Dirty Dishes	Dirty Dishes Archive

Dawn has read of an advertising trend in France termed "porno chic" wherein nude and semi-nude women are used in sexual imagery that would seem shocking in the US, hinting at lesbianism, S&M, and menage a trois's (or more!). In one ad deemed a failure, a nude woman on all fours confronts a lamb in an open field: "I want a pullover!" People were offended, ad execs admit, because they saw the woman portrayed as an animal but could not understand why: "She wanted to steal the sheep's wool, but it wasn't clear if it was an act of bestiality or what." Another more successful ad hawked sour cream called "Babette" with beaucoup de double entendres. The tag line on bill boards could mean "I stir it, I whip it, and sometimes put it in the pot" or "I tie her up, whip her, and sometimes get her to bed."

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What most impressed Dawn, however, in reading about the petits contretemps, was a remark made by Valerie Henaff, a honcha at a prestigious French ad firm. Asked why such ads weren't as upsetting to French feminists as they would be to Americans, Valerie answered, "There is nothing more sexist than treating women as a minority with special needs. To 'protect the image of women' suggests that women are weak." A leçon for GLAAD and all the other victimologists in the gay movement, as well....