In which a fish notices the water

I work downtown, in an office tower that's connected to half the other office towers, as well as two shopping malls, by a habitrail of pedways. This Christmas, the malls decided to have a joint promotion based on the old Santa Claus song, "He's gonna find out who's naughty or nice".

Kindof a clever theme, especially since these malls are mainly frequented by the adult office workers from the habitrails. I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more, though, if Twisty hadn't introduced me to the notion of women as the sex class, and the world of feminist bloggers hadn't sensitized me to the portrayal of women in general.

So, here's what there was: (click on the pictures to see them larger)











Right then. In case you hadn't already picked up from the displays that women are either sex objects, or cruel bonus-denying bitches, there were the fashion shows and the elves.

This is where the photo-journalism breaks off, because my old digital camera takes so long focusing and doing whatever other bzzt bzzt bzzt things it needs to do, that by the time the picture took, the models were back behind the little curtain. So you'll have to take it on my word that the show included young women parading around in, among other things, fur coats with only lingerie underneath, or a memorable combination of fishnets, heels, and gift wrap. There was a bit of beefcakeage as well, but only one male model vs three, and whereas the women models spent a whole lot of time out there in their non-outfits being hooted at by a group of male workers who had apparently been coming every week once they figured out what would be in the show, the male model just walked out really fast, and high-tailed it back off stage.

And the "elves", in case anybody had still missed out on the virgins vs whores message? Two model-types, a blonde and a brunette. The blonde in a long white (but tight, low-cut, and slit-up-to-here) dress, and the brunette in a tiny red strapless number.

And, just to reinforce the message that women are merchandise to be bought and paid for, this display in a jewelry store window has been pissing me off for months:



Update to give credit where it's due: I knew there had been something rattling around in my head about something I'd read somewhere about fish being aware of water, that both sensitized me to the mall displays and inspired the title of this post, but good luck trying to track it down if that's all you remember. But it was in fact an article by Sour Duck that referenced another article by Nina Turns 40 - thanks Sour Duck for the reminder, and to both you and Nina for the inspiration.