NSFW -- American Apparel ads revolutionize pornvertisement with pubes

(and btw, when I say NSFW, I mean all the links here, just about, are also NSFW.)

American Apparel (y'know, the so-called anti-establishment indie fashion company that was sold to an investment firm last month) is no stranger to the feminist blogosphere, spurning myriad discussions about whether their images are appropriate. 

Especially on Jezebel, which has thread after thread of posts that ask "American Apparel: sexy or sexist?"

These ads include:

• an apparently pranked billboard on which a sketched woman is fingering herself, with the tagline, "Safe to say she loves her tube socks,"
• a woman wearing only tights, legs spread and bent over so the first thing you see is her ass, with graffiti scrawled on a tiled wall that reads: "I wonder why women get raped?" (genius)
• a model with a prominently featured spandexed cameltoe who flashes the camera full-on,
• and, what seems to be the latest: a bona fide porn starlet (the beautiful Sasha Grey, among others) models umm... breasts?  No, that's not it.  Barely covered pubes? Nope... oh, yeah: socks (here and here).

There's all manner of opinions out there about these ads, about whether they're great for battling what one woman called North American nipplephobia, or whether they further objectify the women they portray.

Frankly, I don't care either way. 

Trust me, when I see a naked woman with her finger in her mouth, the last thing I'm gonna think is: "Oooh, let's go shopping!" 

And of course, it's not about that anyway.  It's about searing the brand into your brain, which, actually, is pretty well accomplished from the looks of the feminist blogosphere.

But dammit, I'm upset no one's stated the obvious: this one right here, the Sasha Grey ad with the pubes that several people are freaking out about?

How freaking cool is it to finally see something resembling natural hair on a woman in the media?  And a porn star to boot?  I don't know about you, but the only pussies in porn that I'm familiar with are waxed and shellacked until they look like little girls. 

And the idea that little girl pussies sell?  Scary.

Maybe that says more about me and my naivete when it comes to women in porn (or in mainstream media, for that matter), but I'm saying it anyway:  That's some beautiful pubes right there.

But I won't be buying the socks.

Comments

[Lara]

I agree with you on the little girl comment. I think it's kinda of gross. What is NSFW??

[queenalpo]

Not Safe For Work.

A very, very important acronym to know when reading these blogs (especially mine, bwahaha) in public places.

[tate]

You know I like all this stuff. Who the hell set nudity as a bad thing?

[Tavian]

What did you think of the PETA ad for the Superbowl that was rejected? I thought it kicked ass.

[Mr. Sandman]

Reminds me of my post on Shai-- the link there is down now, but they had actual sex clips with bits of clothing interspersed. If you rolled your mouse over the clothes, it told you about that item, price, etc.

While objectification shouldn't be encouraged, I'm okay with sex and sexuality as long as it's marketed appropriately.