WEBVTT

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I've got some news for you

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Fembots have feelings too

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As I was walking around the other day

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I kept running into these billboards ads

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that say "RU Bot or Not" for Svedka Vodka

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and it's apart of this larger ad campaign

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that they have. Some of the other ones say

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things like "Make your next trophy wife

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100% titanium" or

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"Turn ons: stiff drinks and greased elbows."

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I was looking at the Svedka Vodka website

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and I noticed they have this Bot Builder

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where you can "create your perfect silicone

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clone, ready and willing to serve"

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or you can turn "yourself from hot to bot."

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And it gets even more disturbing when you

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get inside the program, because you have

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all these options of clothing choices and

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one of which is a french maid outfit and you

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can have your new french maid pose in

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these cute or sexy model poses and in

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addition you can give her martini hands

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so she can you drinks at your whim.

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Let's talk about fembots for a second then

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because in popular culture and historically

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fembots are the ultimate

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misogynistic male fantasy

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They are a mythic construct used

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to serve male desires.

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These fembots are sex slaves and sex

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objects, ready and willing to serve

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and clean up after these men.

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Commercial for Phillips Moisture

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Shave System Ad

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♫ instrumental/electronic music ♫

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So is she the accessory to the razor or is

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the razor the accessory to her?

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I don't really know but what I do know is that

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her whole reason for being is

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to serve this man.

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Commercial for Heineken Draught Keg Ad

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♫ electronic music ♫

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Wait so her uterus is a keg ready to

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serve beer on demand?

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I think Advertising Age actually covered it

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best, which is kind of surprising

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when they said that the "Heineken Draught

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Keg is arguably the most sexist beer

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commercial ever produced."

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Which is quite a large statement considering

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beer commercials are pretty sexist.

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They went on to say that these commercials

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"reduce half the world to a

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man-servicing beer tap."

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Why do advertisers love to use images that

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reduce all that women are into plastic

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homemaking, obedient, sex slaves who

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don't talk back, in fact they don't talk at all

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and they even have an on and off switch.

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Advertisers are tapping into a core element

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of patriarchy which is the obsession with

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control. Author of The Gender Knot

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Allan Johnson says,

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"As with any system of privilege that

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elevates one group by oppressing another,

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control is an essential element of patriarchy:

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men maintain their privilege by controlling

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women and anyone else

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who might threaten it."

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The fembot fantasy is an expression of total

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control especially over women. And these

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commercials are selling men this fantasy of

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control associated with their product.

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I love science fiction and what I love most

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about it is this opportunity to imagine

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alternative societies and futuristic technology

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that can improve our way of life and really

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be used as a tool for liberation but what

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these commercials are doing is taking this

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imaginary futuristic world and making it a

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tool of subordination and oppression.

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[Commerical for FEMBOT

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(Bionic Woman Franchise)]

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"It's the fembot new from Kenner and Jamie

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Summers the Bionic Woman

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sold separately."

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'I'm Jamie Summers'

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'Oh no you're not, I am, you're a fembot!

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Your paralyzer gave you away.'

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'She's unmasked me, now I have to disguise

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myself as a mystery maiden no one will

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recognize me, not even Jamie ha ha'

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"Fembot comes with everything seen here.

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Jamie Summers, the Bionic Woman

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sold separately."