The Shirley Cards

At this time most media displayed stereotypes and gender bias through most of the 1950s, and the idea is that women should live for her husband and family(Kelshall). American media characterized women to be well dressed housekeepers, they were supposed to be well figured, wore elegant dresses, heels, jewerly (preferably pearl necklaces) and were always smiling. This was a way to show women what men wanted at that time and even a little bit into today. The media illustrates to women what men want, what men think is ideal so the women can strive for that because it makes them think that’s how they are going to get a man. This view is very patriarchal, it’s all about the man and what he want and what he wants in a

Media industries were controlled by males; therefore Marilyn Monroe's image served the interests of men by legitimizing their power. This creates a marketable image aimed at a well defined audience that is male. Classing Marilyn Monroe as merely 'Entertainment for Men' contributes to behavioral ideologies in society for women to act as objects for male desires. The myths drawn from such slogans creates for females a sense of inferiority, where in Monroe's case, her body and sexual allure were her only resources. The ideologies circulating in society naturalized Monroe's image as being the cultural norm and something which women should aspire to be for the benefit of males.

Anthropologists and geographers have studied and overtime come to the conclusion that distribution of skin color is not random. Darker skin color has been found to typically come from near the equator and lighter skin colors are typically coming from closer to the north and south poles. Over the years, researchers have found that darker skin colors has protected the

The woman’s role in society had many changes during the era of WWII to the baby boom era. It went from the strong independent woman that can work in a factory to a house wife that takes care of the family to the final slightly dominant, but still dependent female. All of these different feminine mystiques were changed because of society and through indirect propaganda in TV shows and

3) What role did mass media play during the 1950s and 1960s in regard to supporting or undermining the “feminine mystique”?

For my term paper I decided to go to the Cantor Museum in Palo Alto, and I chose to focus on two portraits of women from two distinct time periods. First, I decided on the portrait of Margaret Blagge, Wife of Sidney, 1st Earl of Godolphin. This portrait was painted by the artist Matthew Dixon in 1675, in the Baroque period of art. The portrait of Margaret Blagge was done in England, and it was painted as an oil on canvas. The second artwork I chose to compare was the Portrait of Sally Fairchild by John Singer Sargent. This portrait was done from the year 1884 to 1887 during the Realism movement in art. The portrait of Sally Fairchild was painted in the United States of America, and was painted as an oil on canvas. When comparing these two portraits

Reference: Roger McMichaels. A Deeper Look at Beauty. New York: Graymark, 1995. The quoted material is taken from page

has spent a lot of time perfecting her looks for all places and occasions, as

image of beauty. Meaning they had to dress and look a certain way to be accepted and placed

A diseased representation of women, advocated by the media, is detrimental to the American culture (Chittom, N. Page). The National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA), asserts an upsurge in eating disorders, inadequate self-esteem, and depression cases are attributed to this illustration (Chittom, N. Page). The portrait of American beauty has transformed greatly over the years (Chittom, N. Page). At the dawn of the twentieth century, beauty centered around abundant chests and minuscule waists, accentuated with tight corsets, but in the 1920’s, this image changed to glorify flat chested “flappers” (Chittom, N. Page). By the 1950’s, the shapely figures were once again popular, but in the 1960’s, with models like Lesley “Twiggy” Hornby, thin was

feared for the scowl on her face that was actually only the result of a chronic squint due to her poor

In the 1950s, excessively feminine silhouettes were celebrated thus accentuating curves, full bosoms and narrow waists was a prevailing way for women to dress. Nevertheless, with her sphere of influence on women, Audrey Hepburn introduced an alternative to this limited standard of how women—through various aspects of dressing and behaving—should be (Keogh 1). Some of the popular stars who eventually became sex symbols in the period were Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot and Grace Kelly. Hepburn’s physique however, was totally different from these women. She did not have a big bosom or a bottom. She was not curvy. Unlike Audrey Hepburn’s

Another area in which women made changes was with their appearance. Women used their attire and style to show an independence, a certain freedom in which they alone had control. Starting with the “Gibson Girl”, women dressed in long, slim dresses, freeing themselves of the poufy petticoats of yore. Women started wearing shorter dresses and shorter hairstyles, leading to “Flapper Jane”. “Women started wearing “less” clothing, shorter dresses, cutting off their hair, and just being more “sensual” than normal”, (Bliven, 1925).

The concept of femininity is associated with beauty. As sontag explains, “A beautiful woman, we say in English. But a handsome man”. Sontag discusses how beauty used to be a word that described the whole being and addressed both sexes but has morphed into a charged word that focuses only on the outer self and is usually used toward women. This change in language