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Fembots, Advertising and Male Fantasy

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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."
Title:
Fembots, Advertising and Male Fantasy
Description:

Advertisers are tapping into some of the most misogynistic male fantasies when they use futuristic fembots to convince men to buy their products. They are selling a fantasy of control by turning women into obedient, mute, homemaking, sex slaves.
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Video Language:
English
Team:
Feminist Frequency
Duration:
04:17
There has been no activity on this language so far.

English subtitles

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