Huh? Avril in Maxim?

[ollie]

chances are, she probably has in the past. and if we were talking about playboy or something, then i may even be inclined to agree with you. but posing for maxim -- especially at this stage of her career -- is different. for one thing, she's already known for NOT sexing herself up, so any deviation from that is going to draw a lot of attention (and sell a lot of magazines). maxim magazine IS a big ol' book of sex, but it absolutely adores, respects and celebrates women, rather than exploiting them. yeah, their pictures are sexy, but so are the women in them! there's nothing wrong with celebrating your sexiness, and as these pictures show, avril is managing to do so in a tasteful fashion -- as voodoolady pointed out, she's baring a lot less flesh than most of the girls you'll see in there. (in fact, the only times i've seen girls come across as truly trashy in maxim is when they do in every other magazine they appear in -- i.e. christina aguilera). in addition, while maxim may publish pictures that are pretty much exclusively of a racier theme, they are also always accompanied by flattering interviews with the girls they feature -- i can't even tell you how many actresses up & coming today i remember first seeing in maxim and being impressed with the way they were portrayed. so for avril to pose is a good career move, and she's still managing to stick to what she believes in & keep her clothes on (AND look ultra sexy at the same time).

I've never read Maxim so I'm somewhat out of my depth here but your justification of it sounds like someone defending Playboy: "adores women", "classy", "flattering interviews". Isn't it, for the majority of the male readership, a glorified spank magazine?

I'm not saying it's not a good career move for Avril, of course it is. I just find it depressing that it's more like a mandatory career move for any female celebrity who's young and good looking. From that point of view it's definitely exploitative. That's why I said I'd be impressed if Avril had turned it down. Walk the walk and all that good stuff. Maybe she's "fighting the system from within"? ::

sorry i seem to be flying off the handle here, i'm sure some of you are downright bewildered with how much i'm going off on something that may seem silly, but geez, it just pisses me off that pictures of women who choose to present themselves as freakin' MEAT have guys around here slobbering all over themselves (i.e. that nasty ass contest picture that was posted awhile back, all but a few threads of fabric away from being a full on display of beef curtains ), heady epic's disgusting, chauvanistic posts that show absolutely NO respect for women whatsoever have people high fiving him and going on about how "awesome" and "funny" he is, and now all of a sudden, a FULLY CLOTHED avril lavigne is "trashy" because she's in maxim and wears dark eyeliner??? geez!

I think we're in agreement that there's way too much objectification of women out there... I just don't see how Maxim isn't guilty as well.

[backbacon]

Palace Princess...you rock it sister

je suis d'accord!!!

fwiw, i haven't read anythign past what i posted to this thread a coupele days ago.,. just agreeing with howler here on this one point! ::

[PalacePrincess]

hahahahaha, aw thanks, bacon.

hi! i'm not feeling quite so riled up (or argumentative) today. sorry, i didn't mean to go off on quite so much of a rampage on that. i'm sticking by everything i said, but i do realize i perhaps should have gone for a walk to simmer down before wailing away on the keyboard. howler was right in saying that was sort of a last straw reaction to a a few things that have popped up here over the last while. women ARE objectified and judged by their looks enough as it is, so yes, i'm going to up and defend one who is respectful of herself (and chooses to dress in what makes HER feel good, as opposed to what she thinks a man might like), when she is spoken about in that manner.

i would like to thank all of the beautiful vixens of this board who have stepped up on this. (oh and tash, no worries about the weekend, although you're probably going to pee your pants when i show you the pictures of what went down!)

esau, that diatribe wasn't directed specifically at you, i apologize if you thought so because i used the word trowel.

ollie, (by the way, i hope you don't think my dissecting your post the way i did was a personal attack, i was merely arguing the points made, not you!), i respect where you're coming from. i would however, like to comment further on this:

I've never read Maxim so I'm somewhat out of my depth here but your justification of it sounds like someone defending Playboy: "adores women", "classy", "flattering interviews". Isn't it, for the majority of the male readership, a glorified spank magazine?

well, what the readers do with it when they open it is up to them , but at least if their eyes are going to fall on some words to be read, they're words that are sending a positive message. pick up a copy sometime, you'd probably be surprised at the content. it's chock full of well written, interesting & infomative articles, and it also manages to be laugh-out-loud funny throughout most of the whole thing. i would read maxim over cosmo or any of those crappy girl magazines any day -- at least there's things in it worth reading. yes, you'll find a good bit of content focusing on women (and sex), but it's all helpful information (a lot of it is written by women!), realistic, and pretty much sends the message that women are beautiful & wonderful creatures & men should be kissing the ground they walk on. now what's wrong with that? haha

[guigsy]

hahaha, PP, i actually have the exact opposite view of maxim that you do. you know, being a guy i've leafed through my fair share of maxims in bus terminals, train stations, various bathroom stalls, retail sales floors, etc etc.. and i guess its well written as far as dick jokes and nerd slander goes, but a positive message with interesting and informative articles?

"63 WAYS TO GET HER PANTS OFF AND GET HER TO COVER THE BILL! FIND OUT HOW INSIDE!!"

i dunno....

and im sorry, but the photographs of women in that magazine, as much as i do like to flip through them, dont do anything to serve as a means of portraying these women as beautiful and wonderful creatures who's ground we should kiss. certainly they show that they are beautiful, but i'd be surprised to find that the inner beauty of these women is whats on the minds of these editors... the photographers just get told what to shoot, so they're off the hook. haha.

[guigsy]

hahaha, yeah, for the record, i was with ya all the way up to your synopsis of maxim. ::

[guigsy]

i believe that... i'd like to read it if you can get your hands on it, megs.

[ollie]

Hey PP, I'm not taking any of this personally. This is a good discussion and I don't think anyone's crossed any lines. I think the only real thing we disagree on at this point is whether Maxim is a legitimate forum for female celebration or a spank mag for guys who are afraid of the top shelf. Guigsy sums up my, admittedly preconceived, notions about Maxim pretty well.

[bokonon]

i think it is pretty sad that someone like avril is considered to be the "alternative" choice for a young female role model. she is as much a part of the hollywood machine as britney spears and jessica simpson, she just wears dark coulours instead of pink. lets analyze the situation here. put a check beside the characteristics shared by avril and britney and jessica:

lots of makeup- check

expensive clothes- check

no clear demonstration of original talent- check

valued for their clearly defined pigeon hole in society- check

sex objects (in one way or another)- check

symbol of american capitalism and fickle low-brow excuse for culture- check.

creates a brand instead of an actual product worth purchasing on its own- check.

fu©k britney, avril and whoever the hell else. they all blow.

personally, i am going to try to introduce my niece to people like david suzuki, ghandi and his family and margaret atwood. i am not going to have this illogical notion of how a person needs to have heroes that are of the same biological gender, that is arbitrary and false. personally, i think ideas like that keep sexism alive.

[Ms.Huxtable]

I have to admit that I actually enjoy reading Maxim. I don't purchase it regularly or anything, but if I had a choice between a woman's magazine and Maxim, I'd certainly choose Maxim.

Woman's magazines are just as guilty (if not more so) of objectifying women as Maxim. Women's mags are just filled with page after page of beautiful models selling a bunch of useless things to make women look better and support the multi-billion dollar cosmetic industry. The articles are meaningless as well. I don't need 10 tips on how to look my best, or get his attention or hide my flaws.

Maxim has pretty funny content, and taught me how to make booze in a toilet. That may come in handy some day.

[Velvet]

Next dinner at Ms. Hux's I'm bringing the wine.

[bokonon]

i echo the sentiments of ms. hux.

[Freeker]

Man I'd love to rub a ham sandwich all over her elbows.

[bokonon]

Man I'd love to rub a ham sandwich all over her elbows.

but how does ms. hux feel about that?

[MarcO]