This teaches women that they need to constantly dote on the man, whether he pays attention or not. The companies designing these ads are using women as a tool in order to empower the advertisement to engage the consumer’s attention and to sell more products. The woman's image is being degraded because sex appeal in advertising is showing her that she is nothing more than an item, who needs the product in the ad to seem more beautiful and important to the man. This is totally wrong; they only are going to have
She explains that women are objectifying themselves and are equally to blame for the degrading image that men have of us. The article discusses how we do not have to put ourselves in this position and continue to objectify ourselves, however our culture teaches us that that is the acceptable way to live. Unless someone does something radical to change the norms of our society, men will continue to objectify women and the women will help them. This is the way of our culture. I enjoyed this reading because it really opened my eyes to how erotic our culture is, in fact.
Próspero brings up previous theories that suggest masculinity could be learned by other genders, including women and even LGBT populations, especially if these traits were valued in that society (such as excessive aggressiveness)(2008, 640-641). In his study, he found the gender of the perpetrator had effects on the type of intimate partner violence (644). Erbaugh makes another crucial observation when she remarks, “Isolation is a central tactic of abuse.” (453). The abusers take away the victim’s support network, encouraging co-dependence and leaving them nowhere to turn, socially, physically, economically. Not only is this abuser their familiarity, but they will be forced to give that up frequently for nothing familiar.
The courts now acknowledge evidence of the “battered woman syndrome” in order to prove increasing effects of abuse. At first glance it appeared that for a female to use violence as an act of defense would be an empowering action, such as an abused woman who murders her abuser. Further examination of this notion reveals that females who murder their abusers are functioning under the same male-dominated system that promotes violence. As a result, the act of murder can’t be feminist because feminism aspires to end patriarchal
The Exploitation and Misogyny of Women by the media The passing of the Woman's Right Act empowered women to do things that would have once been considered impossible such as, taking part in beauty pageants, modeling in the nude to holding high positions in offices. In hip-hop and advertising Jean Kilbourne and Joan Morgan concur that woman's bodies are being dehumanized, over sexualized and objectified. Consequently, although women have made remarkable progress, their unbridled autonomy and power are being exploited by the media.Hence forth, the explosion of pornography and the mentality that sex sells anything and everything have caused advertising agencies and the music industry to use woman's bodies as the main tool for commercializing and selling their products. Hence, the media uses sexism and violence in advertising to get people’s attention in order to get them to buy their products, and also to obtain free press. In “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt” Jean Kilbourne believes, that sexism and violence in advertising is systemic and rooted in our culture.
Female Chauvinist Pigs are women who sexually only objectify other women and themselves. Some women gain empowerment by disciplining oneself from women who are “girly girls”, while simultaneously objectifying such women like going to strip clubs and reading Playboy. Others gain empowerment by objectifying themselves through sexual appeal. Both are an attempt to gain status whether being through the attempt of acting like a male chauvinist or through embodying what society portrays as the ideal object of male desire. As an example, Camille Paglia, in an interview with spin magazine expresses “The people who criticize me, these
In Donna Smyth’s short story Red Hot, it is proclaimed that patriarchism, in a democratic society, not only encourages male empowerment leading to physical or verbal abuse of women, but also proliferates the vulnerability of women across culture, media and generations. To demonstrate various effects of this issue, Smyth presents Red Hot in a fragmented storyline, which revolves around the central story of Jane Stafford’s trial to address the constant patronization of women in media, in adult entertainment and in private homes. Furthermore, Smyth’s constant referrals to the violent erotic video, featuring physical abuse of a woman, and the condescending male figures strongly depict the tendency of male dominated society to impose masculinity over women for the fulfillment of its needs. Therefore, as the fundamental element of patriarchism, masculinity promotes corruption of men’s nature leading to chaotic violence and vulnerability strained upon women. As suggested by Smyth, patriarchal masculinity exploits the very essence of democratic freedom, allowing men to claim “In the privacy of my own home I can do what I want.” (533.27.7-8).
One of the ways this is illustrated through is in the second stanza he describes her as being ‘slapped up’. The onomatopoeic phrase suggests men’s sarcastic prejudice view on women as sexual objects; it also emphasizes the challenges the girl is facing in men’s attitudes toward her. Larkin also humiliates the girl by describing the obscene disfigurement to the image of her ‘huge tits... A tuberous cock and balls’. The taboo language helps to demonstrate more than just adolescent immaturity but deliberate and repeated attempts to degrade her by a kind of visual rape. However one could also argue that Larkin seems to justify violence against women by suggesting that access to women is something men have been unfairly deprived of.
I know how we always want the next new makeup or hair product that’s going to make s look like the model in the commercial. Women can’t just run to the store in sweat pants because they value their appurtenance too much. Women don’t feel as confident when they don’t look nice, but men don’t really care either way. In the reading, “Do thin Models Warp Girls Body Image?” I agree with Nancy when she says thin models on the runway or on TV can cause very young girls to become anorexic or bulimic. Nancy says, “Girls are being bombarded with the message that they need to be super-skinny to be sexy.” (Hellmich 706) I believe that is very true when she says that but what young girls don’t realize is that you could be beautiful and sexy with any body type that you might have.
Aaron Devor explores how these factors, gender behavior and various entertainments, potentially affect everyone in “Becoming member of society: Learning the social meanings of gender.” Not only do Kilbourne’s ads ridicule men by showing the obsession of males, but also the other two authors show how other modern society’s entertainments are meant to ridicule men and most importantly women with their acts of violence and sexuality. The males are the majority species that get hurt through music we hear and programs we watch, whereas advertisements hurt females. The entertainments substantially imply most men are violent, and the advertisements imply women as material objects. In A sense, men and women learning the consequences of violence and sexuality in daily life would help them to find a common ground with another built on respect and compassion because both genders are getting hurt