Two Way A Woman Can Get Hurt Jean Kilbourne Analysis

Jean Kilbourne’s “Two Way a Woman Can Get Hurt: Advertising and Violence” is a section of a book titled: “Deadly Persuasion: Why Women and Girls Must Fight the Addictive Power of Advertising” that was originally published in 1999. It is about the images of women that advertisements illustrate. The central claim or thesis of the document is that: “advertising helps to create a climate in which certain attitudes and values flourish and it plays a role in shaping people’s ideas” (paraphrase). The author wants people by all genders and young children to acknowledge a right attitude towards what is shown in the advertisements so that the standards of behavior will not be influenced. As a result, it enables the negative contribution from the advertisements to be limited or eliminated.

Advertising takes the advantage of sex to meet the customers’ needs in term of emotion.

Accordingly, “pornography can be considered mainstream” (page 460, paragraph 1, line 5), said the author. However, there were problems brought up since the pornography glorify the violence and crimes, and it had no difficulties in being shown in mass media. Jean Kilbourne, though, did not place all the blame on advertising when she pointed out: “Ads don’t directly cause violence, of course. But the violent images contribute to the state of terror” (page 466, paragraph 2, line 1). Such erroneous attitudes are known to be existed as: “women are valuable only as objects of men’s desire, that real men are always aggressive, that violence is erotic, and that women who are the victims of sexual assault “ask for it”” (page 478, paragraph 5, line 2). The impact it made on women well-being is dreadful when it comes with them along their journey through life starting from being misbelieved as young to ending up with self

destruction.

By introducing the negative factors that advertisements included, Kilbourne built a foundation on how it influences people’s perspectives. Numerous of newspapers and research report was presented that proves the reliability of the evidence. The author mentioned the 1998 study by the federal government regarding the sexual assault rate (page 468, paragraph 2) or an article in the journal “Eating Disorders” on sexual harassment (page 474, paragraph 4), etc. Besides all the datas and facts given, her statements are also being supported by stories she collected, such as the case in 1990 of a 3 year old girl being accused of being “sexually aggressive” that show how the responsibility was falsely shifted. Moreover, the purpose of the case is to display emotion of sympathy for the victim or emotion of aversion for the damage causer. However, in doing so, the claims that “there is no danger for most men, whereas the women are always at risk” (page 467, paragraph 3) can be made clear. In comparison, since the author might have a tendency of taking the advertisements fairly serious, there is a possibility that she presents interpretation which against the viewers’ understanding of those advertisements’ contends. As a consequence, it fails to persuade the audience and leads to a disagreement.

To sum up, the author wonderfully persuades audience in her theories through reliable and convincing evidence. This text is fully effective in using (name the strategies) to convince individuals by all genders including adults and children of remaining a right point of view and not falling for what advertisements try to present.