Sheena Gem A.

Harun

MAELS

BENCHs The Naked Truth:

Commodifying and Objectifying Women
INTRODUCTION

Several feminist movements and womens group forever devoted themselves into
exploring the tensions between the sexes in the society. In the interim, all issues prefixed to
sexuality concerning predominantly on the female sex proved to be a bitter pill until now. The
rights of the female sex as well as their accompanying opportunities and privileges are
emblazoned on paper; however, such have not been well carved in the subliminal layer of the
society.
A particular sentiment that regards the female sexuality is the distinct treatment of
women by the media and commercial industries and advertisers as a mere commodity. Women
as commodity is not an aberrant notion, not anymore. This view has led to degradation and
discrimination of the female gender which will be discussed on this paper.

CASE ANALYSIS

A case in point here is The Naked Truth, a denim and underwear fashion show held by
the countrys homegrown clothing line, Bench. The show was for the launching of their latest
collection of denim and underwear which were flaunted by the biggest celebrities and top
models in the country. The outcome germinated outright appeal from the masses, both positive
and mostly negative. What is even ironic was that after the show, the media accentuate the
perverse countenance of female bodies (the models of the products) and their sexuality,
instead of the new fashion being endorsed.
Stacy and Dannah, both well-known bloggers commented on the concept of the show.
They emphasized that if the organizers intended the show to be promoting the clothes and

underwear, then the focus would have been on the clothes. The highlight would've been a pair
of pants sprinkled with real gold dust or breezy underwear made from leather, or whatever
trendy clothing innovation they're coming up with over at Bench. However, the best bit of the
night was the sexually explicit ramps and poses of the celebrities and models. Many have
criticized it as pseudo-pornographic, as it showed models with underwear covering small skin of
their bodies.

Some deemed it an uncouth episode; per contra, as it fawned women down to the level
of an animal, especially during the fully clothed Coco Martins scene where he trailed a female
model on leash positioned on fours (like a dog) and the scene where Tom Rodriguez and Denis
Trillo eagerly watched the two girls kissing on stage.

These photos gathered negative comments from the audiences point of view. Again,
Danah and Stacey reacted, As I stare at this photo, I can't help but think, why didn't any of the

guys provide some same sex lip-locking? Why is it that all the time, for the sake of being daring
and raunchy, two girls have to put on a sensual show? If you tell me it's because no one wants
to see a dude kissing another dude, I'm gonna tell you off the bat, a lot of homosexuals in the
audience would have gone wild to see Dennis Trillo and Tom Rodriguez make out. But why
didn't they? Or at least, why didn't Bench have a little guy on guy action? Wouldn't that give the
event even more buzz from the press?
To analyze this case which is at issue, the Feminist Theory will be used focusing mainly
on the themes of sexual objectification, discrimination and commodification of women. As
Merriam-Webster would define commodification, it is to turn something of intrinsic value into a
thing that can be sold. Objectification on the other hand, is the seeing and/or treating a person,
usually a woman, as an object used for the pleasure of others. Thus, to commodify women is to
reduce women into pleasurable things, i.e., as objects and not as subjects (Esteban and Khan,
2011). In this case, the issue of commodification is not about the willingness of the individuals
to be used as objects, but, to look into the overall impact of this kind of representation in the
society.
The issue juxtaposed the commercialization of women, particularly their bodies, and
their virtues as a human being. Women, for years, have their bodies as tools for commercial
industries and advertisers to secure profits and investments. This is especially true for maletargeted advertising such as alcoholic drinks and car-related products (Esteban and Khan,
2011). Grave manifestations of this exploitation are rampant in every platform of media.
Indeed, the perambulator of Western culture still have a large portion left in the
Philippines, such that our people are inclined to a macabre and depraved taste in looking at
naked breasts and hips to the point that, most of the times, people could no longer identify
what they are supposed to look at. The scenes even get more dreadful in television shows.
Instead of watching a dance number, men often pose a perverted look on the presenters firm
curves and smooth edges. Consequently, television programmes addressed to the male
audience is likely to get more rating from the presence of a womans voluptuous body.

The undermining of women does not only stop there, women and girls around the world
are still married at a young age, or trafficked into force labor, or sex slavery, or injustice in their
workplace. And yet, the list still goes on with all kinds of misconduct directed to women.
"That women were treated as commodities on the early modern marriage exchange
has, of course, been well established. Numerous social historians of the early modern period
have documented the value attached to daughters as a means by which to advance family
name and social position. Although marriage formations differed widely according to social
ranking, as B.J. Sokol and Mary Sokol (2009) note in Shakespeares, Law and Marriage. Thus, in
the life of a young girl until she grows, she is subjected to deplorable types of market
restricting her from her rights of choice.
Back on the issue of women treated as commodity, while still in relation to Benchs the
naked truth, we can further delineate its underlying implication to the whole picture of sex
transgression and gender inequality by looking into commercialism with women and their
bodies and sexuality as surrogates for merchandise/commodity. Hence, it is clear-cut that
bodies of women have an essential intrinsic value. But to commercial industries like clothing
companies, with their provocative and inviting bodies, women are used and viewed otherwise.
This leads us to conclude that the presence of women in commercial industries and the
media accentuate the perverse countenance of female bodies to sell commodities, instead of
commodities selling themselves.
Unrestrained cases like these have an enormous impact to women since they are judged
according to how they look. The consequence even goes deeper; they feel uneasy and
uncomfortable. They become more and more conscious as to how men look at them. They feel
bitter toward women with beautiful faces and perfect curve lines.
The Naked Truth fashion show by Bench, is no different. In fact, the woman pet on a
leash, women kissing, and women romping in almost nudity, heavily underscore the
commercialization of female bodies (apart from male actors posing in the same way) as a
degradation of female virtues. Women throughout the country must have felt miserably
dishonored even if the actor is a prominent celebrity. In point of fact, the media and

commercial industries have placed a price mark on women. Thus, iterating their models as the
modern archetype of women which could possibly fracture gender sensitivity.
The issue may have been an unintended and isolated case from other immediate,
virtually-conceivable remainders of derogatory issues concerning women, but the certainty
remains that they are still subjected to depreciative acts. The Naked Truth proves on a
massive scale that women are still treated as objects. A single act of exploitation can possibly
cause discrimination upon the entirely of the whole female gender. This, in turn, will discredit
even the most primal rights of women.
Hence, commercial industries, advertisement companies and any other forms of media
that include the presence of a woman and/or her body should be thoroughly careful and aware
of the devices they forward to the audience. The media should portray women in a way
avoiding any acts of degradation and discrimination. This is an inclusion to the basic rights of
women like equal job opportunities in government offices and the same privileges with their
male counterpart.

CONCLUSION
The Bench controversial issue, The Naked Truth, may have not directly tampered the
written rights of women. It may have not portrayed any form of abuse inflicted emotionally
or physically. Yet, the feat of painting the woman on leash during the fashion show with
distasteful color as that of an animal, the kissing of women and the public show of their
sexuality signify oblique discrimination to the entire female gender. Some may have criticized it
as entertainment but the company, Bench, clearly did not put into thought its effect to the
socially-sensitive nature of the masses.
The Feminist Theory was used to detail out the evident manifestations of discrimination
and depreciation of woman virtue and worth. It was also used in conjunction with the view of
women as commodities which is also a form of degradation of women, a contingent effect of
subtly disregarding the female gender. Although, the issue deemed to be an inadvertent

mishap of the company against women, it did not fall short of a major quandary of the media
which should not be overlooked.
The Feminist Theory was a straightforward and definitive approach to examine and
analyze to issue since the parties involved had a significant strings tied to issues concerning
women such as stereotyping, objectifying, commodification and discrimination of women. All
which, were found evident on the Bench Fashion Show The Naked Truth issue.

REFERENCES:
Danah and Stacy. 2014. The Naked Truth About The Naked Truth. Retrieved from
http://www.theplumpinay.com/2014/09/the-naked-truth-about-naked-truth.html.

Rappler. 2014. IN PHOTOS: Stars sizzle in undies, denim at Bench 'Naked Truth' fashion show.
Retrieved

from

http://www.rappler.com/entertainment/news/69695-photos-stars-sizzle-

underwear-denim-bench-naked-truth-fashion-show.

Esteban, Esther and Khan, Rachel. 2011. Commodifying Women: A Media Quandary. In
Commodifying Women: A Media Quandary. ACMC Publication.
Littlejohn, Stephen. 2002. Critical Theories. In Theories of Human Communication. 7 th ed.
Wordsworth Group. USA.