Jean Kilbourne Killing USftly Analysis

In the documentary Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising’s Image of Women by Jean Kilbourne, she talks about how women are depicted in advertisement. The average American will spend 2 years of their life just watching advertisement, and most of these people will make the claim that the ads were not effective to them. Jean Kilbourne stresses that the advertisement companies make their ads quick and cumulative so that they almost seem forgettable. However, the advertisements will still resonate in your mind unconsciously. Kilbourne argues that the objectification of women in the advertisement industry: negatively affects the mental health of women with the societal need to be perfect, encourages the eroticism of violence, and tells women they need

Jean Kilbourne is an advocate for women and is leading a movement to change the way women are viewed in advertising. She opens up the curtains to reveal the hard truth we choose to ignore or even are too obtuse to notice. Women are objectified, materialized, and over-sexualized in order to sell clothes, products, ideas and more. As a woman, I agree with the position Kilbourne presents throughout her documentary Killing Us Softly 4: The Advertising’s Image of Women (2010) and her TEDx Talk The Dangerous Ways Ads See Women (2014.) She demonstrates time and again that these advertisements are dangerous and lead to unrealistic expectations of women.

The use of sexualization also reinforces a pattern of gender roles that are currently circulating throughout advertisements. More often than not, women who are used as ploys in ads are seen doing household chores like vacuuming, changing the toilet paper, or making coffee. Females are rarely ever seen in a work place, and definitely not in a powerful position. In fact, the directors of most of these ads place women below or behind the man to show who has the power in actuality. Women are seen as skinny, fragile, and immobile in high heels, while men are strong and powerful. By setting up such a strong binary between the two different groups, it is obvious that the majority of the American society will not be able to fit into these roles, and it leaves a sense of rejection for the average person. This rejection, accepted by the viewers, manifests

Gender role bias in advertisements has been so prevalent for so long that the untrained eye wouldn't even discern it. All the same, these biases, for the most part, put women in subordinate positions and men in dominant ones. This assumption on both the genders is unfair and demeaning. These ads portray women as subservient and play toys for men. Not only do the models depict an image nowhere near close to reality, but their bodies are scantily clad and what few clothes they are wearing are very revealing.

Jean Kilbourne’s video Killing Us Softly 3: Advertising’s Image of Women touches on how advertising affects the way women are viewed. Kilbourne a renowned speaker who likes to educate minds about the effects of advertising is portrayed on women receives her degree at Wellesley College and then went and received her Doctorate from Boston University. Kilbourne was appointed to serve on that National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in 1993. While on this council she was recognized to be an expert in media, gender issues, and lastly addictions. She has made many lectures across the United States and Canada to the help educate the students. Along with educating the young minds of students, Kilbourne has won numerous amounts of award-winning documentary films that speak on public health, media, and violence (Jean Kilbourne). With all this recognition and experience that she received throughout her journey, it gives her extensive credibility on this media related subject.

What do you see when you look in the mirror? Do you like what you see? In Jean Kilbourne’s article, “Two Ways a Woman Can Hurt,” she discusses the sexualization of women in advertising and how it plays a role in violence against women. Elline Lipkin discusses the causes and effects of negative body images in her article, “Girls’ Bodies, Girls’ Selves.” Although I agree with Kilbourne that advertising and violence can be related, it is important to consider Lipkin’s argument about how advertising shapes body image in a negative way because while a lot of women experience violence, everyone experiences the effects that advertisements have on body image.

In Jean Kilbourne’s Killing Us Softly she states that “Ads sell a great deal more than products. They sell values, images, and concepts of success and worth...” In my opinion, this could statement could not be more true. It seems as though the media projects images that subconsciously tell women how to live their lives “prosperously.” In advertisements, the ultimate success in life is based solely on looks, and as Kilbourne indicates, the most desirable look for women is reached through being very thin, white, with large breasts and the perfect skin. Most importantly, with the achievement of this “ideal look,” comes the promise of success in terms of happiness, romance, and self-control.

I agree with Jean Kilbourne’s perspective which argues that women are misrepresented by the media because they have to live up to standards of body image that the media creates, which is a significant aspect of a consumer’s self-concept. Women are perceived to be skinny and light complexion. Even though that is not the case, the media continues to impact people. This leads to social comparison, which has an impact one’s self esteem because one then tries to evaluate her appearance by comparing it to the women depicted in these ads. There are however, some limitations to her arguments. For example, if women are as free as she implies then they are free to reject the messages of advertisements. Her argument can only go so far because it is not

In society today, men are seen as superior to women. Men are placed on a pedestal as if they are more important. Advertisements tend to make this situation worse. The advertisements are shown everyday degrade women and make it seem as if they have to look a certain way in order to be perfect. Women are portrayed as less important in the media due to body shaming, constant comparison to societal standards, and being hypersexualized.

Jean Kilbourne analyzes two sides to the spectrum in which women are damaged. As the title states, these two ways reveal themselves as advertising and violence. She then dives deep into the dark world of advertising and exposes the vile nature of these productions. Kilbourne selected and criticized a large number of specific ads implying sexual behavior and aggression towards women. Looking through these ads, she then suggests how treating women in such a sexually degrading way may lead to violence and how these behaviors must be stopped. Many instances have been laid out including many female teens being emotionally abused at school and online. Women are seemly unable to escape these problems as long as men are around. In the

Next I am going to talk about advertising focused on gender roles as a form of negative media. For women, the media is always focused on how they look. It constantly degrades women’s self esteem by telling them to be skinny, vulnerable, powerless, and silenced. In addition, the media turns women into objects or things instead of beings, which encourages violence towards them. This teaches women it is okay for people to use them. Men are also negatively impacted by the media as they are scrutinized for having feminine qualities such as compassion, nurturance, cooperation, empathy, sensitivity, and good communication skills. Men are told they must be violent, brutal, and ruthless, especially towards women. The media’s perspective on what it means

This video is entitled “The Next Time Someone Says Sexism Isn't Real, Show Them These Shocking Role-Reversal Images” by Darcie Conway. I chose this article because it talks about sexism and I know for sure that sexism is happening everywhere. It is due to media and technology, like television, magazines, advertisement and etc. Furthermore, this video tells us about how men and women view the body of a woman. According to Conway, one study found that more than 50% of ads portrayed women in women’s magazines as an object”.

The first short story “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt”: Advertising and Violence” written by Jean Kilbourne, shows how a woman’s body is seen as more of an object rather than a person especially in advertisements. Kilbourne states, “The ways that ads portray bodies--especially women’s bodies-- as objects conditions us to see each other in dehumanizing ways, thus “normalizing” attitudes that can lead to sexual aggression” (Kilbourne). Treating women like they are objects in advertisements can lead to men having the wrong idea. There are even young girls being objectified in these ads.

The media uses its influence to spread its own idea of the perfect body type which is hurting our society but mostly, our youth. It uses sexual advertisements and commercials to get its point across which causes our society to become brainwashed because no one is willing to stand up to it. This causes the youth to become depressed and full of emotions that cannot be expressed because of fear of rejection. Advertising and Violence, “two ways a woman can get hurt,” as stated by Jean Kilbourne, an award winning author, speaker, and filmmaker who is globally recognized for her work on the image of women in advertising and her studies of advertising, in her essay, “Two ways a woman can get hurt.” In this essay she talks about the discrimination and misconception that is

Everyday there are thousands of ads surrounding us that, even if we don’t realize it, are influencing us in a negative way. The media plays a huge role in instilling gender roles and stereotypes in our children and even our adults. From toy ads telling boys that they should be in control and have power, to girl’s ads saying that they should be nice and caring. This even extends to adults with ads showing that men should be dominant in all situations and women should be passive objects for men’s sexual pleasure. Even though these types of ads are the majority, every once and a while there is an ad that breaks from this mold.