As a woman
in this society I have often thought about why beauty is so important in my
culture and why must I always be sexy or look my best at all times? Well if you
actually sit down and think many of you like I did will begin to notice how big
of an impact the media has on this. I would like for you to watch this You tube
Video clip Called Killing Us softly 3: Advertisement Image of Woman before you
keep reading to get an Idea of what you’re about to read. http://youtu.be/_FpyGwP3yzE. This video
has 3 different parts to it and Jane Kilbourne is a Feminist Author speaks
about this subject in great detail.
Today and many years ago the
media and advertisement industry has shown us that "SEX" Literally sells. Most Advertisement Ads have degrading
woman by sexualizing them in order to sell the products. However, the funny
thing is that we can no longer even see what items are for sell since the
advertisement business is so focused on the sexual aspect of it so that our
target audience “ MEN” can be drawn
into the advertisement. But this is also not where the problem lays, not only
does the advertisement industry invest its market in sex but over the years it has
ruined the true beauty of women by telling them how their bodies are suppose to
look, when in reality most of the models are photo shopped and are not even as
thin as they look in these Ads. Many of these woman who are part of the media industry
speak out and state how they have developed eating disorders just to look Ideal
for society. One great example of that was Isabelle Caro, who was a French model
who died at only 28 Years old of anorexia nervosas (Eating disorder) http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/31/world/europe/31caro.html
While I sat
in my psychology of woman course last semester I was astonished and furious to
learn the true about advertisement and woman. Every things started to click in
my head and then I notice advertisement is in our faces everyday no matter
where we look we see high end fashion Ad’s who were selling their products by
using women as Objects (literally objects). Some Ads which caught my attention
the most are the ones with Woman and the car commercial by having woman place a
magazine in their face with the car and just exposing their naked bodies dismembering
them and only displaying or screen shooting their breast, boots, or cutting off
parts of their bodies in Ads to display shoes, bags or clothing http://www.ltcconline.net/lukas/gender/pages/object.htm, http://womeninads.weebly.com/.
Or even worst the Ads which promote domestic violence showing women with bruised
eyes or man using them as leashes like animals. Please see this link to read
more about women as sex icons and domestic violence promotion http://www.policymic.com/articles/4439/are-women-in-the-media-only-portayed-as-sex-icons-statistics-show-a-massive-gender-imbalance-across-industries.
Or even this link which has a disturbing
photo of a women who’s advertising becoming vegetarian from the PETA
organization http://adland.tv/content/petas-top-five-most-offensive-and-most-sexist-ads-
How more disturbing can this be.
Woman often
play the submissive roles and never look at the camera directly are either
looking away or looking down, while man in the other hand look straight at the
camera and play Dominant roles. Take a look at advertisements around you for
now and start observing this trend- I want you all to be able to look into this
a little more because it’s a really big eye opener and there so much more to
know. I want you to think about why I ended it here with the man playing dominant
roles and woman look away or are submissive.
I think I was in the same Psych of Women class. We went over the Media and how many leadership positions women actually hold; it was astounding to find out only 3% of those in charge were women in the media. Yet, there are so many things 'marketed' to women telling them they need things such as vaginal whitening cream. It is really sad to see these advertisements and acknowledge the degrading messages however, women are still following these things believing they will get more positive attention from the opposite sex by dressing and behaving a certain way.
ReplyDeleteDismemberment is so disturbing. As women, we are so much more than the sum of our parts, let alone worth only a focus on a couple of them. But, as much as women are objectified in the media, where does the personal responsibility lie? The women who participate in these ads are not being forced into it. So who's to blame? Our patriarchal society, for one, because that is what aided in the establishment of society's view of women as a whole. But what about ourselves? Are we our worst enemy? If there is so much power in our bodies and the sale of goods and services, can we not take a stand and advocate for change?
ReplyDeleteMedia is absolutely one of our worst enemies and when I say our I mean women. We are not acknowledged for our education and skills but acknowledged for our body parts.As seen in class the commercial for the women in the Olympics were focused on there body parts truly very sexual when in reality these women should be recognized for their talents.Although we might have some control on what we allow media to put out media can always flip it around and make it be portrayed into the way they want it to.
DeleteWe can always stand and advocate for change but not all women are educated on how bad things really are in this type of industry if we begin to educate woman we can all stand together and fight !
DeleteIt is interesting to compare this blog post to SamanthaM's blog of What is Beauty Really Worth, where Cameron Russell reveals secrets about her life as a model. She admits that the most insecure women are the ones who themselves cause insecurity, indirectly of course. Going from what this post introduced, women are insecure about their image because of the manner in which women are depicted in the media. However Cameron Russell, a model herself states that models are also insecure. So what is it that all women are chasing in order to feel good about themselves? The same image that are sold to women doesn't even truly bring happiness, because in fact the image in itself is just a "construction." It is not something real or even attainable. The only thing attainable is loving who we really are with all our imperfections because in reality, those imperfections is what makes us truly beautiful. But I hope I am preaching to the choir.
ReplyDeleteUnless consumerism becomes obsolete, these advertisements of women will continue. Its a disturbing, but sad fact. No one is willing to remove themselves from the materialistic aspect of society. If smartphones were being advertised in ways where women were portrayed as sex objects, these smartphones would still be sold to men AND women. The culture of women being seen as objects dates back to Biblical days, when men were permitted to have multiple wives, slaves, and prostitutes in their possession. Yes, I said possession, because thats how those women were treated- like "things" to covet and possess, rather than being considered humans. It is no wonder that advertising companies play off the assets of women, because thats all some people regard us as, assets with the ability to bear children. The images of women in the media are disgusting and misconstrued. In the Ted Talk with Cameron Russell, she did admit that the most insecure women are insecure because of the expectations that are placed on us. One thing that I was personally expecting to hear from her speech was the relationship between unrealistic, body image expectations and the development of eating disorders (something pointed out by Intellectuallady4) The portrayal of women as less than their physical attributes is just enough to direct women, and teenage girls, down the path of insecurity, depression, self harm, and eating disorders.
ReplyDeleteIn response to your opening statement of always feeling like you have to look sexy or your best at all times- Us women are not here to impress the likes of men. Don't feel like you have to try to look your best, because I am sure that each of us can be beautiful without trying. We do not need to succumb to the desires of men, nor should we be dehumanized as eye candy. Not to get all feminist here, but if we are less concerned about how men view us, and more concerned about how we view each other and how we can support one another in a male dominated society, true change will arise for the women of today.
DeleteYou have to be very strong and secure with yourself in order to not let this type of advertising effect you, in my opinion. Here in the city, we are bombarded with it a whole lot more with billboards and flyers all over the place...especially of some risqué material. If you didn't grow up with parents that helped you learn self love, or even a stable childhood at all, it is just easy to look at these "beautiful women" and feel inadequate, and feel like you need to be that beautiful/have that perfume/ etc to get a better job, or a husband, or what have you. It's a natural instinct to want to attract a mate, but we as a society are really talented at advertising to women to make them feel awful about themselves just to buy silly products.
ReplyDeleteOur society is truly barraged with ads that objectify and hyper-sexualize women and girls, and ads that hold them to an impossible standard of beauty. The tide does not seem to be turning yet, but there seem to be some examples of campaigns attempting to counteract the awful trends listed in this post. Namely, Dove's "Real Beauty" ads, which feature "real women" with all their imperfections (http://www.wonderbranding.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/dove_wideweb__430x327.jpg) are refreshing in their employment of non-models, though the campaign still propagates traditional female ideals of beauty and hygiene (e.g., shaved underarms, blemish-free skin, etc.). I think the more we, as a society, expose the subliminal methods of objectification in advertising's portrayals of women, the less effective these methods will be, and hopefully this will result in a paradigm shift in women's favor.
ReplyDelete