Bleeding Fiction

The image at left comes from a recent spate of hotmail ads for online dating services. All of the ads feature some lovely young woman (always a woman) and some sexually suggestive comment. Of all of the pictures, though, this is the one I think is most disturbing. I'd like to think that I don't, generally, have a very dirty mind. But trace the path of that girl's arm. Where, exactly, are you supposed to imagine her hand is? What, exactly, are you supposed to imagine she's doing? Do you see what I see?

I find the whole thing to be in exceptionally poor taste. Certainly it's objectifying, but so much of the way women are portrayed in the media is and I don't find that as repulsive as I do this. The picture portrays this woman, and thereby all women, as overtly sexual. Well, sure, people of either gender might want to have sex. Duh. But the context of this picture is that this particular woman is so horny that she's getting off right now. From a dating service, that's pretty low class.

Maybe I just have a funny view on relationships, but I figure that any one that's going to work for a while should be based around more than just the sex. Maybe I have a funny view of online dating services, but I figure that they should be geared for a bit more than a hook up (no matter how long). If you're just out for sex there are easier and cheaper ways than going to an online dating service.

Am I alone in my reading of this? Anyone want to back me up, or am I just blowing smoke?