American Apparel Ad Campaigns Dance With Porn
What’s a girl still peddling grrl-power shirts part-time to say? I called the feminist analyzers of pop culture over at Bitch magazine for advice. After all, they, too, use Dov’s blank undies and shirts for their line of merchandise.
But Andi Zeisler, the mag’s editorial and creative director, seemed just as confused as I was. “It’s a conundrum.” Especially since, as she says, “most of the [no-sweat] stuff out there is not very stylish.” But she concludes, “I cannot agree with [the owner’s] choice in imagery, I cannot agree with his claim that he’s slept with [some] of his employees and the fact that he’s masturbated in front of a Jane [Magazine] reporter. But at the same time, he’s being very honest, and I appreciate that more than I appreciate a lot of the designers out there who say their clothes can be worn by any woman and make them cost thousands of dollars and cut them up to a size 4.”
Former porn star turned PhD sexologist Annie Sprinkle goes one step further, saying the ads are actually refreshing – exciting even. “I like the sweat, the grit, the reality. He obviously appreciates female sexuality in all its glorious sleaziness. And I think you can worship female sexuality and also worship women in the workplace.” Adds the lecturing performance artist, “If you see sex as bad, dirty and ugly, then you’re going to see these ads as bad, dirty and ugly. These ads are kind of a mirror. In a way, they’re almost neutral.”
But not all observers are so supportive. Media Watch founder Ann Simonton says it might be time for a boycott. “This is beyond ‘sex sells.’ It goes to a level of humiliation.” In fact, she says the ads stem from the same branch of reality porn as “humilitainment,” the kind that stages drive-by gang rapes but tries to make them look real.
Y ahora supongo que yo, por ser var