So a while back I ended up having to do a whole bunch of software installing. Windows, server software, etc. As that takes a lot of time I decided to see what internet videos had to offer. On the front page of Google Videos I found a link to this video: Killing Us Softly 3 Advertising's Image of Women".

(Hmm, can I get it to show up in the post somehow?) (Ah yes.)

I know that the presenter, Jean Kilbourne, is cherry-picking ads that show her point, which is that advertising can be sexist and harmful to a healthy treatment and view of women, both by men and by the women themselves. Still, seeing some of these advertisements was an eye-opener for me. A few were wide-eye-opening.

Just for fun I took a look through a magazine that I randomly received 3 copies of in the mail recently. (Probably from something I bought from Amazon.) After a quick perusal none of the advertisements there caught my eye, except for one. It was for some alcoholic drink. It had, as you might expect, hot girls in bathing suits at the beach. These were apparently from the 70s, or something, because they were more curvy than current models seem to be. One of the pictures had a guy with a girl slung over his shoulder. Another had a guy with a girl on each arm. The tag line was, "Your father didn't have to pour his own drink."

One thing that I thought of as I watched the video was this: Why do these models participate in making these advertisements? Do they not think they are harmful? Or do they think the ads are harmful, but still want to get their buck?

Well, I wonder how much of our attitudes are the expression of our nurtures, and how much is the expression of our natures -- of our genes, epigenes and such. As a general case, is it natural for men and women to treat and view women in these ways? Maybe. Maybe not. It is hard to separate out nature vs nurture. And you also have to deal with the issue of whether nurture is, itself, an expression of nature.

This reminds me of something a wise man once said: For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man....

Here's the video.