Maxim: How to Cure a Feminist

The answer appears to be, wait for it . . . drive a Camaro and that will make her strip down to her sexy red underwear because Camaros make her "so hot." The World According to Maxim - is it any wonder they have had to cut staff and scale back the magazine? Are men changing in what they want, or are there just more and free sources for the same material on the internet? I hope for the former and suspect it's the later.

Anyway . . . .

My friend Duff posted this over at Facebook in response to the image from Maxim:

"I think some people equate feminism with negativity because feminist ideas question their latent sexism, something that forces people to confront something negative in themselves. People who refuse to do so sometimes project these negative feelings onto what they perceive to be the source--other people, specifically women. Since feminist ideas frequently critique attacks on women in the first place, rejecting feminism by attacking women is more of the same, and precisely why we need more feminist philosophy, discussion, and activism." —Duff McDuffee

Professor Yesi King shared this response, also at Facebook:

So according to Maxim in order to "cure" a feminist and turn her into a "real girl", you have to feminize and pornographize her...Yes this image was really in Maxim magazine and no thanks Maxim, I'll pass.

Most of the people who have commented on the various threads this article/image have created are focused on the degrading image of women - that a vegan feminist is not a real woman, that a real women stands around in her lingerie and gets turned on by a Camaro.

I totally sympathize with women who are seriously offended by that assertion.

I was just as appalled about the depiction of men and what men value and how they are valued. I left this comment on one of the threads at Facebook:

While I totally sympathize with you about the degrading message this crap offers about women, I have to say I find it offensive that they think a man wants a woman who is turned on by a car. At that point she ceases to be a woman, but merely an object to use as a tool of masturbation, and the male becomes a status object whose value is based on his mode of transportation. In both cases, the people involved are dehumanized into objects.

I have seen some people - men - argue that this is satire. Maybe, but having seen copies of Maxim over the years, it fits with their image of women as objects of sexual desire and not as human beings. And it also fits with its marketing of clothes, cars, and gadgets as how men should define themselves.

Just for the sake of reference, here are some standard issue images from Maxim, which I believe reflect how they view women:

Holly Weber

European cover

Actress Grace Park

So - is that piece on curing a feminist really satire? Or is that how they view women? And as men, is that how we want to view and relate to women, as objects?

Maybe I am too serious - or maybe I one of the "white knights" (not the white supremacist group) the Mens' Rights Activists hate on so often (although, to be fair, I have no interest in rescuing these women - they are well-paid). But I prefer to relate to women as complex, interesting, intelligent, four-dimensional human beings. Could be I am just weird that way.

What do you think (about the Maxim thing, not my weirdness)?