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In the article “Two Ways A Woman Can Get Hurt” by Jean Kilbourne, it states that
“society ridicules men who not in control of their women and disparages fidelity and commitment” (493). One of the main points in this article is that in many of the advertisements Kilbourne studied, women are shown in situations that are compromising to their personal safety, or women are depicted as submissive objects rather than people. Kilbourne declares “turning a human into an object is almost always the first step towards justifying violence towards that person” (498). The article also showed a statistic that “one in five women will be the victim of rape or attempted rape by the time they turn seventeen” (Kilbourne 500). Kilbourne also mentions that there is a critical difference when men and
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women are depicted in comprising ways in advertisements, in that unlike a woman, a man’s personal psychical safety, is rarely questioned (499). In conclusion Kilbourne believes that by watching advertisements that depict women poorly, men believe that this is how women should be treated which is endangering to their lives. Not all research however, points to women always being the gender in danger. David Benatar studied what he called second sexism, or sexism against men rather than women (304). Benatar believes that man are discriminated against just for being men, as women are discriminated again for their gender. For example, Benatar says that men are pressured to join the military and choose a role in combat, which not only endangers their physical self, but also their psychological well-being (304). Regarding sexual assault, Benatar says that while it is less common, when a male is assaulted, it is taken less seriously because of society’ idea that men are fearless, able to withstand more pain and more capable of self defense than women are (305). In the court cases Benatar studied, he found that women are not only less likely to get arrested, but are given more lenient sentencing. Research draws the conclusion that by showing viewers of all ages, images of women in vulnerable and submissive positions, or playing stereotypical roles, it can not only degrade women’s societal worth, but incite violence against them. And research has shown that women are the only victims of sexism or physical danger, though researchers may disagree to what extent this varies for each gender. Argument Advertising companies hold a tremendous amount of power over their viewers.
These companies can essentially brainwash those who watch their advertisements into believing whatever they choose. An advertising company may release a commercial that shows gender stereotypes such as the breadwinning Dad, and the stay-at-home mom and have no ill intentions; but they are subliminally reinforcing gender norms and stereotypes through their ad. Women of all ages see sexist advertisements and believe that deviating from gender norms is wrong and therefore have to live their lives in a way that is unauthentic for their self, and dangergoud for their health. Dr. Suzanne Petroni, a Senior Director at the International Center for Research on Women, found that “gender norms and inequality have a significant link for suicide and vulnerability”(Valenti.Sexism). Women are taught through advertising that men are dominant and powerful beings, and that women should live their lives submissively and in fear. Although research has proven that sexist advertisements can incite violence against women, it fails to fully explain the consequences of these hostile advertisements on a woman mental and physical
health. Men are typically not oblivious to the fact that they are dominant over women; they know that they are more powerful and seeing dozens of sexist advertisements each day has only reinforced this biological concept. If a woman steps out of what rank the male perceives her to be or acts insubordinate, there is a chance that the man will become angry and violent. Advertisers have cued in to this biological (insert fitting word) and will continue to use this marketing strategy so long as men are watching. An example of a company using this advertising strategy is Ford Motors India, who created an advertisement that was horrifying to women but they hoped men would respond to.
It’s clear that those advertisements try to make an impact on our buying decisions. We can even say they manipulate viewers by targeting specific group of people or categorizing them so they could have a feeling this product is intended for them or what he or she represents. For instance, they use gender stereotypes. Advertises make use of men and woman appearance or behavior for the sake of making the message memorable. Therefore, most effective and common method is to represent a woman as a sexual object. They are linked with home environment where being a housewife or a mother is a perfect job for the. In other hand men are used more as work done representations. They are associated with power, leadership and efficiency. Those stereotypes make the consumer categorize themselves and reveals the mainstream idea of social status each gender needs to be to fit in and what products they are necessary to have to be part of that
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
First, Kilbourne’s research should be praised tremendously for bringing to light the unhealthy impression of true beauty in today’s culture. Kilbourne challenges the audience to reconsider their viewpoints on advertising that is sublime with sexual language. The evolution of advertising and product placement has drastically changed the real meaning of being a woman. According to the movie, every American is exposed to hundreds and thousands of advertisements each day. Furthermore, the picture of an “ideal women” in magazines, commercials, and billboards are a product of numerous computer retouching and cosmetics. Media creates a false and unrealistic sense of how women should be viewing themselves. Instead of being praised for their femininity and prowess, women are turned into objects. This can be detrimental to a society filled with girls that are brainwashed to strive to achieve this unrealistic look of beauty.
The world is becoming more aware of the gender hierarchy occurring in our society. Men are consistently leaders and placed in positions of power while women are seen as inferior. Jean Kilbourne, author of “Two ways a Woman Can Get Hurt”, investigates this ideology as she looks throughout media and advertisements and highlights their sexually explicit commercials that degrade woman. In comparison, Allan G. Johnson, writer of Why Do We Make So Much of Gender?, discusses how the world’s view of gender has changed over time and how it has affected the world. Kilbourne and Johnson outline the presence of a gender hierarchy but do not accurately interpret why it happens. The underlying presence driving patriarchy is hidden deep in men’s resistance
Common sense seems to dictate that commercials just advertise products. But in reality, advertising is a multi-headed beast that targets specific genders, races, ages, etc. In “Men’s Men & Women’s Women”, author Steve Craig focuses on one head of the beast: gender. Craig suggests that, “Advertisers . . . portray different images to men and women in order to exploit the different deep seated motivations and anxieties connected to gender identity.” In other words, advertisers manipulate consumers’ fantasies to sell their product. In this essay, I will be analyzing four different commercials that focuses on appealing to specific genders.
In the article “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt,” by Jean Killbourne, she discusses the culture of male superiority over females. With the rise of feminism and exposure to media being at an all-time high, the two topics seem to be overlapping more and more. Daily, society is flooded with sexist, violent, and inappropriate ads and messages that usually degrade women and praise men. This is an issue which only recently gained traction while the “feminist” movement increased in popularity. Women are wrongly objectified for the sake of tradition and a male-driven agenda.
The documentary Killing Us Softly 4 discusses and examines the role of women in advertisements and the effects of the ads throughout history. The film begins by inspecting a variety of old ads. The speaker, Jean Kilbourne, then discusses and dissects each ad describing the messages of the advertisements and the subliminal meanings they evoke. The commercials from the past and now differ in some respects but they still suggest the same messages. These messages include but are not limited to the following: women are sexual objects, physical appearance is everything, and women are naturally inferior then men. Kilbourne discusses that because individuals are surrounded by media and advertisements everywhere they go, that these messages become real attitudes and mindsets in men and women. Women believe they must achieve a level of beauty similar to models they see in magazines and television commercials. On the other hand, men expect real women to have the same characteristics and look as beautiful as the women pictured in ads. However, even though women may diet and exercise, the reality...
According to Jeanne Kilbourne essay, Kilbourne talks about women being abused by men in visual advertisements and the consequences of those representations. I for one, argue with Kilbourne that women are being too exposed and hurt when they are in advertisements. So using Kilbourne 's analytical perspective and my own perspective we can give our insights on why we feel women are being treated badly and unequally from men with the following pictures. From the past till today women in advertisement pictures have been mostly victimized by men, and Kilbourne and I feel this sort of action needs to come to an end.
Thus, we can assume that the audience itself, the members who believe in the content of ads and its sincerity, as well as, people who agree with the portrait of the women that is being created are the only prisoners in this particular situation. “To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images” (Plato 868). On the other hand, according to the Jean Kilbourne, author of “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt” what is not mention to the public is the fact, that many women from the very young age during the process of finding out the truth and being blinded by the “light” are fighting with depression, low self-esteem, eating disorders and sexual harassment. “I contend that all girls growing up in this culture are sexually abused – abused by the pornographic images of female sexuality that surround them from birth, abused by all the violence against woman and girls, and abused by the constant harassment and threat of violence” (Kilbourne
To sum up, it is often said that advertising is shaping women gender identity, and some have been argued that the statement is true, because of the higher amount of sexual references of women that advertisement show and the damages that occur on women’s personality and the public negative opinions of those women. As well, the negative effects that those kinds of advertisements cause to young generations and make them feel like they should simulate such things and are proud of what they are doing because famous actors are posting their pictures that way. Others deem this case as a personal freedom and absolutely unrelated to shaping women gender identity. On the contrast, they believe that, those sorts of advertisements are seriously teaching women how to stay healthy and be attractive, so they might have self-satisfaction after all.
The portrayals of men in advertising began shifting towards a focus on sexual appeal in the 1980s, which is around the same that women in advertising were making this shift as well. According to Amy-Chinn, advertisements from 1985 conveyed the message that “men no longer just looked, they were also to be looked at” as seen in advertisements with men who were stripped down to their briefs (2). Additionally, advertisements like these were influencing society to view the male body “as an objectified commodity” (Mager and Helgeson 240). This shows how advertisements made an impact on societal views towards gender roles by portraying men as sex objects, similarly to women. By showcasing men and women in little clothing and provocative poses, advertisements influenced society to perceive men and women with more sexual
She wants to shed light on the fact that men can also be victims of marital rape and not just women. Marital rape laws can be highly misleading with regard to what
Buy this toy! Now only $19.99! These statements might be something a person could hear blaring out of his or her television set from the next room. It 's easy for an adult to tune out commercials, but children soak these messages right up whether a parent wants them to or not. Because the messages in toy commercials promote gender stereotypes which harm social equality, advertisers need to adopt gender-blind methods of advertising. The harmful effects of gender-stereotypical advertising can be quantified through looking at how the job market is divided. Parents themselves can take steps to push advertising companies in the correct direction by learning the ways these companies subliminally send stereotypical messages and taking personal steps
The average American is exposed to hundreds of advertisements per day. Advertisements targeted toward females have an enormous effect on women's thoughts, attitudes, perceptions, and actions. Most of the time, women don't even realize these advertisements are formulating self-image issues. These ideals surround them daily and they become naturalized to the ads. Advertising creates an entire worldview persuading women to emulate the images they see all around them. In order to create a market for their products, companies constantly prey upon women's self esteem, to feel like they aren't good enough just the way they are. This makes women constantly feel stressed out about their appearance (Moore). Advertising has a negative effect on women's body image, health, and self-esteem.
With so much exposure to this type of media, it is easy to become desensitised to it. With America becoming numb to the violence in these advertising tactics, domestic violence is an increasing problem as brutality against women has become trivialized. Jean Kilbourne 's “‘Two Ways a Woman can get Hurt”: Advertising and Violence’ argues that violence in advertising profoundly affects people in a skewed physiological manner, leading to violence against women. Kilbourne insists that “...violent images contributes to the state of terror...” felt by women who feel victimized by men who “...objectify and are disconnected...” from the women they mistreat (431). She furthers her argument by dictating that “....turning a human being into…an object, is almost always the first step towards justifying violence against that person” (431). So much of the media that America consumes is centered on dehumanizing women into an object of male enjoyment. It is difficult to have empathy toward a material object. Because of this objectification, men feel less guilty when enacting brutality upon women. Violence becomes downplayed because it is seen everywhere - in advertising and media - and this has contributed significantly to the cases of domestic violence in America. America has become numb to violence against women in advertising, leading to an alarming increasing domestic violence in this