Killing Us Softly 3: Advertising's Image of Women
To a great extent, advertising tells us who we are and who we should be. What does advertising tell us today about women? It tells us just as did it 10 and 20 and 30 years ago that what's most important about women is how we look. The first thing the advertisers do is surround us with the image of ideal female beauty so we all learn how important it is for a women to be beautiful and exactly what it takes. Jean Kilbourne continues her groundbreaking analysis of advertising's depiction of women in this most recent update of her pioneering Killing Us Softly series. In fascinating detail, Kilbourne decodes an array of print and television advertisements to reveal a pattern of disturbing and destructive gender stereotypes. Her analysis challenges us to consider the relationship between advertising and broader issues of culture, identity, sexism, and gender violence.
Sections: Does the beauty ideal still tyrannize women? | Does advertising still objectify women's bodies? | Are the twin themes of liberation and weight control still linked? | Is sexuality still presented as women's main concern? | Are young girls still sexualized? | Are grown women infantilized? | Are images of male violence against women still used to sell products?
Women and Men are not a different species. We are not from different planets or even different sides of the planets. Left alone boys and girls will gravitate to the same kinds of games, language skills will improve in boys and physical activity in girls amoung other things.Most of our differences are the effects of socialization.(our few real differences we ought to celebrate, I know I do :) Advertisers today objectify 'both' sexes (not equally, but it's getting there) only because more boys are feeling the same kind of socialized mind control, worthlessness, and insecurities that was previously felt mostly by girls - and #1 always #1 is that that kind of insecurity building advertising WORKS...SO I agree with others that only a conscious society who both LIMIT advertising (3 years of my life is 3 years too many IMO), and Control the Images used will result in effective change...
Right now however, I think we all have more important things to be doing and should stop shopping altogether-as in stop being sheep and start being activists for our own good health as well as health of the planet. -Peace
some of it i could tell true with media's effect, that count all kind of wrong messages, but its also about how people react on it, if they think abit for themself what might is too much too less.
well the only thing i can be sad of is when i was teenager i got my fingers burned, wrong messages to boys i do know now :) but when your young you try copy others and look in television and might get a little bit wrong idea what is pretty and what is some adult sexual messages.
I dont want to be a feminist at all ^^ because of my bad exsperience i think im abit more sensitive to comments i see as "you own fault, should have known, the dumb answers with kitchen blabla" ^^
i maybe think its about your own past how you take all this big talk with men/woman stuff
sorry my english if i did some mistakes ^^
more feminist propaganda? more "oh my god im such a victim! im so oppressed!"
meanwhile woman have at least 300% more social, political, and legal advantages over men.
Its hilarious how she enjoys a commercial about a breakfast cereal featuring men which has the obvious message that women should stay thin!
lol you are so wrong , this is not true at all, women chose to act like objects noone force the, so stop qq.. this is rly not true!
Excellent speaker, extremely intelligent woman. Very, very sexy..... Thanks
Beauty may be Illusional, which I interpret to mean Idealized, but Ugly is objectifiable and surrounds us on a daily basis. Shouldn't we, at least, strive for beauty and perfection and not let outselves "go"? This rule should, by the way, apply to both men and women.
All things in a capitalist system must first be objectified in order to be marketable for profit. I wonder why Revlon does not market a new Mother Teresa line of make-up.
This was beautifully put together. It still rings true over 10 years later. Anyone who watches this should follow it with The Century of the Self, which goes into detail about how Sigmund Freud's theories on the subconscious mind were used by corporations to sell products as well as government to manipulate the masses. Ads are quite calculated. Whether corporations could have predicted the effect on society is debatable.
Yes, men are being increasingly objectified in ads today as much as women, but don't act as if it is on the same scale. The portrayal of women in ads has its foundations upon the millenia-old idea of them as passive, sex objects. And you can't just "ignore" these ads or "block them out" when they're constantly in your face. You don't even have to watch television to be bombarded with ads. They're on city buses, magazines, billboards, etc. The images remain in your subconscious whether you want them to or not.
The real issue is how the images in most ads change (or not) your perception of yourself and/or those around you. Some people are able to see through their deceptions. But most people internalize the images and this results in self-hatred and low levels of self-confidence or a distorted view of how things should be (depending on the type of ad of course).
manfruss:
"I know girls who don't look at a guy twice unless he's build like a body builder. If you don't have a washboard six pack, kiss date night good buy."
It sounds like you understand exactly how advertising poisons the brain. It's too bad that you know girls like that but TRY to realize that it's NOT normal and not what girls worth your time actually think.
Though this doc has chosen (for its own reasons, there is no evil agenda I'm sure) to focus only on one side, then if anything, use it to understand that side.
The world must be balanced, you're right, and all we can do is show through our own behavior and actions how things really are, not the way advertisers want us to be. Don't buy those products, treat others with respect, it comes back to you by those who understand, and the world can move on.
beauty is an illusion
"The world of humanity is possessed of two wings: the male and the female. So long as these two wings are not equivalent in strength, the bird will not fly. Until womankind reaches the same degree as man, until she enjoys the same arena of activity, extraordinary attainment for humanity will not be realized; humanity cannot wing its way to heights of real attainment. When the two wings or parts become equivalent in strength, enjoying the same prerogatives, the flight of man will be exceedingly lofty and extraordinary."
Man hating is something that becomes more and more common. Almost like a new trend, and the latest fashion. Piss on men, they f&^k up our world. My concern is that the affront women feel about ads, and how they are portrayed, is also an affront to men. I don't believe in the the "victim, persecutor, rescuer" paradigm as these are merely paradigms of create conflict, and not solutions.
So, there is an ad that is unrealistic for women to attain, and creates this false sense of self for them. It has an equal effect on men, telling them this is what your ideal woman is. Not only does this same ad hurt the self image of women, it hurts the image men see of women. Equal damage, as there is so much more for men to seek in a relationship than just the physical good looks (whatever that means).
Men are sexualized in commercials just like women. All the commercials tell men that they have to have this perfectly "V" shaped back, and six packs, and abs and pecks that bulge and could knock the starship enterprise outta orbit. That a man has to have a high pay job, and have power and control over his life and his world. How much of this information about boys is damaging to their self image?? How unrealistic of a view does it give women of what their men should be like?? I know girls who don't look at a guy twice unless he's build like a body builder. If you don't have a washboard six pack, kiss date night good buy. So don't tell me for one second that women are the only people harmed in our over-the-top-consumer society. Our culture of "F*#k God and buy a car", materialism, preoccupation with the world of the physical, is leading us down a path that will have all people feeling disconnected, unloved, and hurt. We live is a world that uses people and loves things, when we really need to love people and use things. One girl I know even said: " I don't need him to have a mind, just a body like that I can ride all night long."
How often do you hear of the boy toy, the cougars out prowling the night looking for young meat. How can we say men are not sex objects? Let's be real folks, humanity is being harmed. You can't cause emotional and psychological damage to one sex without harming the other. Both are hurt equally. Period!
You do not have the right to demonize either sex based on marketing and the assumption of perceptions they may or may not hold. I am a 22 year old male and I have few if any of these prejudices against women. Instead I seem to share more of the insecurities. and with the romance of society and nationalism weighing on our backs we tend to forget that each others conscience is just a serious of emotional triggers rationalized to form bull**** defenses for our ego. How does one place their value? Is it not by action. Why concede your propriety to anger and fruitless rewards. Pleasure/pain incentives, that is what matters. Create your own passion cultivate your own pleasure, why trifle.
If it makes it better i will list all my physical insecurities so hopefully you Won't feel so isolated, insecure and victimized.
Short, ive been rejected many times because of my height.
Small hands even for my short stature.
My ass is flat.
My body hair seems confused at exactly where it wants to congregate.
My skin is porous, and i get acne.
No matter how much i work out my biceps will not keep up with my other muscle groups.
Also stretch marks on my bicep, armpit, thighs chest and shoulders that look horrible.
Not vascular enough.
I currently weigh 170lbs and have love handles at my lightest i weighed 135 and my love handles where still the same size, with no ab definition.
I wish my d*ck was bigger, not that its small. It works **** you!
Did i mention thin wrists.
Anyways all this discombobulated meat on the bones will one day be dust so might as well just have as much fun as you can with it while you have it.
Advertising is a b!tch to everyone, not only women. Maybe it's high time we took it all with a pinch of salt. It would have no power if we all just ignored it.
This chick is an id**t... over feminist with a chip on her shoulder.. yes women are objectified as physical items through media and advertisement and yes rediculous amounts of pressure is put on them to be "beautiful" and to look unaturally perfect.. but u cant say **** like.. the ideal of skinny women is to cut women down to size.. thats just chosing to take something the most unrealistically offensive and unlikely way.. theres an emphasis on skinnyness because fat is seen as unattractive, so therefore the furthest you can get away from being fat (very skinny) is what is viewed as most attractive... and when she refers to the mens calvin klein add for jeans as not being sexist because it doenst point out something wrong with a man eg his penis.... most sexist womens adds dont point out something wrong with the women, they give and example of an unaturally beautiful and unrealistic women and at the same time allude to the possibility of this being you if you buy the product ect, which is exactly what this add of the naked man with the jeans is doing. Jean Kilbourne does raise some important points but she is chosing to take things as sexist as she possibly can when it more then likely isnt even the intent in most of her examples (eg the hands over the mouth images or the 'let your eyes do the talking' ad) she is being as unrealistic as the images and depeiction of women she is discussion. She is overly feminist which makes her complete argument biased and unreliable
I wonder what happened with her when she saw 16 and pregnant. anyway i agree with her. ads lead to violence and sexual offense towards women and teenagers dressed like hookers, sometimes i feel like i live in some kind of sexual fantasy created by a congregation of sexually frustrated CEO's who are trying to make their sick dreams come true.
Travis,
Nice to know you are one of the few men who do listen to your mother. If we all listened our mothers, there would be no war or brutality. No sane mother would want her children killed and her home destroyed.
Yes, greed is a cause because those with lower quality minds fail to understand that we have to share. They want to take the good stuff only for themselves and some of even lower minds will turn to violence to do it. It is very much a cultural phenomenon, best exemplified by male dominator cultures, which bring out the worst in everyone.
It's not women who are committing genocide like Hitler etc. It's not women who wiped out millions of American buffalo last century in machine gun shooting sprees. It's not women who are the terrorists. I could go on and on...Should I write a book called "1001 Atrocities Committed by Men in History." That could get kind of negative, you know.
Male dominator cultures (not all men) have degraded the quality of human life on this planet and are designed to wage psychological warfare on anyone or thing that threatens them ie women, minorities etc. It's nothing more than a power grab. Instead of working together to create a win-win situation, its winner takes all. Both men and women are caused to lose faith in the feminine, which is the counterbalance force to the masculine. These cultures deliberately engineer mistrust and hate towards others who get in their way to keep themselves on top.
It is very difficult for a women in particular to actualize her higher capacities in this type of society, and if she is not careful, she will end up playing the destruction game like the men or being vengeful and catty. When we make women think less of themselves, this is what you get. It is self fulfilling.
Christina is full of it, most guys when growing up follow and listen to their mothers more then anything, So in a way they are leading. And most the worlds problems I believe come from greed, an attribute shared by both genders. Seriously hate it When i am blamed for being male.
I tell my girlfriend she is gorgeous without makeup etc, its her GIRL friends who tell her she looks gorgeous and better in this and that. Sorry about the rant.
The male sex has come to dominate this world through brutality and in so doing has severely degraded the quality of life on this planet for all species and the environment. It has a very low understanding of the quality of human existence, as evidenced by the fact that male dominated history is replete with war, rape, coersion and exploitation. It refuses to allow us to take faith in women's experience, it aims to disempower women, to damage our mental health, reducing women to quarrelsome harpies, etc. The patriarchy is founded on the backs of women. Humanity can do much better than this and it is only through women's guidance that it can happen, but this is difficult since we are trained to ignore womens voices.
We are terribly out of balance. Men govern over the material world and women govern over the world of relationships. Both need to be in balance for society to function.
This doc helped not want to die today.
Hi all.
This is a sensitive topic for both genders, and surely after having read the comments, it is appearent that the issue ignites the strongest of feelings. As a man, I must admit that I am unfairly partialled to side with my own gender, I am however also a university scholar so different perspectives matter and tend to create a deeper understanding. In other words; I forced myself to watch this doc, in order to try to understand the female side of the argument ( how very feminine of me). To my suprise I liked the doc, because even though it focuses primarily on the protrail of the ideal woman in the world of advertising ( which is of course dispicable), at the end it also addresses the crisis in masculinity.
I urge you to put aside any anger you might be feeling after having watched this doc and watch the documentary called " The Tough Guise: Violence, Media & the Crisis in Masculinity". It will offer a deeper insight into the opposite argument, after that, you can draw your own conslusions.
My personal conclusion is that both genders suffer, in different ways perhaps, but I think it would be wrong to blame one or the other gender. We need to stop blaming and start understanding (or at least try) in order to stop suffering.
enjoy
Dante
Here is a simple fact, advertising relies on image. Do you want your product associated with an attractive woman that appears to be intelligent, sophisticated and graceful or a fat unattractive woman that is intelligent and tries real hard to pretend to be graceful?
And by the by men are objectified and trashed to a greater extent than women in the media. Get over yourselves ladies.
This documentary was pretty amusing. Jean's got a sharp tongue with her little jokes and all. She made some pretty good points with some of the ads provided. Women are always objectified in the media. Always the domestic little homemaker. And when men have an ounce of femininity, they are displayed as being weak. But I agree with a previous post that she was reading too much into some of those ads. I had to "lol" and shake my head because the accusation was pretty ridiculous. For example, she was attempting to prove that many advertisements showed women being silenced. One of those ads had the Asian woman that said "barely there." In her eyes, she was barely there, ignored and invisible. In reality, the words in the ad never told the "woman of color" to shut up. I'm a woman. An Asian woman in fact. When I hear barely there for a make up gimmick, I think of light weight make up that's barely there. It's like when a person accidentally spills a bucket of paint on a canvas and people crowd around it claiming it reflects the mental anguish of the artist against oppression. It's just spilled paint, darn it.
An hour after viewing:-what do I remeber?. Well rehearsed patter and spiel from Ms K. Audience behaved like trained mammals;only without the skill to do something like a seal or walrus. Note the gamma male or two 'in' with women. The case for women is obvious; but do they have to be told again to 'wake up'-it's a new century!
We all know the socio-political/gender studies argument, which has some weight. I like women. I could say more' but a comment section -oughtto be brief.
In a proverbial 'nutshell'. Women today fly fast jets-and since 1994-in theatres of war; -and they are 'terrific'.
Still-; there wouldn't be a wheel; a combustion engine-let alone a J79 engine on a Phantom F4-if it were not for the 'male brain'.
I know this is controversial. Please don't rush to insult.
Worse again-and this is from the sublime to the ridiculous; -for decades -why do women allow advertising men or sons of the devil-'dickheads' make infantile and patronising copy and film on 'sanitary products'. Perhaps allow is not the verb as it implies power; but why do women seemingly not complain. There are advertising authorities, if one can believe it.
liebewitz/Ireland