Here is a short video about mixed messages to women about their own sexuality in advertising. I thought I'd post it in case anyone was interested in watching and discussing it.
I believe the speaker brings up a lot of great points about the mixed messages advertisers send to women of all ages, particularly "We have to be sexy, but we should be pure too". I think one of my favorite comments she makes is how advertisers are constantly trying to make us feel inadequate (when she shows the ad about how women's breasts are always too something or other, never just right). I'd be interested to see how other's feel about her presentation. Do men agree that this is a problem affecting only women? Have any other women in this class run across ads that have affected them?
Yes, I want to hear from some of the men in our class! Do you feel objectified by the media? Do you think you receive mixed messages about how you should look and who you should be?
ReplyDeleteGreat question, Whitney.
In this generation the media has a huge image on people. The media is all around us and affects people from middle school on. The media tells us how to look as women and men. It tells us that we need makeup and to be very skinny, almost perfect. The men are told to be lifting weights and physically fit. We are told that this is the only way to get what we want and to be successful in this day. This in turn causes some men to look for perfection in women and for women to look for perfection in men and to look for perfection in ourselves. We are often told how imperfect we are and what to do to fix these imperfections. Why do we listen to this? Why do we have to be perfect? I know it isn't always true but sometimes we don't even realize how much the media affects our lives and view of ourselves.
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ReplyDeleteI really don't think the messages men and women are getting are the same by any means. No male friend of mine has images issues the way my female friends have. In fact, every male friend I've ever had was totally content to wear whatever they liked, eat whatever they like, and not feel the need to be a muscle machine, while my female friends working out and starved themselves to the bone trying to be 'hot' and attract male attention. Certainly there are some men that are affected by advertising, but I think this documentary hits on some pretty striking differences in how the sexes are portrayed,which are unsettling to say the least(Male models are placed in active and powerful poses, Female models are in playful and docile poses). Most off-putting of all are the mixed messages women receive through advertisements (which the speaker highlights quite well), we have to be sexy but if you sleep around you're a slut, if you're sexy and don't put-out, then you're a tease. Men in the meantime are encouraged to 'sow their wild oats', while women are forced to be the gatekeepers of sex.
ReplyDeleteHere's a recent advertisement related to this conversation (particularly when it comes to appearance):
ReplyDeletehttp://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jezebel/2010/10/1009pretzelcripsagain.jpg
I agree. The messages for men and women are not the same. I just meant that there were both messages for men and for women but not necessarily the same extent or same manner. Women are faced with most of the advertising. It is sad to see the ads like the one you posted. It is only creating more self-image issues. It tells women to stop being themselves and start aiming for this type of body or relationship.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the double standard does a good job at explaining these differences, "According to the double standard, women's sexual behavior must be more conservative than men's. In its original form, the double standard meant that women should not have sex before or outside of marriage, whereas men could. More recently, the double standard has required that women be in love to have sex, or at least have fewer partners than men have. Now it appears that there are even different expectations for males and females in 'hooking up.' " (Lamanna and Riedmann, 2009, pg. 132). It seems odd that in a country where there shouldn't be different standard for men or women but there is one for intimacy.