The Film Killing Us Softly 4 : Advertising 's Image Of Women

According to Sociologist Craig Calhoun, socialization is “the process through which individuals internalize the values, beliefs, and norms of a society and learn to function as its members”(Calhoun, 2013). With that in mind, media, particularly the music video and advertisement industry, are essential parts of contemporary socialization, especially involving the perpetuation of gender roles in our culture. At a very young age, children learn, without difficulty, the differences between boys and girls, and what standards they are held to. Women are often objectified, systematically demoralized, and dehumanized in the music video industry and mainstream advertisement. External forces, such as the media, not only guide children to understand the norms of each gender, but these forces also shape children and adolescent’s perception of the self. The documentaries Killing Us Softly 4 directed by Jean Kilbourne and Dream World 3 directed by Sut Jhally explore the distorted and fallacious ideals of femininity and sexuality expressed in contemporary media.

As explained in Judith Lorber’s excerpt from “‘Night To His Day’: The Social Construction of Gender”, gender is a socially constructed concept that everyone unconsciously adheres to (Lorber). As a socially constructed concept, representations of gender roles can reinforce or challenge the stereotypical images. In Killing Us Softly 4, Jean Kilbourne analyzed the advertisement industry’s representation of women and argued that the media plays a huge role in shaping gender formations (Kilbourne). Although objectification of women is still a prevalent issue, Kilbourne acknowledged that there are efforts nowadays that challenges the unrealistic representations of women and femininity (Kilbourne). Inspired partly by Killing Us Softly 4, the project is my way to reflect on how the Disney movies I had watched as I grow up represented gender.

Society has a way of creating standards and expectations for the roles of men and women. The two videos Killing Us Softly and Tough Guise showed how society truly portrays men and women. The overall media system defines men. It is where they learn it what it means to be a “man”. In the video, Tough Guise, dominance, power, and control were the most commonly used adjectives to describe men. (1) Media not only gives men a certain role but it stereotypes certain races of men. Latinos are seen as boxers or criminals, Asian’s are seen as martial artists of sneaky criminals, and African Americans are seen as thugs or murderers. (1) Media directly associates violence with men. Violence has become an acepted part of masculinity. Young boys learn that if they don't want be be a “wimp” then they have to act out in violent ways. On the contrary, in the

"Only 5% of women in the United States naturally posses the body type portrayed in the media."( ) Everyday young women and teens are surrounded by media, whether it's magazines, television, radio, or newspapers. The media has a big impact on our every day lives and can take a negative toll. Teens and young women look up to the women that they see and hear about in media. They see different haircuts, outfits, and different body types that influence them, and the people in charge of media know this. The media portrays dangerous and unrealistic ideals of women's bodies that can be life threatening for them. This could ultimately lead to eating disorders, depression, and or unnecessary cosmetic surgery.

However, it is important to note that gender-based violence also effects men as well, specifically in the ways in which gender, race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status perpetuate men’s violent acts. Society’s meaning of “being a man” or “being masculine” are harmful influences to the overarching problem.

Thesis: The media puts pressure on women of all ages to conform to their standards of what looks best, and this pressure results in women having a negative body image.

The first key issue to consider when working with men who use violence to educate the male on how his behaviour reflects the definition of violence (Flood 2010, p. 16). The male may oppose this and display resentment, as the client may perceive the worker as an authoritative figure and representing criticism (Pease & Camilleri 2001, p. 39). However, it is important as a worker to educate the client on violence, and allow for personal exploration of these behaviours and feelings.

Consequently, Katz inquired from men in the video how it fell to be male, the audience replied, to be male is to feel strong, physical, independence, in control, powerful, tough, and real man is tough. And by the virtue of this assumption, men are pressured to conform to the role of violence

The media is our source of constant information, and is presented in many forms such as, daily newscasts, social media like Facebook, and the magazines strategically placed in our doctor’s office. There is no surprise that it is also the dominant influence when it comes to society’s beauty standard either. Unfortunately media isn’t a positive influence all the time, and is the main force behind negative body image epidemic that plagues women, especially the 18-25 age group. In order to fully understand the severity of what some call a “Vanity” issue we must look into the facts of how exactly the media damages women’s perception of their own bodies, and then observe the extent of the damage done to the physical and mental states of these women

In popular culture today, women have been reduced to just their body parts and are seen as pieces of meat. The gravitation towards having a more positive body image as well as a awareness of sexuality has been exploited in a thinly veiled manner by outlets such as music videos, the lyrics of certain music, advertisements, and video games, to appeal to certain audiences, unwittingly perpetuating an unattainable standard of beauty. Women are oversexualized in the media and people hardly even realize it. However, it is still a major problem because of the negative effects is does have on women. The glaring hypersexualization hurts women by confining them to specific roles because they are viewed as inferior (due to only being seen as overly sexualized

Results of progress has been on a decline, as media up rises on the profit of advertisements giving negative connotation of women 's bodies, and shows women in thin unrealistic ways that make it unattainable for them to be real. Even though women are at fault for falling under the spell of media 's influence, women have been developed into organisms that focus more on body image as an attractive characteristic than anything else, and feel as though it is not accepted in society to be considered unattractive. Because of media 's control, women have developed conditions, psychological illness, and undergone medical enchantments in order to attain that image.

From toddlerhood, the female gender is oppressed by what society believes they should be. In children’s shows and advertisements, female children have a specific look that they then are expected to emulate, cute and pink adornments, playing with dolls and learning lessons about gender stereotyping without even being aware of what the difference between the sexes even are. Then, when they are older, they are sexualized, underrepresented, overdramatized, and molded into what they think they should be. When they break this mold, they are stigmatized. In a woman’s life, she will struggle with self-image and identity issues because she will never achieve the goals media images have set for her to reach. When women become viewed as individuals and are recognized for their achievements and the ideal for them becomes about something beyond their looks, and when representation is fair and equal, we will have achieved fair media representation for women.

Being a male in today’s society is not about living and enjoyment, it has become more of a task. Social pressures and media have made it difficult for males to live a life in which they are not being pressured to act or perform a certain way. In order to reassure themselves of their masculinity, violence has become the main method in assuring themselves and those around them that they are powerful. Not only is this violence being perpetrated against others, but self-inflicted violence also exists. The violence being used is not only physical but it is emotional abuse as well. Masculinity has forced many males to perform in ways that are detrimental to their own health as well as their loved ones. Furthermore, it has also put males in the

Throughout American history, gender equality and gender exploitation has played a significant role in the stereotypical American culture. The media ultimately determines who the perfect women or man is. Magazines and racy commercials have misconstrued the image of gender perfection. Even television shows and big-budget movies spend millions of dollars on famous actors and actress to look and act a certain way. This is killing the self-esteem of young and impressionable pre-teens and teenagers that feel they must stack up to these generalized standards. Specifically, young women are more affected by these sexist and glamorized ads and television shows. We are being targeted and molded into what society believes to be the “normal” way to be. This stereotypical thinking should be changed. If we continue to promote the addiction to unhealthy weightloss, beauty products, and sexist remarks it will harm not only these women’s self-esteem but also lead to even more severe consequences. With more positive female role models in the media, we can slowly change the image of women and how they are perceived.

The media, which seems to endlessly show women as sexual objects, has the capability of limiting a woman’s potential and damaging their self worth. More often than not the media depicts the way people go about their daily life. People look at the media to determine how they should dress, act and in some cases even how they should perform sexually. There are the fashion magazines that focus on beauty, attracting and satisfying men, self-improvement, and (occasionally) work and politics. Examples are Vogue (emphasizing fashion and makeup), Cosmopolitan (emphasizing sexuality and relationships with men), and Self (emphasizing self-improvement and employment). Not only are most magazines directed at women, but the ones that are directed towards men are about work and politics, not about how to improve your looks or please your woman. The media along with other social institutions plays a large role in how women are viewed. A horrible example is being set for today’s youth, and men are taking the loss of self respect of women in the media to the extremes, thinking that they can degrade women in everyday life as well. With the constant representation of women being viewed as nothing more than sexual objects, women themselves are beginning to feel as though they have little or no potential, as well as no self