Depending on how you look at Ikea’s new ad, the furniture retailer (whose instruction manuals give me nightmares) is either showing how progressive it is by featuring a bisexual guy, or just reinforcing the stereotype that all bi guys are greedy sex whores who just want it both ways. But look at that dining room table!
I’m just waiting for the ball to drop: For featuring gay couples in its advertising and catalogs, the Scandinavian company had to deal with Polish Catholics freaking out.
uu
Or it wants to make women feel sexy to an extent that transcends sexual orientation.
Charlie
oh it’s a fun ad (most ikea ads are) with an interesting reversal on what you are expecting. If I hadn’t read the headline on this article the payoff in the ad would have been a pleasant surprise.
Where in the ad do we get the impression: “all bi guys are greedy sex whores” All of them aren’t in the ad.
Soupy
I did an IKEA ad. But I played it straight.
TommyOC
I’ll get hate for this…
But this is a stupid commercial. It doesn’t make me want to buy Ikea at all… and isn’t that the supposed point of said commercial?
Besides, looking at the great house these two share and noticing the fact that the bottom (pink clothes, no shoes and faggy voice, hehe) just came back from what is undoubtedly a shopping spree for expensive clothes (he put the bag down in the living room, not the kitchen), what the hell are they doing with Ikea furniture?
bisexualinwashingtonstate
Makes us look like sluts. It was cute but we have no images of bisexuality that are positive. Showing us as adulterous is not good for our cause.
I was surprised that the man was the bisexual instead of the woman, that is a nice change.
slobone
Apparently in Europe it’s still possible to make a joke about sex in an ad without triggering shrieks of outrage on a gay website…
Bryce.J
It only plays on the fact that a lot of people believe bisexuals want it both ways. when they are with a women they think about men and when they are with a man they want a women . I’m not saying all bisexuals are like that because my best friend is bi-sexual and he is in a committed relationship with his boyfriend they are so happy together. but my ex was also bi and he cheated on me with a girl. so it just brings up a negative viewpoint of Bisexuals that isn’t always true.
pfitzner
About as funny as Woody and Soon Yi.
“Since Florian has to stow big things fast, Ikea has the right solution.”
Timothy
oh come on
The set-up is that when the guy walks in they are “caught”. The joke is that it’s him not her that’s cheating.
This isn’t stereotyping, it’s challenging assumptions.
EdWoody
@bisexualinwashingtonstate: The fact that you are in Washington State explains why you see this differently than I do. In Europe sexuality is much more fluid and accepted than in the US. It wouldn’t even occur to them to imply “all bisexuals are sluts” with this ad.
The core of the concept is as @Timothy says: The assumption is that either a) the man is cheating on his wife with another girl, or b) the wife is cheating on her husband with another man. There is also the assumption that c) a bisexual man would cheat on his wife to be with a man. The twist is that it’s none of those, but instead d) a bisexual man would cheat on his husband to be with a woman.
It’s just another way Ikea states that their products appeal to all kinds of people, that’s all.
Fitz
I think that some of us old folks need to accept that the definitions of sexuality that we grew up with are irrelevant to most younger people. This was not an ad about bisexuality. It was an ad about being elegant and carefree and fun.
McMike
I know this is just me, of course, but we, at first, have this hot guy and hot girl and then we have the 2nd half of the gay couple who is bald and unattractive. I have yet to see a representation of two gay men who are not either total queens, over weight and/or unattractive. Why is the world so scared to see two attractive masculine men together?
McMike
btw, it’s like the most recent, I think, season of Big Brother (which, no, I did not watch). You had all these very attractive and young heterosexuals but the two homosexuals were neither.
jason
Women are very jealous of male bisexuals. A lot of the demonization of male bisexuality comes from women.
If male bisexuality were completely de-stigmatized, women would have to compete with men for the affections of men. This would strain the resources of the seller (the woman) as she seeks to solicit the patronage of the buyer (the man).
In such a de-stigmatization scenario, women would be at a distinct disadvantage due to one very important reason: woman are not biologically as disposed to sex as men. A woman’s sexuality is underpinned by the need to reproduce and then refract as she incubates the child. A man’s sexuality is undeprinned by the need to keep on reproducing and keep on producing that sperm non-stop.
Not only do women contribute to the stigmatization of male bisexuals, they also commit the ultimate hypocrisy of promoting and glamorizing female sexiness and female bisexuality. They do it because they see it as giving them a competitive advantage.
Stigmatizing one (male bisexuality) but glamorizing the other (female bisexuality) is the ultimate example of how women have used social methods to attempt to gain a competitive advantage. Don’t let these women get away with it.
McMike
@jason: I don’t think many gay men are threatened by females and, in fact, it’s the complete opposite. If I was a female I’d probably hate gay men too. Not only are we allowed to have as much sex as we want but we not only do things they can’t but the things they can do we can do better and that’s not even to mention the things they hate to do are usually tops on our list.
Whenever I hear a woman say ‘fag’ it kinda amused me because the bitch definitely has reason to be scared.
Chris
Wow, misogyny much?
jason
Chris,
It’s not misogynistic to criticize the hypocrisy of women.
Chris
I’m sorry to point it out, but I’m calling bullshit.
Even if male bisexuality were destigmatized, not every male in the world would be a bisexual. I’m sorry to notify you of this fact, but it’s true. Most people’s sexuality lies in one of two extremes, with varying shades of grey in the middle.
To think that somehow all women would need to compete with men for the affections of said bisexual men is a ridiculous statement.
To claim “This would strain the resources of the seller (the woman) as she seeks to solicit the patronage of the buyer (the man)” is entirely misogynistic. It’s the false ideology that the only sexuality a woman has is prostitution. To also then claim a ” A woman’s sexuality is underpinned by the need to reproduce and then refract as she incubates the child” is also a false ideology that women’s thoughts center on the upbringing of children. To take all of this a step further and state that women are stigmatizing male bisexuality while showing off female bisexuality in a pre-meditated plan of womanhood to steal their men from those damn gays is SO INSANE ITS NOT EVEN FUNNY.
Your tirade reminds me of a little biblical story where the fall of man is because of the wily ways of a woman named Eve. And predating that, an image of a woman Lilith who was so sultry, she refused to be subjugated (she wanted to be on top) and was thus cast out of Eden only to give birth to women who suck men’s souls out through orgasm.
I think the reason for all of this misogyny is the exact opposite of what you are proposing. You are jealous of women. You are angered by the fact that most men aren’t gay, and feel like if it “weren’t for those meddling women,” you’d have the shot for any man for yourself. Please, get over yourself.
Many strong women are great advocates for LGBT rights, because being a gendered minority equates to being a sexual minority. A lot of the hatred of gays in straight culture is a misguided hatred for effeminacy. And this hatred of effeminacy and thus hatred of women is something that us gay men also spout, in making sure everyone knows we’re “str8 acting” or taking pride in “well I would never have guessed YOU were gay”. And it manifests in the rejection of gender non-conformance, and thus all of this terrible transphobia.
Really people, do none of you ever question your own deep-seated beliefs anymore?
jason
Chris,
You can’t get away from the biological mandate no matter how hard you try. Biology determines that women are sellers, men are buyers. To deny biology is to deny the obvious.
Most men are bisexually oriented. This is due to the fact that men are highly biologically sexual. When you are highly biologically sexual, you are also highly likely to be bisexual, at least in your feelings and fantasies.
However, society – including women – have contributed to the stigmatization of male-male sexual expression. They’ve done it for the reasons I’ve mentioned above.
The seller needs to gain a competitive advantage. This is why women constantly try to outdo each other with make-up and fashion, for instance.
Jared
this Ad is not fun, or funny especially if this situation has happen to someone as it happened to me. some people might say it is just an ikea ad but he is cheating . i just do not understand why people cheat if you don’t want to be with someone just let them go its not fare to have your cake and eat it too. and then he wants to play footsie while his girl is stashed in the cabinet. I find it sad really
Chris
WOW REALLY?
You’re going to pull the biological argument? To correct you, it is in fact the MEN in biology who are the sellers of their sexual expression. It’s the reason for sexual dimorphism, the reason for beautiful plumage only in MALE birds, and for competition for dominance in MALE mammals. FEMALES, because their eggs are limited, are biologically the CHOOSERS, aka the buyers. They hold the keys to their own vaginas and thus they are the choosers of the strong biological markers for their own kin.
This is the reason why rape is a biological problem, for instance in Ducks. MALE animals have noticed that if they don’t have the competitive advantage biologically to be chosen by a female, they can still father offspring by TAKING SEX.
You are so deluded it’s absurd.
MMDD
@Fitz: Obviously the twist at the end is what makes the ad; but I’d hardly call someone shown to be cheating on his lover as a depiction of being “elegant and carefree and fun.”
Fitz
@Jared: I think it’s very projective. I didn’t get “cheating” as much as “Open” and didn’t care.
MMDD
@Fitz: If they’re “open and didn’t care,” then why is she hiding in the cabinet?
jason
Chris,
Women are compelled to sell themselves before their ova run out. Men don’t run out of anything. In fact, men keep producing sperm until their 90’s.
This biological fact drives the women-as-seller, men-as-buyer paradigm. Show me a woman who produces ova into her 90’s and you might have a point.
In the meantime, you don’t really have one.
Chris
Thanks for ignoring every single one of the points I brought up in my argument. You did not address a single one, and are trying to turn this into a shout contest based on who repeats their points more often.
It matters little that men produce sperm well into old age. Sperm count is considerably lower past middle age, and sperm health is also considerably reduced. The chances for a man past 60 producing a healthy child is slim.
Not to mention, socially, only a very very small percentage of men continue to want to be parents past middle age. It doesn’t matter that men can perform sexually, socially, they are unwilling.
Visit any frat party or bar, you will see competitive male behavior, sexual dimorphism, and sexual selection in human populations, just so you can’t attack me by saying “that only exists in non-human animals.”
And as a note, your logic has considerable holes in it. You state a presumption, usually factual, such as men produce sperm into their 90’s. Then there’s this HUGE TRAIN OF LOGIC MISSING. And then you state a ridiculous consequence that you purport to be derived from your presumptions. It’s called a Non Sequitur (“It does not follow”). If you can’t show me step by step the argument you are making, and how it derives from previous proofs, you aren’t making an argument based on logic; you are making an appeal to emotion.
McMike
@Chris: That’s a laugh and a half.
Lemme guess, you’re not very attractive, are you, so you wouldn’t have a clue to how many men actually are into sleeping with other men.
Sorry, Bubba, but go find an attractive gay man and he’ll tell you not only do about 80% of the guys exchange “looks” with him but the guy who is most likely to do it is the one who’s girlfriend is looking the other way.
It’s amazing those who haven’t a clue act like they do.
jason
Chris,
You can’t deny that there is a pro-female bisexual double standard in society. It’s promoted by sleazy straight guys and their female enablers. Don’t underestimate the role of women in this.
Women are not these innocent little creatures they claim to be. They are devious as a culture, and will use the concept of sexuality as a marketing ploy to obtain benefits that are unrelated to sexual satisfaction.
I would go so far as to claim that women are co-conspirators, co-operating with sleazy straight guys to maintain the bisexual double standard.
McMike
btw, Queerty needs to get rid of it’s rating system or do away with censoring the postings since it seems to me the rating system is flawed BIG time.
So, supposedly, everyone agrees with Chris and disagrees with anyone who isn’t spouting out the crap he is. I’m not buying it.
McMike
btw2, do you know how you can tell someone is hijacking the rating system??? Because the votes are all one-sided. It’s either 4 thumbs up and 0 thumbs down or the exact opposite.
If someone was going to really do a thumbs up or a thumbs down one would think they would take the time out to reply to it and give a reason why. The whole “5 thumbs up” for Chris’ misogyny statement is the perfect example.
Chris
@McMike: And now you guys can’t even find something to actually attack me on, and have to make up shit about me in order to pretend like you’re correct. That’s called an Ad hominem (and it’s a fallacy), since it seems like I need to have a logic course with some Queerty readers.
and @Jason, you’re correct, I would agree with you that there is a huge double standard in the way bisexuality is treated amongst men and women. I do think it’s because of straight guys who want to get their rocks off. But I would never even dream of calling someone’s sexual experiences fake or devious. If a woman has a sexual experience with a woman, even if it IS to fulfill a sleazy male fantasy, I think that’s a step in the right direction, because IT HAPPENED. Because guess what, that girl can’t say “Oh those nasty queers, I’d never do that.” It makes people question their notions about the rigidity of sexuality, and exposes straight males to homonormalcy. It all helps defeat heterosexism.
I think because you are so caught up in these thoughts, you can’t see just how misogynistic your words are. If you saw this as a woman or as a 3rd party, you would probably cringe. Women are devious little creatures who are co-conspiring to maintain a bisexual double standard? “Gays are devious little creatures who are conspiring to break traditional family values and turn all our men gay.” Does the parallelism not alarm anyone else?
caffesilvia
I know it wasn’t used as an attack in this article, but gay guys often say that bi guys are “greedy sex whores.” That has always perplexed me – gay guys accusing other people of being promiscuous? Really?
demonyc
the question is the problem.
ONE ad about ONE oouple where ONE of the partners is trysting for all we know ONCE with ONE person cannot answer ANY question about ALL persons of ONE type.
i just got done watching “the letter” with bette davis where she shooter her lover, is found innocent, confesses to her husband that she’s still in love with the man she killed, then is killed by her lover’s wife. bi images are still new in the media, as are gay images relative to str8, so we should stop asking every picture its life story.
jason
The only way we are going to win the war on bisexuality is to come down hard on female bisexuals whose bisexual behavior is tailored to align with their boyfriends’ fantasies. These women include female porn stars, female pop singers, female actors and any other female who claims to be bisexual for the express purpose of pleasing straight guys.
These women need to be kicked out of our movement.
Soupy
Christ, do we really need another war?
jason
Soupy,
Unfortunately, we do. We need it because the sexual revolution has essentially propped up male heterosexual fantasy at our expense.
The sexual revolution was never about sexual inclusiveness. Rather, it was about encouraging women to wear less clothing, to be promiscuous, and to be bisexual – all for the benefit of sleazy straight guys.
The only reason the sexual revolution tolerated us gay and bisexual men was because it needed us to fight the war against social conservatives. It was simply a relationship of convenience, and not one based on genuine acceptance.
Jeffree
@Jason: In post 34, you asserted the need to “come down hard on female bisexuals” — please make some concrete suggestions on how we do this.
Thanks!
yal
The problem is that we are all looking at this ad as gay people on a gay website expecting gay content.
Most straight people watching the ad would experience it differently, because once they see the other man come home, and the man and woman stop and get the deer-in-headlights look, they would assume that it is the woman’s boyfriend/husband and not the man’s. The subtle revelation at the end would surprise them and challenge their assumptions, as Timothy and EdWoody pointed out upthread.
It’s actually a pretty neat little ad from that perspective.
CaliberGuy
@McMike:
You should by that your misogynistic view is not popular with a majority of queerty readers, especially when you can replace the word women and for the most part have the same crappy sleazy arguments used against the LGBT community.
Maybe Mommy touched wrong but there is nothing wrong with women and we as a community should reach out to them in the struggle for full equality as they are still fighting for it.
Or you can continue to be a misogynistic cave man, but stop complaining when the majority of civilized society tells you, most clearly threw ratings that they find your views to be repulsive.
Swedish Fish
Fuck off, Jason. No one likes you and your inane arguments.
Alex
I really like this ad. It’s a nice reversal and I appreciate that.
Flip
I think it’s hot. I love it when two men play footsie under the table. Playing footsie is a lost art, sad to say.
Any man who does that to me is a winner in my book.
Just sayin’!
JohnnyTrue
I’m bi – I liked it – it was a cute twist.
That said, I don’t like their policy of not accepting exchanges without a receipt. Where else would I have purchased something so obviously from IKEA? Stupid
McMike
@Chris: What are you talking about? Stop trying to spit out $4 words you can’t even afford.
I was NOT attacking you. I was pointing out that somehow 20 Queerty readers supposedly agree with your statement and disagree with anyone who happens to disagree with you.
I don’t need to see nor smell shite to know bullshite when I encounter it.
Queerty, in essence, is censoring people. The more I come to Queerty the less I like it. Why are they even hiding people’s comments just because some dumbass can log-in to more than on computer and rate thumbs up or thumbs down as many times as they like. Even if that isn’t the case, which all things point to it is, it’s still censorship.
McMike
@CaliberGuy: Give it up. I’ve dated more than a few women and I think women rock. However, I was talking about the difference between a woman saying ‘fag’ and a man saying it so get off your high-horse, go grab some education (because you sound like one dumb motherf*cker) and STFU.
McMike
@Chris: btw, Chris, anytime you want to match intellect let’s have at it.
You feel like you could teach me some logic??? You’re too funny because you don’t know who the f*ck you’re dealing with. Here, Chris, let’s see how quickly you can figure this “logic” problem out:
If 20% of men report being totally straight yet when these men are divided into two groups, 80% of one group and 35% of the other group get erections when shown gay porn then what is the actual percentage of straight men.
— You can always tell someone doesn’t know WTF they’re talking about when they think they’re somehow smarter than someone else but Chris, my dear, if you want to start flinging the logic mud around you need to figure out who the f*ck is in the sandbox with you first.
jason
You shouldn’t use responses to porn as a guide on sexual orientation. Porn is about voyeurism, and not necessarily personal sexual experiences or personal sexual orientation. People watch porn for different reasons – for the bodies, for the personalities, for the sexual acts that are not your typical ones – eg double penetration, orgies etc etc.
Think of porn as more of a circus show rather than as a guide to the sexual orientation of the person who is watching the porn.
MMDD
@jason: Totally agree with you on that. I’ve watched and gotten aroused by things in porn that I have no interest in doing in my personal life (glory hole sex, for example). I think reaction to porn CAN indicate a person’s sexual orientation, but to quote an old song, “it ain’t necessarily so.”
McMike
Wow, after reading Jason’s hidden comments I can’t believe Queerty is allowing one person to hijack their whole website since Jason’s comments were spot-on. There is absolutely no way, for example, nine people disagreed with his posting while only one person agreed with it.
I am quickly losing interest in a website that allows one single person to censor what everyone is reading. I kinda figured Chris was hijacking the rating system but after being allowed to view the previously hidden postings I am more than confident this is the case now.
Queer Supremacist
Jason is right. The sexual revolution was nothing but a breeder movement to get breeder boys easier access to pussy. We gays gained nothing because of it, unless you consider a worldwide pandemic a gain.
OrchidIslander
@Queer Supremacist: “Jason is right….” Words that you never, ever thought you would hear in a single sentence!
@McMike; “There is absolutely no way, for example, nine people disagreed with his posting while only one person agreed with it.”
Absolutely “way” that a substantial amount of people disagree with Jason’s comments compared to the few, very few, people who do agree with him. I daresay it happens in almost all of his posts. The majority of his posts are polarizing, racist, misogynistic and yet he can be an provocative read. It’s good to know that all of us “mos” are not in lock step and some of our member’s views are as extreme as any other group, but very few would look to Jason as a voice of reason and enlightenment.
So don’t get your conspiracy-theory, paranoid-panties in a bunch. Jason, though entertaining, is extremely easy to be disagreed with.