As a slender white Jewish woman it pains me to say this, but even Natalie Portman -- beautiful, smart, slender Natalie Portman -- can be seen as complicit.
From Ashley Judd's telling of her encounter with Harvey Weinstein she rejected his advances, for which the subtext was likely the transaction of sex for movie roles.
However, one has to simply Google Judd to see exactly how she presented herself in publicity photos in her younger days.
The results are not unexpected: coyly sexualized and wearing a slip on a bed and looking at the camera, in a short skirt on a couch with knees touching and ankles apart, blonde and nude in bed with a sheet around her chest, sitting naked with legs outstretched wearing only a University of Kentucky jersey -- you get the picture by seeing the pictures.
Yes, we all know: Hollywood sells sex. The producers are complicit, the directors are complicit, the PR people are complicit, and the actresses are complicit. The idea that sex is only being sold on one side of the silver screen is willfully naive.
In the comments of a post yesterday Althouse mentioned "the prostitution scale".
I am not bringing this up to declare Judd a prostitute, although perhaps I may be somewhat insinuating there are commonalities. But, taking Althouse's comment on a slight tangent:
Where is Ashley Judd on the pornography scale?
Many people see pornography as a form of prostitution. Judd's role in "Kiss The Girls" plays visually on the (perceived) eroticism of impending rape: the camera lingers on her body and on her fear, on the sheen of sweat on her naked skin.
If basic filmed hardcore sex is an 8 on the pornography scale (we will leave what constitutes a 10 to the Pornhub connoisseurs) and E.T. is a 2 (I will leave the argument that Spielberg sexualizes Drew Barrymore for another day) where is "Kiss The Girls"? A 5? A 6?
Hollywood is complicit in pornography: I could facilely argue that Ashley Judd's career is closer to that of a XXX porn starlet than to the average woman working in an office. Or perhaps teaching at a college.
Or do we argue that she is not that different? How many kettles of fish are there?
As a slender white Jewish woman it pains me to say this, but even Natalie Portman -- beautiful, smart, slender Natalie Portman -- can be seen as complicit.
And -- after sifting and boiling and stewing all of this -- there now comes the hard part: how do we explain this to men in a way that their simple sex-addled brains can understand?
How do we explain to men that young Ashley Judd with the sheen of sweat on her naked skin is not sexy when we know she is not actually in danger of rape, that it is pretend, that she is just acting, and that she is getting paid well for this acting so that Hollywood can sell sexy Ashley Judd with the sheen of sweat on her naked skin?
At this point I must add a disclaimer: in college I briefly had an affair with a student that looked quite like Ashley Judd, so this whole Ashley Judd thing has a subtext for me.
I also realize that by saying that most men will just fixate on the image of a slender white Jewish girl engaging in sex with a woman who looks a lot like Ashley Judd and find it sexy. But it WAS sexy, I was there. And there was the sheen of sweat on our naked skin.
However, one has to simply Google Judd to see exactly how she presented herself in publicity photos in her younger days.
The results are not unexpected: coyly sexualized and wearing a slip on a bed and looking at the camera, in a short skirt on a couch with knees touching and ankles apart, blonde and nude in bed with a sheet around her chest, sitting naked with legs outstretched wearing only a University of Kentucky jersey -- you get the picture by seeing the pictures.
Yes, we all know: Hollywood sells sex. The producers are complicit, the directors are complicit, the PR people are complicit, and the actresses are complicit. The idea that sex is only being sold on one side of the silver screen is willfully naive.
In the comments of a post yesterday Althouse mentioned "the prostitution scale".
I am not bringing this up to declare Judd a prostitute, although perhaps I may be somewhat insinuating there are commonalities. But, taking Althouse's comment on a slight tangent:
Where is Ashley Judd on the pornography scale?
Many people see pornography as a form of prostitution. Judd's role in "Kiss The Girls" plays visually on the (perceived) eroticism of impending rape: the camera lingers on her body and on her fear, on the sheen of sweat on her naked skin.
If basic filmed hardcore sex is an 8 on the pornography scale (we will leave what constitutes a 10 to the Pornhub connoisseurs) and E.T. is a 2 (I will leave the argument that Spielberg sexualizes Drew Barrymore for another day) where is "Kiss The Girls"? A 5? A 6?
Hollywood is complicit in pornography: I could facilely argue that Ashley Judd's career is closer to that of a XXX porn starlet than to the average woman working in an office. Or perhaps teaching at a college.
Or do we argue that she is not that different? How many kettles of fish are there?
As a slender white Jewish woman it pains me to say this, but even Natalie Portman -- beautiful, smart, slender Natalie Portman -- can be seen as complicit.
And -- after sifting and boiling and stewing all of this -- there now comes the hard part: how do we explain this to men in a way that their simple sex-addled brains can understand?
How do we explain to men that young Ashley Judd with the sheen of sweat on her naked skin is not sexy when we know she is not actually in danger of rape, that it is pretend, that she is just acting, and that she is getting paid well for this acting so that Hollywood can sell sexy Ashley Judd with the sheen of sweat on her naked skin?
At this point I must add a disclaimer: in college I briefly had an affair with a student that looked quite like Ashley Judd, so this whole Ashley Judd thing has a subtext for me.
I also realize that by saying that most men will just fixate on the image of a slender white Jewish girl engaging in sex with a woman who looks a lot like Ashley Judd and find it sexy. But it WAS sexy, I was there. And there was the sheen of sweat on our naked skin.
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