Lots of discussions
show how women are portrayed in advertising which is geared towards men.
Female characters are objectified and devalued in advertisements. The
roles of women are depicted as inferior and submissive. In contrast, men are
depicted as masculine and powerful. Who caused these issues? I think the trend
is caused by both producers and consumers.
In “Where the Girls Are," Susan Douglas indicates
women’s feelings toward media. She writes, "in no small part because the
media, simultaneously, love and hate women." She focuses on the mixed
messages that pop culture broadcasts to women (Douglas 10). Media represents
women as flawless beauties with perfect bodies, hair and skin. This perception
is not true and until women realize this, they are victims of media. The
media often portrays women as housewives who remain submissive to men who
provide them material wealth. Females consume the images portrayed in the media
and advertisements. These women are convinced to believe untruthful ideas.
"Pamela Anderson's vegetarian ad for PETA."
The process of
Media Production and the images in media convince women to believe the media’s perception
of beauty. The creators, producers and editors of the media are mainly males.
To be exact, the media is male oriented and images of beauty were made to be
appealing to average white heterosexual men. The idenficiation of sex is
considered to be the important factor that led to objectification of women. Women
realized that they have lost both their sexual and spatial freedom because the media
focuses on women as sexual objects. Becoming aware that “sexy” sells better,
the media victimized women. According Jean Kilbourne’s “Beauty and the Beast of
Advertising," she writes, "female is generally presented as superwoman, who manages to do
all the work at home and on the job (with the help of a product, of course, not
of her husband or children or friends)” (Kilbourne 125). The techniques various
companies used were pretty similar that they were not only to objectify women
but also utilize their insecurities producing more sales to relieve the
insecurities. Kilbourne also wrote, “Advertisers are aware of their role and do
not hesitate to take advantage of the insecurities and anxieties of young
people, usually in the guise of offering solutions” (Kilbourne 129). This would be the evidence that indicates the
purpose of such pervasive media was to sell a woman’s “body.” This successfully
shaped the sense of each individual who became aware of the media’s
standards regarding such activities as romance, sex, beauty and understanding
of what is 'ideal' within the society.
“Sexism,”
in terms of media, had a corrosive impact on the ways a male-dominated society
formed and ran. This impact shaped the people’s perception of their place
within society. The messages media tried to send to the audience was that media
has a greater effect on the younger generation who understood and perceived
these images as instructive. Dressing up provocatively increased the intimacy
and romance of an untruthful image in media that disguised women as “unsexed.”
The second-wave feminist movement developed a population of true equality.
Media distorted the definition of equality. Early publications in 1848 in Naomi
Wolf’s analysis showed that the concept of feminists in those publications were
portrayed as “Unsexed women, who were too repulsive to find a husband. Women,
that are entirely devoid of personal attraction” (Wolf 68). Therefore, the
perception of feminists was created by the prejudice of males that wiped off
the cultural identities of women in media.
"Friday Feminist Fuck Yeah: The feminist protest in Barcelona"
Living in a world of patriarchy, men probably never realized the essential concern with the reversal of gender roles as Bell Hooks states “Men who have heard and know the word usually associate it with women’s liberation, with feminism, and therefore dismiss it as irrelevant to their own experiences” (Hooks 17). In order to stop this pervasive course of sexism in media, women or feminists have to reverse the gender roles and claim that they are "active" women. The advertisement of beer did not promote a person more of man. Perfumes did not make one any more of a woman. We need to be aware of how serious the issue is and be concerned for our well being as a society. Is it necessary to stop using female bodies to advertise and sell products? Is it helpful to stop being obsessed with flawless beauty? Should TV commercial or advertisement produce values or significance toward the audience of younger generation? People should not perceive ads and images based upon media's persuasion, instead, they should have their own thoughts to create a healthy, stereotype free and truly equal community.
Images found http://feministing.com/2014/10/31/friday-feminist-fuck-yeah-the-feminist-protest-in-barcelona/
Works Cited
Hooks, Bell. “The Oppositional Gaze.” Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston: South End Press, 1992: 115-31. Print.
Wolf, Naomi. "Culture." The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used against Women. New York: W. Morrow, 1991. Print.
Douglas, Susan. "Introduction to Where the Girls Are" Provocateur: Images of Women and Minorities in Advertising. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999. Print.
Kilbourne, Jean. Beauty and the Beast of Advertising. 1999. Kilbourne Copyright. Print
