1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,000 I've got some news for you 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Fembots have feelings too 3 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:09,000 As I was walking around the other day 4 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:10,000 I kept running into these billboards ads 5 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:13,000 that say "RU Bot or Not" for Svedka Vodka 6 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:15,000 and it's apart of this larger ad campaign 7 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:17,000 that they have. Some of the other ones say 8 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:18,000 things like "Make your next trophy wife 9 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:20,000 100% titanium" or 10 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:23,000 "Turn ons: stiff drinks and greased elbows." 11 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:25,000 I was looking at the Svedka Vodka website 12 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:27,000 and I noticed they have this Bot Builder 13 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:29,000 where you can "create your perfect silicone 14 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:31,000 clone, ready and willing to serve" 15 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:33,000 or you can turn "yourself from hot to bot." 16 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:36,000 And it gets even more disturbing when you 17 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:38,000 get inside the program, because you have 18 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:40,000 all these options of clothing choices and 19 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:43,000 one of which is a french maid outfit and you 20 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:46,000 can have your new french maid pose in 21 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:49,000 these cute or sexy model poses and in 22 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:50,000 addition you can give her martini hands 23 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:52,000 so she can you drinks at your whim. 24 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:55,000 Let's talk about fembots for a second then 25 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:57,000 because in popular culture and historically 26 00:00:57,000 --> 00:00:58,000 fembots are the ultimate 27 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:00,000 misogynistic male fantasy 28 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:02,000 They are a mythic construct used 29 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:04,000 to serve male desires. 30 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:07,000 These fembots are sex slaves and sex 31 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:09,000 objects, ready and willing to serve 32 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:10,000 and clean up after these men. 33 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:12,000 Commercial for Phillips Moisture 34 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:14,000 Shave System Ad 35 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,000 ♫ instrumental/electronic music ♫ 36 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,000 So is she the accessory to the razor or is 37 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:45,000 the razor the accessory to her? 38 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:48,000 I don't really know but what I do know is that 39 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:50,000 her whole reason for being is 40 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:51,000 to serve this man. 41 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:54,000 Commercial for Heineken Draught Keg Ad 42 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:57,000 ♫ electronic music ♫ 43 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:23,000 Wait so her uterus is a keg ready to 44 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:25,000 serve beer on demand? 45 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:28,000 I think Advertising Age actually covered it 46 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:30,000 best, which is kind of surprising 47 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:31,000 when they said that the "Heineken Draught 48 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:34,000 Keg is arguably the most sexist beer 49 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:35,000 commercial ever produced." 50 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:37,000 Which is quite a large statement considering 51 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:41,000 beer commercials are pretty sexist. 52 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:43,000 They went on to say that these commercials 53 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:45,000 "reduce half the world to a 54 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:46,000 man-servicing beer tap." 55 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:49,000 Why do advertisers love to use images that 56 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:51,000 reduce all that women are into plastic 57 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:54,000 homemaking, obedient, sex slaves who 58 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:57,000 don't talk back, in fact they don't talk at all 59 00:02:57,000 --> 00:02:59,000 and they even have an on and off switch. 60 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:02,000 Advertisers are tapping into a core element 61 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:04,000 of patriarchy which is the obsession with 62 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:06,000 control. Author of The Gender Knot 63 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:07,000 Allan Johnson says, 64 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:08,000 "As with any system of privilege that 65 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:10,000 elevates one group by oppressing another, 66 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:12,000 control is an essential element of patriarchy: 67 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:14,000 men maintain their privilege by controlling 68 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:16,000 women and anyone else 69 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:17,000 who might threaten it." 70 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:19,000 The fembot fantasy is an expression of total 71 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:22,000 control especially over women. And these 72 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:24,000 commercials are selling men this fantasy of 73 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:26,000 control associated with their product. 74 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:28,000 I love science fiction and what I love most 75 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:31,000 about it is this opportunity to imagine 76 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:34,000 alternative societies and futuristic technology 77 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:36,000 that can improve our way of life and really 78 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:38,000 be used as a tool for liberation but what 79 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:40,000 these commercials are doing is taking this 80 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:42,000 imaginary futuristic world and making it a 81 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,000 tool of subordination and oppression. 82 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:47,000 [Commerical for FEMBOT 83 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:48,000 (Bionic Woman Franchise)] 84 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:51,000 "It's the fembot new from Kenner and Jamie 85 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:53,000 Summers the Bionic Woman 86 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:54,000 sold separately." 87 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:56,000 'I'm Jamie Summers' 88 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:59,000 'Oh no you're not, I am, you're a fembot! 89 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:01,000 Your paralyzer gave you away.' 90 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,000 'She's unmasked me, now I have to disguise 91 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,000 myself as a mystery maiden no one will 92 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:10,000 recognize me, not even Jamie ha ha' 93 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:13,000 "Fembot comes with everything seen here. 94 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:15,000 Jamie Summers, the Bionic Woman 95 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:16,000 sold separately."