gender in adverising

                I was definitely one of those people who thought that everyone in this country is pretty much equal. Other than the pay discrepancy, I figured that women are able to occupy all of the same jobs that men do even though it may be a bit harder for them to gain respect. I have found, through several other classes here and reinforcement from this one, that I was very wrong. Last semester I watched the most recent "Killing Me Softly" presentation by Jean Kilbourne which focuses on the image of women in advertising. It illustrated how hard it has become to be a woman due to main stream media and advertising. She talks a lot about how women are made to appear much like you were describing in class about the Disney princesses. The only body type shown on T.V. account s for 5% of the population. She says in the beginning that advertisements sell normalcy. This concept really stuck with me. Women are led to believe that looking like models is what normal looks like and everything else is bad. She also points out that ads represent even less than 5% by combining images of 4 different women or lightening up black women to make them more Caucasian.   

                Another point made was that while men may not look like their model counterparts either, they are still portrayed in positions of power. To use your word, men are comodified  as leaders, representatives of strength or intelligence. The hyper masculine, Amurica, drive a truck, get dirty, etc is very strong. While this may alienate some men, they are still shown to be dominate no matter what. Women on the other hand, are made to look passive, innocent, foolish. The fact that the school girl outfit is a popular turn on is kinda creepy when you think about it. Going back to the 'object' argument, the women look as if they are to be used by the male, positioned in pornographic poses, shown to be part of a fleeting hookup.

                I think these practices are what forces your female colleagues to present a masculine image. Women are constantly made to appear inferior and more importantly, made to feel that this is normal. Hopefully more people will take similar diversity classes or at least watch this video to understand the obstacles of women are much farther reaching than the stereotypical feminist crap that no one listens to anymore.