledge that a woman is beautiful or handsome in a way that is safe and affirming. We do it all the time on this forum, and it feels good to the recipient to be appreciated. It's consenting, and it's welcomed. Gads, is it welcome!

But then there's leering, blatantly sexual. Don't get me wrong, in some contexts (such as with your partner and when it's consensual and even mutual), that's great! I've been there ;). This, however, was just objectifying.

There's nothing about being a lesbian that makes you automatically woman-loving and appreciating. That incident with the waitress was just Porky's with a vagina.

Gross.

Anyone who refers to themselves as a "pig" gets no attention in my world.

She's a frat boy butch, just with a better bank account than say, most of the ones I know but less of the manners.

~SAB

I didn't read the article till after I read all your comments, which were fun to read.

So I reacted differently. She didn't seem so bad. Sort of a typical creative marketing type. There's some there there, and the rest is her responding to the whatever part of society she takes the pulse of.

The ad is unethical if it does promote body dysmorphia. It makes sense that it would. Wouldn't that cause people to run to a gym? And the sex scene is something that would appeal to a lot of young women and gay men, I imagine, in the 50 Shades of Gray soft-core sense. I haven't seen it, but I "get" it. People want to not feel bad about their bodies, and a lot of them want a hot boy to pin them to the ground. AND they think of themselves as smart and bookish or whatever. Not deep. Contrived even though I bet it works.

That she thinks she is succeeding on her own terms is sort of silly. But that would be true of thousands of creative types selling themselves to corporations.

Doesn't she seem like a character in a lesbian romance novel?

LOL "Porky's with a vagina"!

This is after she talks about the new girl she is madly in love with..... awesome.

LOL! Lucky gal...