Let me get up on the proverbial soapbox for a moment ;)

Now, as we all know, I am one for superficial things. I appreciate beauty, style, fashion, trends, and all the talented people who put such things together. I think that beauty and glamour are important in day to day life, to a point.

In real life, I don't really put on a full face of makeup unless I'm going somewhere special. I don't really get dressed up unless I have a reason to. I consider this attitude to be "normal". Unfortunately, as women/girls we are constantly reminded that we should be a picturesque thing of beauty at all times.

This topic is so redundant, I'm completely over it. I'm not a feminist, and I think that objectifying women is bad (although there are worse things). These are just my points of view. That being said, I want to share with you this screenshot from AskMen.com (taken 9/10/08):


Now, lets analyze this for a moment. Hmm... a scantily clad Mexican model (Daniela De Jesus Cosio) is "featured" as being worthy of attention... so we could say she is like the ideal girl for AskMen.com for the day. Now, to her left is the ideal male for AskMen.com for the day. Jack White.

Are we looking at the images here? The woman is completely objectified, posing in a sexy fashion while wearing a bikini... and the man is totally physically unappealing. What is this saying? It is okay for a guy to be unattractive if he is a supposed musical genius -- but in order for a woman to be "worthy of attention" she's gotta be sexed up eye candy?

Sounds like a good, old-fashioned double standard.

Now, I like looking at AskMen.com. I like reading their articles and seeing what guys have to say about certain women, etc. I'm not going to stop doing it. I'm not going to write them a complaint, because I know that this chauvinistic objectification is kind of what keeps their site running. However, I do think that it was a valid topic to point out. What do you think?