what a woman don't want

I chose to critique a Dolce and Gabbana ad that I found online. Dolce and Gabbana is a popular Italian fashion line, amongst many other prominent names like Gucci and Dior. When the ad was first published in 2007, it received a great deal of attention from the public because of the so called “rape” scene that was depicted. The ad generates heated controversies throughout Europe and was soon banned.

This ad is troubling because not only does it depict women as submissive and vulnerable, but it feeds into this idea that women are sexual beings who seek men to fulfill their quilt hidden desires (as is seen here from the arching of her hips, a sign that to some may seem like resistance, but to others, an invitation). At a glance, anyone in their rightful mind can tell what this ad is saying or what message it is trying to convey. The products that the company is trying to sell (whatever it is) is hinder invisible to the audiences and the only message left for one to embrace is as evident as the scene itself, that being, violence against women. It doesn’t take a smart person or a hardcore feminist to find this add offensive or overtly over the top.

We can see here that the woman’s role is minimal. She’s used like a prop for the men to look at and play with. Parallel to the idea that a man need multiple women to satisfy his desires, the woman here is shown wanting to be dominated by four men. However, instead of making her powerful by being the sexual attention of these men’s desire, she is made to look small and weak with them hovering over her slender body. One of them is pinning her down to the floor by the wrist as the other three look on, each anticipating their turns.

When we have images like this everywhere, it’s no wonder the objectification and dehumanization of women’s bodies have only been perpetuated. Ads like this appeared in fashion magazines where the majority of the consumers are teenage girls and women who are taught from a very young age that they must use their sexuality to serve men, even if it means giving up their own humanity. Think about how this ad is speaking to these girls and what it’s telling them about our culture. When a girl looks at this ad, not only is she going to think, “Hey, I like her heels!” but she’s going to endorse the idea that it’s ok to be raped, because being rape is sexy, especially by multiple men. By embracing such idea, women have taken on the so called “male gaze” where they are forced to see the world through a patriarchal male dominating lens. Last semester, I read a book about pornography whose author strongly believed we live in a rape culture that has been exploited by pornography. Meanwhile, although I disagree with him, I believe his arguments give insights to how the system of violence against women has been constructed, maintained, and perpetuated.