Robert_S wrote:
Somewhat relatedly: I went into an Abercombie & Fitch store a couple of years ago to get my niece a gift certificate for Baby Jesus-mas and I felt weird in there. The B&W photos of nude and semi-nude people brought out an alarming air of palpable sleaze that outdid any porn shop or strip club I've been in.
I think it was not so much from the sexuality, but the tone of the blatant marketing of it. I'm not prudish at all about selling sex, but selling a sexual identity in the form of a product from a factory makes me uncomfortable. And that's something that the style of these photos conveys to me. That there is a young girl in place where an older one would be brings it that much more into focus to me and gave me that same feeling I had in that store.
Interesting. As normal this leaves me with more questions than it answers, sorry.
What made the images sleazy, was it the composition of them or the juxtaposition of erotica with shopping?
Are they selling a sexual identity do you think or are they selling a sort of middle class "liberated" arty hipster chic?
Given your reaction is similar in both cases could it be you are reacting badly to the general aesthetic rather than the age of the model?
And I'll open this one up. Which images would be more questionable to you, ones of a young girl made up to look like a much older woman or a woman made up to look like a very young girl?
"What started as a legitimate effort by the townspeople of Salem to identify, capture and kill those who did Satan's bidding quickly deteriorated into a witch hunt" Army Man