What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas (the first and last time I will use this most annoying phrase)

This photo is nothing new. Nothing you haven't already seen - - or maybe imagined? But save those stories for weekends with close friends. What you are looking at here is a snapshot of typical Vegas (insert any geographic area)advertising.

So what does this foxy femme denote?

Well, quite simply, a foxy femme. Maybe a skilled card dealer, but more importantly, a skilled card dealer in a Playboy get-up working for The Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

And what a mythical creature she is...

But the myth she perpetuates is one that is old. It's the one that says women are objects and her purpose is to fuel society's capitalism at the expense of her identity being hypersexualized. Pardon the jargon, let me break it down. Images of scantily-clad women have been used to sell products since colonial times. Yes that's right, Mr. Ben Franklin not only made that lightbulb spark but he also sold ad space in his newspaper that promoted the idea that sex sells! Women have become objects whose mere purpose is to look sexy and sell someone's product. It's not to say that a woman can't embrace her sexuality and use it to her betterment, but the problem being is that these images are taken for and from "the gaze" of a hypermasculine lens. Lacan argued that the act of looking at images was an important means for looking at a society's values. He believed that one must actively identify the 'viewing relationship' between the actual audience and the intended audience. In this instance, Lacan would agree (as if I know) that "the gaze" or the intended audience for this image would be for a heterosexual man. It is intended to grab the attention (balls) of a man who will therefore become suckered into buying whatever Ms. Card Dealing Bunny has to offer. The image itself may be simple, but its implications are far from it. The image upholds the camera's ability to act as a voyeuristic weapon of masculine power - - and unless we are active observers, we will be subject to its violence.