I know everyone is excited about “Magic Mike” but I’m not. Firstly, girls get to be hookers with the heart of gold, okay? Not boys. Boys don’t get to take that role from us, we originated that role and we do it better. But that’s not what bothers me about this movie.
I know that it’s based on Channing Tatum’s life, or whatever, but c’mon. I cannot count how many times I have heard girls screaming at their boyfriends for going to a strip club, watching porn, or buying Playboy. It’s always the same things being said too – “they’re trashy” or “those girls are such skanks,” etc. You know; things of that nature. But when Channing Tatum and his bros get up on stage to gyrate and bare their bodies it’s okay? Why?
This all came to a head for me when I saw the above photo.
Yeah, it matters. It matters what the movie is about because movies are about plots not abs. Movies about abs play on Cinemax after 10 pm. I don’t care that these guys have nice stomachs and can grind their hips, I’m not mad at them for getting up and grinding on stage. I’m mad at you, ladies.
That’s right – you. You hypocritical broads that will yell at a man for looking at your boobs before your eyes but will pay 28 bucks to see this film. This isn’t about everyone it’s about a select few. The above photo was posted on someone’s Facebook wall and I was then assaulted with it on my news feed. When I saw it I wanted to scream. This girl not only gave her boyfriend the silent treatment for buying a magazine with Kate Upton on it but has repeatedly told me that she thinks strippers are “disgusting whores on par with the trash that walks Hollywood Boulevard.” But she is counting down the days until she sees this flick. I’m confused.
I don’t know what it is that makes it okay for men to do things and horrible for women to do it. It’s the age old battle of double standards. Is it because men with washboard abs and the ability to dance are so rare? Is that why it’s okay to put them on a stage, rub oil on them, and make them dance for dollars? I don’t think so. I don’t think it’s ever okay. I’ve gone on my stripper rant before and my …
… rule for why it’s bad for women crosses over on why it’s bad for men.
The last part of this “I Hate Magic Mike Rant” is the fact that Steven Soderbergh directed this movie and it had a five million dollar budget. Five million dollars was spent on this movie that according to IMDB is described as: “A male stripper teaches a younger performer how to party, pick up women, and make easy money.”
Why the hell did it cost five million dollars to make this? Why would anyone pay 28 bucks to go watch what you can see for free in any bar downtown? It’s guys being douchebags. That’s it. It’s guys making money, drinking too much, not respecting women, and getting laid as much as possible (and you know it’s quantity over quality). Just watch Jersey Shore or better yet, move to California, ’cause I live that. I live that every day of my 20 something year old life. I am covered in Magic Mike-esque behavior. Guys in Hollywood are making money hand over fist (I have no idea how) and spending it on shots of Jameson and falling all over girls with horrible lines like “I have a motorcycle wanna go for a ride?” Why would I pay to go see a prettier version of that? Okay so you added abs, strong jaws, choreography, and (God I’m hoping) better chat up lines but you know what I will spend my 28 dollars on Starbucks and sushi and stay in tonight, thank you.
Movies were a way for people to escape their awful, mundane, unromantic lives. This is not an escape. This is Sunset Blvd on a Saturday night. I’m having the same reaction to this movie that I do when I go out on a (rare) Saturday night. “WHY ARE LADIES FALLING FOR THIS?!” Why? I don’t understand. Why don’t you want better for yourself? Why does a six pack of abs and pop n’ lock do it for you?
But you know what – I have to come to terms with not everyone thinks like I do (even though I think you all should, mwah ha ha). Sometimes people just want mindless entertainment where they can turn people in objects (a trait of serial killers, think about that) and not worry that objectifying them is destroying them. That’s fine that can be your thing. All I ask, ladies … is if you’re going to see Magic Mike … at least pick up a Playboy for your man on your way home.
Something like this seems rather rare. That is for a woman to accept and complain about the double standards. I’ve seen plenty of examples of it really and I’m getting tired of making an argument no one is going to listen to. The “It’s only sexist when men do it” argument. Those are people who think women are superior, not equal, and we will never get equality with people like that, be they men or women. All we’ll get is a little role reversal and every so often the roles will change.
I like the pics for “Magic Mike” because of the abs and such, and I’m the first to admit it … but I’d never give my boyfriend crap for looking at 98% naked women either (unless it involved the movie “Showgirls”, which would of course be a different problem … ;-))
I have no interest in seeing Magic Mike. It’s not because I don’t want to see Channing Tatum shirtless- I do and I’m not afraid to admit it- but because the story’s been done before.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong though with saying that sometimes abs and pop-and-lock are all I want. Not everything has to be about equal partners and trust, and respect, and depth of feeling. I have enough of that in my relationship. Don’t start judging people on their fantasies- even the ones getting their panties in a twist from ’50 Shades of Grey’ (Just judge them on their enjoyment of poorly written literature).
So I’ll be skipping Magic Mike until someone cuts all the shirtless stripping scenes together and posts it on YouTube. Until then, I’ll be oogling all the shirtless men, women, and genderqueer people I can with my respectful, non-objectifying/non-objectified partner.
In complete agreement with you here, and as for me, if I want to see a film about male strippers, I’ll go and rewatch ‘The Full Monty’ again!
Hypocritical broads for wanting to be looked in the face in normal day-to-day conversation but also buying entertainment that caters a little bit to the female gaze?
I can’t say it sounds like a great movie or even one I’ve leave on if I were home sick watching TV, but it’s ridiculous to suggest that your issue with friends who engage in slut shaming can be described by evoking the “eyes up here” chestnut. Wanting to be treated professionally in professional environments has nothing to do with not/supporting sex workers in general or strippers specifically.
There’s a big fucking gap between objectifying people who aren’t there in any sort of sexual context and massmedia entertainment that is about sex and, in the course of all it’s other tackiness, sells men’s bodies in the same way as they always sell women’s. Even with a decidedly non-intersectional lens that’s pre-101 stuff.
Honestly, you make a lot of generalizations here. I do not know any girls who have problems with their boyfriends watching porn (I do not know of anyone under the age of 60 or above the age of 12 who gets excited by Playboy magazines). And I do not just mean that my wild, party-girl female friends don’t mind watching porn with their boyfriends. I think that they expect for their boyfriends to watch porn alone, too. And I have female friends who are very “clingy” with their boyfriends, but they *never* take issue with their boyfriend having or viewing porn. Are there some young women who object to men liking scantily clad ladies? Certainly, though I do not know any personally.
And Magic Mike isn’t porn. It’s just hot guys whom we’ve already seen on television and in films. There is a tremendous difference between seeing a film like Magic Mike and going to a strip club. Personally, I wouldn’t be caught dead in a strip club (of men or women), but I *do* like to set my screensaver to be a slideshow of unreasonably hot guys from the internet (and a few whom I know in person). I’m a grown-up, and can differentiate between admiring someone’s physical body and how I value that actual person. Sometimes, it’s nice to look at beautiful people.
Porn, softcore films like Magic Mike, and strip clubs don’t have anything on “pick-up artists” for denigrating other human beings.