Killing Us Softly

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Extra Credit Opportunities The CAPS organization held a showing of Jean Kilbourne’s Killing Us Softly. In her movie, Kilbourne discusses the emotional effects of the depiction of women in advertising media. With humor and intelligence, Kilbourne presents a slideshow of negative images of women, including women as stereotypical sex kittens, with their bodies often unnaturally thin, and looks camera-perfect. Kilbourne states that these images damage women by shaping mainstream attitudes and actions. She arms viewers with tools for communication and suggestions for opening an empowering discussion. Midway through the showing, the presenter offered pizza to eat while watching the second half. Along with the movie, the instructor asked a few questions based on the movie. For example, “How do you feel about being described as an object and not a human, or “What if the males were put in the women’s place?” These questions and many more like them made me think. My entire mentality on how women are treated turns out to be poor. Women are still viewed as second-class citizens by most advertising companies. We as a country and more importantly a new American culture, escape the racism we left in the 50s, escape the sexism in the 60s, escape the greed in the 70s, and so on. We all must discover a healthy relationship amongst our brothers and sisters. Relating to constructing new relationships, this task needs one more mechanism to get the gears rolling, and that tool is leadership. Leadership will help deter the imagery of modern American society but instead focus on what Americans should aim for. Leadership will lead Americans to health rather than self-consciousness, which inflicts millions of girls each

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