"She Makes Fitness Look Lke Fashion"

[Ginger]

Originally Posted by Kobi

It made me twitch and not in a good way.

I can get passed the stereotypical, bad ass, butch lesbian with her irrevelant attitude, tattoos, male attire, alcohol/party hearty mentality, who bears an uncanny resemblence to KD Lang. I can see a cult icon in the making here.

What I can not get passed is a woman promoting this kind of exploitative advertising of other women:

Much of the credit goes to Ms. Kosoy, who leads a team of 10 designers in Equinox’s headquarters in the Flatiron district, where they create a brand image that marries sex and sweat, wellness and bad behavior. “It’s not fitness,” the tagline reads, “it’s life.”

To that end, she has hired provocative photographers like Terry Richardson to shoot Equinox’s ad campaigns. The most recent campaign features a young blonde in a schoolgirl uniform (shirt, tie, knee socks, yes; skirt, no) pinned under a muscular young man in nothing but boxers, glasses and leather loafers. Judging from the Chesterfield sofa and leather-bound volumes, they are in some sort of library. “Brainpower by Equinox,” the tagline reads.


To me, it is an example of internalized sexism. Just as offensive and derogatory to women as if it was done by a male.

I'm disappointed.

I had the same reaction. I used to buy the "it's different when a butch does it" cultural justification for behavior that demeans women, but I'm over that. I wouldn't trust this person.