Recently I was watching a show I hardly ever watch, The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
She had a segment explaining that Mattel, the makers of Barbie, were crafting their doll range to reflect a more "normalized" perception of real world female body types. A picture was then shown of the new doll range which was met with the rapturous applause of her audience.
Ellen the proceeded to suggest the Ken doll could also do with a makeover to reflect more real world male body types. At first I thought that this suggestion sounded promising and refreshing but to my disappointment Ellen then displayed pictures of stereotyped and caricatured Ken doll models such as the "Dad bod Ken" with an exaggerated abdominal area, and the "ponytail Ken" which was meant to make fun of a man suffering hair loss. So all she did was play on male stereotypes, to the raucous laughter of her audience.
Two segments later, she unleashed two topless male exotic dancers on her predominantly female audience to their howling and screaming approval. Then I remembered another time she had another male exotic dancer on her show playing the role of her gardener which she insisted he go topless, again to the screaming approval of her female audience.
As I hardly watch this show and have yet seen two instances of this blatant sexism that objectifies and sexualizes the male body, I figured she has probably been doing this for years.
In short, how is she able to do this and get away with it?
She had a segment explaining that Mattel, the makers of Barbie, were crafting their doll range to reflect a more "normalized" perception of real world female body types. A picture was then shown of the new doll range which was met with the rapturous applause of her audience.
Ellen the proceeded to suggest the Ken doll could also do with a makeover to reflect more real world male body types. At first I thought that this suggestion sounded promising and refreshing but to my disappointment Ellen then displayed pictures of stereotyped and caricatured Ken doll models such as the "Dad bod Ken" with an exaggerated abdominal area, and the "ponytail Ken" which was meant to make fun of a man suffering hair loss. So all she did was play on male stereotypes, to the raucous laughter of her audience.
Two segments later, she unleashed two topless male exotic dancers on her predominantly female audience to their howling and screaming approval. Then I remembered another time she had another male exotic dancer on her show playing the role of her gardener which she insisted he go topless, again to the screaming approval of her female audience.
As I hardly watch this show and have yet seen two instances of this blatant sexism that objectifies and sexualizes the male body, I figured she has probably been doing this for years.
In short, how is she able to do this and get away with it?
