Friday, January 27, 2012

Selling Sex ... The Old-Fashioned Way

Working at the post office as I do I have seen lots of magazines come through over the years. Certainly enough to realize the cover designers of the world are big believers in the old adage SEX SELLS.  And not only in magazines marketed for men. Here are a few samples from magazines with a variety of intended audiences to prove my point.





















I find it odd that many of these designers seem to think a woman has to be naked or at least topless for the cover to be sexy.

Other than fitness and muscle magazines it is fairly rare for men to be nearly nude or even topless on magazine covers. and even more rare for celebrity males to appear in that form unless they are MMA fighters or boxers and on occasion other pro athletes but almost never actors.

Though I did find this shot of the Bieb revealing some skin in some kind of funky fish net type shirt . I only have one word for that -- disturbing.


Most leading men appear on magazines with their best swarthy expression and it is simply inferred they are the manliest Y chromosomes on the block.





Now don't get me wrong. I am as big a fan of the female body as anyone, but frankly these so-called provocative shots are anything but for me. They are too revealing. Now I'm not saying that from a moral standpoint. That is another issue altogether and one I don't care to discuss on this blog. I get the the whole subjective women angle too but I'm looking at this post from a pure hedonistic point of view.

And for my money the pin up girl poses of old are far sexier and provocative than the skinfest of today's covers.

I am a sucker for a pin up girl whether it be of the actual picture variety ...











or the illustrated versions ...




So I say, come on cover designers give me less (skin) to give me more. I am after all a writer so I have a good imagination. My mind can fill in where in needs to.

9 comments:

Eric said...

I completely agree with you. The pinups are much more enticing because of the "promise of what might be there" as opposed to blatantly showing you what is (or isn't as the case may be) there.

Old Kitty said...

I say more skin less clothes on these fine men here (and no, The Bieb is a boy so he doesn't count)!

LOL! Take care
x

alex keto said...

trouble is today's corporate owned magazines would have to hire an artist to painting the paintings but since corporations only have an obligation to share holders, the artists can go suck eggs.

I personally don't believe Beiber is a male. I'll grant he's not a female either. Not sure what he is. Not that I'm going to spend anytime on this subject

WordVixen said...

Heck, I'm a straight female and I have a thing for pinups. Dead sexy.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Pinups promise forbidden naughtiness!

Charles Gramlich said...

I agree, a little mystery leads one's imagination on and on.

Miriam Forster said...

THANK YOU.

I'm just glad the super low cut shirt trend is gone. That was a really disturbing summer in my college town. *shudders*

G. B. Miller said...

Okay, seeing a pic of Pari Hilton does nothing for me beyond giving me a knot in my stomach.

But I do agree that less skin is more provocative.

DrillerAA said...

I'm not feeling the manly Y chromosomes from "The Bieb".
I do love the artwork of the vintage pin-up posters as well. They're probably my favorite images in this collection.