The Selling of Women in America Essay

     Throughout United States history oppression of people has always been prominent, whether through African American’s and segregation or Asian American’s during the Vietnam War. What is often ignored is our history of the oppression of women. No matter what time in history, there is always a case to be found of the discrimination over gender. Many people know of how African American’s came into freedom and the long perilous road it took, but few know the struggles, changes and hardships that women have perceived to get where they are today. As the civil war halted and industrialization and urbanization came into play, the role of women changed dramatically and their status

Today's media is increasingly pornographic, and the notion that 'sex sells' has infiltrated the advertising of virtually all products and services. Both men and women are sexualized in contemporary media, but the extent to which women are sexualized is far greater that men are. Jean Kilbourne states in her talk, The Dangerous Ways Ads See Women, "There are stereotypes that harm men, of course, but they tend to be less personal, less related to the body." The stereotypes that drive the portrayal of women in the media lead to the repeated objectification, particularly sexual objectification,

What is it that drives commercials towards their target audience? Commercials can be aimed toward certain age, race, along with certain gender groups. Pop culture has influenced minority groups and shed light on women 's rights or so it may seem. Lisa Shaffer a fellow student feels otherwise and believes that Pop culture has only defended traditional values and does little to challenge those who already have power . Commercials bring in gender norms and in Steve Craig’s article, “Men’s Men and Women’s Women” he speaks on four particular TV ads directed towards male and female audiences. Interestingly enough these tv ads deliver a false image of the opposite sex to the audience catering to their preferences. It is the image of what the audience wants to see that appeals to them. This is all in an attempt to sell products and take advantage of our desires and anxieties. Craig shows how commercials bring gender norms that produce the stigmas of a man’s man and a woman’s woman, which makes it apparent that he would agree with Shaffer because it promotes an old way of thinking.

Steve Craig, in his article Men’s Men and Women’s Women especially define how different sexes in advertisement can influence a particular audience towards a product; one stereotypical method he describes is “Men’s Women” (Craig).One such ad using sex appeal, and a basic structure of “Men’s Women” to bring in customer was made by BMW in 2008 to sell their used cars. BMW, which is a world-renowned company known for its performance heavy automobiles, targets a male audience by comparing a gorgeous woman to their cars.This ad by BMW, who no doubt make amazing cars, degrade women through its message, and it enforces Steve Craig’s “Men’s women” tactic, but this ad also goes a step further and displays the ever-present patriarchy in advertisement overtly.

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

Sexist ads show that society is dominated by the same masculine values that have controlled the image of women in the media for years. Sexist advertisement reinforces gender stereotypes and roles, or uses sex appeal to sell products, which degrades the overall public perception of women. The idea that sexism is such a rampant problem comes from the stereotypes that are so deeply embedded into today’s society that they almost seem to be socially acceptable, although they are nowhere near politically correct. Images that objectify women seem to be almost a staple in media and advertising: attractive women are plastered all over ads. The images perpetuate an image of the modern woman, a gender stereotype that is reinforced time and time again by the media. These images are accepted as “okay” in advertising, to depict a particular product as sexy or attractive. And if the product is sexy, so shall be the consumer. In the 1970s, groups of women initially took issue with the objectification of women in advertisements and with the limited roles in which these ads showed women. If they weren’t pin-ups, they were delicate

Everyday history is evolving and being affected by the past. With history comes questions as to how it came into being, and the fascination that is inscribed with it. Where did I come from, why do wars happen, why is society like this, are all questions that can be explored through the viewing of history. With this in mind, this essay will discuss the possible reasoning’s behind: Why have the roles of American women in society changed since the 1940’s? While this question will not have a distinguished answer, several factors have contributed to forming an answer such as: World War II, Madison Avenue, and contraceptives.

The role of women in society in the United States has undergone dramatic changes over the past several decades. For instance, an increasing number of women have taken on new responsibilities besides the traditional ones at home and taken up paying work. Besides making up a lot more of the work force than before, more women are also taking up leadership roles and have also made great progress on health issues affecting women. While World War II and the feminist revolution of the Sixties did a lot to redefine gender roles in American society, equality has not yet been fully realized for women in America.

We have all heard about the challenges of being a woman in foreign countries comparable to India, Asia, and many other countries. But we rapidly forget the challenges we face here in America. Women that put their lives on the line daily to contribute to something greater than themselves, such as the Navy, National Guard, Air Force the Coast Guard Marine Corps, our own town's firefighters and active officers of the law. Women contribute greatly to all of these aspects and face different forms of discrimination daily. In my essay, I will discuss the life and role of retired police officer Wanda C. of the Durham county police department.

I agree with your post for both the Miller Lite commercial and the Camden Singer – Secret Clinical commercial, but I think that in the Secret Clinical commercial overlaps with it being women’s women because both of the characters are women who care about their appearances. I really liked how you ended your post “Those kinds of commercials are all over our TV, and I had never pay attention that categories distributed them. It is interesting how the marketing plays with our brains to make us buy different types of products. The psychology also plays a significant role in how marketing divides the different categories.” I think you made a great point stating that psychology plays a big role with how these advertisement companies tend to sell their

The subtextual roles of women in beer advertisements and sales Are women objects of advertising? With no voice, or no choice in how men see them and treat them, women in beer advertisements are never seen as mother figures, as a nurturing figure or even as a person at the best of times. Women in beer advertisements are sexualised, objectified, made submissive and silent so men's values are subjectified based on the way beer advertisements are using women to sell their products. In critical texts from The Objectiforcation and dismemberment of women in media by Kacey D. Greening Capital Universirty and The Mystery of sex in advertising by Rebecca Chacko focusing on the subjectiforcation of beer advertisements, sexualisation and objectification of women in media and dismemberment of a female figure in advertisements these critical texts have many view points that support the the de humanising of women in beer advertisements. When it comes to alcohol advertisements there is no exscaping sexualisation especially when it comes to beer advertisements, women are used as an eye catcher or statement about the beer by making

The Tiger Beer advertisement shown in the appendix is a clear example of the objectification of women in advertising. The Tiger Beer advert was made to appeal to men from the age of 20 to 60. The advert seeks to get a cheap laugh from the target audience with the image of the woman in a sexual pose and the picture of the beer. The ad promotes the idea that beer is the most

On television commercials, billboards, the radio, public transportation advertisements, planes, the internet, and almost everywhere people go there is always directed broadcasting of advertisements for companies to sell their product; a product that is never promoted for all of the general public to use, but instead to emphasize on specific categories of consumption . Whether it may be categorized in the decadent, the money saving, health, cleaning, cooking, automotive, or whatever sub category it may be; and bigger roles that play in to commercialism are gender roles . Men and women have very different lifestyles, what they buy, do, consume, and produce. As stated in Gender Role Behaviors and Attitudes, “Popular conceptions of femininity

The roles of males and females in society have significantly changed, as opposed to the predominant roles in our history. In the modern culture of today, women have begun to break out of the mold that which society has placed her in. This much can’t be said when it comes to modern gender representation in mass media advertising. It can be safe to state that woman are seen as sexual, fragile, exotic—whereas men are portrayed as tough, in control, and aggressive. This trend can be one seen as an inhibitor to the advancement of our culture, because especially for women, it is hard to pull away from the stereotypes that are continuously represented. As examples of the given trend, the following

In terms of women and sex appeal, the world of advertising has changed a considerable amount. Many of the advertisements which are seen in newspapers, magazines, and television fail to portray women in a more positive light. The image of females in numerous advertisements are merely viewed as fascinating "objects" while they are also being displayed in a fashion that is supposed to appeal only to men, i.e. exploitation of the body. Though these types of advertisements are very effective at selling their products to consumers, it seems as if the minds ' of women, especially younger women/teenage girls are being corrupted as they are pressured to live up to the ideal image: sexy and thin with a little extra curves.