Just ignore the dirty old French men

Translates to: "I'm going into a meeting."  Huh.  Not the best double entendre ever.

Les Infideles (The Players) is an upcoming set of short films about men cheating on their wives.  It has caused a bit of a stir because it stars Jean Dujardin, who is nominated for a best actor Oscar, and because the posters are crass and demeaning to women.

The French government has requested that these movie posters be removed from display in Paris because they depict women as sexual objects.  The head of the Autorité de Régulation Professionnelle de la Publicité said that the ads "...depict women in a way that damages their dignity... [the ads] present a degrading image of women, because in both cases you do not see the woman's face. This is certainly presenting an image of women as objects, in this case sexual objects."


Here are two more ads from the series:

Allegedly this translates to: “Honey, I’m going to get cut off, I’m going inside a tunnel”  Again, the sex jokes could use some work.  

I get it. The ads are offensive.  I would not be happy about my kids seeing them around the city.   Yet, I don't know.  I can't quite get fired up about this one.   Sadly, they are not really that far outside of what is considered mainstream.    This has a bit of the "manufactured controversy" air about it to me, as if they came up with cheeky ads featuring their Oscar-hunk in the hopes of stirring the pot.   I dunno.  My reaction to all of this is:  "Meh.  If you pay attention to it, you'll only reinforce it."

What do you think?

Black is beautiful, right?

Here is a promotional photo for Beyonce's 2011 album, 4.  Yes, that is Beyonce.  She is barely recognizable.  As a White woman, I definitely don't feel like I fully understand the politics of skin color among Black women.  That being said, this picture makes me feel uncomfortable.   I can't help but imagine what little girls see when they see this picture.  Beyonce is in such a tremendous position of power to buck narrow, repressive ideas of what is beautiful.  She does that sometimes.  This is not one of those times.  What do you think?


As an aside, what the hell is up with that giant lump on the couch under her back?