Objectify This

As Shakesville puts it, “Note to Timbuk2: If a man “steals” a woman’s virginity, it’s called rape. Even if it is “prom night” or whatevthefuck an underage-looking girl in a tacky party dress is meant to represent.”

Ok, so I am thoroughly disappointed in Timbuk2. I really thought they were about something beyond the morally bankrupt hipster marketplace. It’s not like I really believed their ad copy to begin with. I mean, according their website, “Timbuk2 is more than a bag. It’s more than a brand. Timbuk2 is a bond. To its owner, a Timbuk2 bag is a dependable, everyday companion. . . our messenger bag emerged from its working-class roots — adopted by a growing number of urbanites, students, and young professionals as a stylish alternative to the ubiquitous two-strap daypack and the formal black briefcase.” Blah blah blah. But check out the company’s manufacturing policy for more about the ways that the company supports their community.

According to this article from NowPublic, “When asked for comment, a representative at Timbuk2 said that the team considered “softening the copy to something like… ‘just like that guy who never called…’”  However, the representative continued, “The powers that be didn’t think it packed the same punch… or was as funny.”

Right, it didn’t pack the same punch. As Shakesville puts it, “Aside from everything else that’s wrong with this ad, I’m also aggravated to see yet another image of a woman who was raped looking sad, isolated, and ashamed—because the last thing we fucking need is more imagery designed to suggest the singular model for women who were raped is weepy-shamed-destroyed-helpless, to which they’re forcibly conformed by judgment, mockery, threat, or simply the ludicrous expectation that rape victims should behave that way, not just right afterwards, but forever.”

What’s most offensive to me about the particular punch they chose to pack is that it tells women that we’ve all had the rape/stolen sex experience and that we should snatch up these bags because they’re as desireable as the bad boy who breaks your heart and perhaps your hymen.  The problem of rape culture is that the threat of rape is universalized to all women, and used to disempower women and discourage them from challenging specific representations of the patriarchy.

The ever-present double standard for behavior is visible in the physical posture of the two genders in this ad: the woman looks scared and insecure, while the man looks like he’s going to swagger off to another appointment with an unsuspecting virgin. This says: women who have sex worry/have problems; men who have sex swagger/have no problems.

Curtsy, Jenni,  for the photo.