See anything strange? If you need an explanation, this image is a gross depiction of five men overpowering one woman which is of course so...."manly." This picture is a perfect example of the power dynamics that the media would like us to believe in. This image and media in general, portrays women as being preys and men as being the predators. The men are clearly more powerful than the only woman in this D&G ad. Women are seen as commodities or objects of use and disposal in many advertisements such as this one. Such images reinforce the notion that women in society should be submissive. It also implies that being compliant is what will attract men and acting otherwise will not. Such images have a crucial impact on young female teenagers who feel may feel the need to be sexually attractive for young men to notice them. Also, it gives the message to male youth that it is acceptable to treat women as though they were items of trade.While searching for stereotypical images of women I came across a site which talked about women and dating. It mentioned a book called You Lost Him at Hello, where the author says if you want men to fall head over heals for you, approach dating as if you were in sale, and looking for customers. She encourages women to “fill their funnel” with not just one, but lots of customers. Hence, ladies, your boyfriends are only customers…so I guess that makes us wickedly scheming sellers?... yet another stereotype. As much as men objectify women in the media, women do no favor to themselves by reinforcing these messages in the media. In my opinion, until more influential women actually start opposing these views and acting contrary to what we are known for, e.g. passivity, these stereotypes will go no where. Women are partially to be blamed for the image they get in the media. The reason I believe that influential women will help eliminate stereotypes is because such women are often the focus of media; women who have power, status and credibility. It’s time that society learns that you can look sexy and appear dignified at the same time.
There are two ways in which we can strike a more or less equal balance between the portrayal of men and women in media. Either we discourage the objectification of women OR to be at par, we can objectify men to the extent where objectification of both genders are equally portrayed in the media. Of course the harder path would be the first option since we’ve been bombarded with so many images that companies would find it almost impossible to sell certain products without the use of skinny models wearing revealing clothing for sex appeal.
Questions:
(1) Do you think degrading women really makes men appear superior?
(2) Do you think there will ever be a, more or less, balance of power between men and women in terms of their depiction in the media? Or will women ever appear superior?
(3) What is the better method of establishing a balance between the portrayal of men and women in society? Discouraging the objectification of women, or is it easier to objectify men to the point where both, men and women, are equally objectified?
In response to your first question, no, degrading woman does not make men appear superior. In my opinion, it makes men seem insecure with their status in society and reveals the competitive nature between the two sexes. However, if we look at the media text through a different lens, it could be argued that the female in the D&G advertisement is superior to her male counterparts. She appears to be the center of attention and is attracting all of the males to her. She uses her attractive appearance to control these men and their actions.In my opinion, this advertisement objectifies both woman and men. The men are equally viewed as objects of a sexual nature, similar to the female. Lastly, I find it interesting that this ad campaign does not feature the product the company is actually trying to sell. What are they trying to sell? A product? Or a lifestyle?
ReplyDelete1) I think degrading women does make men appear more superior from a third person's view but in reality it doesn't make men any more superior. It also depends how women are being degrading and it sometimes make an opposite effect. If the men was was the one to degrade women, it might make the men look bad and foul.
ReplyDelete2) I think in the future, there are a good possibility that women will have the same amount of power as men in terms of their depiction. There are about equal amount of men and women in the world and women are slowly gaining more power around the world. There might even be a chance women will appear more superior.
3)I think it is better to objectify men to point where men and women are equal. I believe that not all men objectify women, it is just that most men don't treat women equally as a human being.
1)I agree with Terry. Men are actually being objectified moreso in this advertisement. The women is laying down, and all the men are coming to her. It's as if she is controlling them.
ReplyDelete2) I think that sometime in the distant future, women will be equal to men. Most high ranking business jobs are done by men. And these bosses are convinced that men are better for the job. Until this mentality works its way out of the system (after a few generations of bosses) men will remain dominant. I don't think women will ever be more powerful then men. Society doesen't accept going backwards with equality.
3) I think that objectification is inherantly wrong. We should treat human beings like human beings reguardless of sex,race or age.
Well, I have seen this add before and now that I'm taking a second look on it I have a different point of view. When I first saw this automatically i assumed, "it's just another add where all the men see the woman as the object, and the woman clearly allows it" Although, I would agree with Terry and say that there is deffiently another argument here. That maybe it's actually the men in the add that are being degraded. The add is trying to promote D&G clothes obviosuly and because the only obvious appeal is what the woman is wearing, it could be said that she's the one with the power, because she's got the "look". Both sex's are objectifiying eachother, although I think it's the males that should be offended more than the woman by this add! As for the questions, I feel that when men degrade woman, it actually makes them a lot less inferior than superior. Ofcourse it may seem espeically in the society that thier real "hard", but in fact in most cases I think it's because the men degrading woman are insecure themselves and are letting out their own frustation on the opposite sex. In the media, there's a lot of imbalance power and it seem to be like a continuous war. Obviosuly were exposed to media showing how men are dominating, yet on the other hand woman have made their way to manipulative behaviour too. It's like an imbalance war , I guess i question if there ever will be an understanding and if there is, I wonder why we don't see a lot of it in the media, its quite a shame. I don't see a reason to objectify any gender. Yes there are things that men are stronger at, and other things that woman are stronger at, but again it depends on individuality as well. I think that before any man or woman generalizes on how men should be or how woman should be, we should take the time to analyize first how as people we should be to eachother.
ReplyDeleteWow, now here's an article and comments that have raised some interesting questions.
ReplyDeleteOkay, firstly I want to say that I do agree with both Terry and Simmi. It is obvious in the commercial that the men seem to be literally overpowering the lone female, and that she is being objectified as some sort of material that is to be 'owned' by them.
I also see Terry's point of view about how she is using her appearance to control the males. But don't you think that just gives the impression that females are manipulative and superficial, which we already know is a stereotype about women from the activity in class the other day?
I also have to agree with Simmi's view on how such messages make female teenagers believe that they must dress in ^ that way if they want to get the attention of men.
I understand Terry's question about whether this advertisement is trying to sell clothes or a lifestyle. Would someone like to tell me why exactly must a clothing store have a commercial that has most of the actors dressed minimally? Let me answer that myself first.
Clearly, they're trying to promote their business, and appeal to the rich, high-class people in society (and wannabes, I guess). This advertisement does not say "Come shop here" which technically SHOULD be the message of an advertisement. Instead it says "People who shop at D&G have these moments."
And if it works, then we can safely assume that they want their customers to be either
1. men who want to do such ^ things(I fail to find an appropriate word for the indecency) with women.
OR
2. women who do not mind being treated like that ^.
So that brings me to my final thought...
Is that the kind of youth we're creating?
P.S.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry! I forgot to add one last thing.
Answering Question 3.
I think it only makes sense to objectify men in return, since female objectification has become such a normal occurrence in our media. An eye for an eye!
A great example of which is in Akshay's more recent post with the Lindt commercial, which I shall now go comment on. Follow me there :P !
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWow! This topic really raised some questions that made me think.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, I would want to refer to the “You lost him at hello” book. Even the thought of such books make me sick. If writers start writing such objectifying books and publishing companies start publishing them, then I doubt that there will ever be a balance of power between men and women. The book clearly objectifies men into being products and women into buyers. In a way it is fair to objectify men in one version of media, when men objectify women all the time in pretty much all other forms of media.
Answering your first question, yes it does men make superior in their own minds, in everyone else’s it just makes them look like jerks. To me it seems like men only degrade women because they themselves have been degraded in their early life. I could be wrong about this or perhaps I might be believing in some stereotype, but that is just what I truly feel.
Taking everything into consideration, I doubt that there will ever be equality in the media regarding gender roles. On one hand, the media says that everyone is equal-whether it is a male or a female. On the other hand, they criticise women for everything they do.
To be honest, it seems like a strip club add more than clothing add. I mean, what are they trying to depict? That their clothes are so bad that you would want to talk that off? That commercial doesn’t even make connection to their products! This takes us back to Terry’s question. They seem to be promoting a high class lifestyle and not a product.
Why is it while selling high class products, it is always males overpowering females? Why aren’t there commercials in which there are lesbian couples or gay couples? Why does the media always depict a perfect little world in which there are no homosexual couples? And if there are commercials which depict homosexuality, why isn’t that advertisement as famous as the one above?
Sometimes it just seems like the media is against homosexuality and depicts it only when they’re in need of some additional attention.
I see your point Terry. It could be that the woman in the image is using her charm to seduce the men. It could be that the woman is actually overpowering the men.
ReplyDeleteHowever, if you look at most other images in the media, you’ll see a trend where men are overpowering women. Stereotypically men are a symbol of physically strength, and women are considered weak.
But I’d like to ask another question here (particularly to the guys), how would you guys react to this picture if it depicted one man and five women… would it be as offensive as it appears to be to women? Does it really bother you guys when you see many females giving one man attention?
After giving question 3 a thought…I came to the conclusion that whether we discourage female objectification or have females objectify men…women are at a loss either way. First of all, eliminating objectification of women is realistically impossible with the amount of exposure it has. On the other hand, if women start objectifying men…won’t that degrade women even further? If women treat men as possessions, won’t it reinforce the already famous stereotype that women are superficial and manipulative…It seems like whether women submit to men or not, or behave in a equivalent manner as men, the media and viewers will always somehow turn it against them.
P.S.-sorry about the late reply
1. No, by degrading women men will not appear superior; instead it will make them look like weak and insolent cowards. This picture is a perfect example of how media degrades both men and women by using sex to sell products. However, advertisers are not deliberately trying to degrade any gender/sex; they are just trying to sell more products. Why would they ever want to offend their own viewers? Those who do view this commercial as men degrading women or vice versa, do you think the models feels degraded when they receive their million dollars worth of check?
ReplyDelete2. It all depends; media is not trying to show that men are more superior than women or vice versa. They are just concerned with the money and so they try to come up with commercials, shows etc that will help them make their money. Some media content focus on men being more or less superior to women, while others focus on men and women as being equal. For example, many commercials promoting the use of Axe often show skinny, half-naked women chasing men, after they used Axe. Some may view this commercial as degrading women, however, some can also view it as degrading men since the man in the commercial continues to spray Axe all over him. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9tWZB7OUSU) Take a look at this commercial and closely examine his facial expression. Now take a look at this commercial, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORzGIGQeAKk&feature=related . At first, the woman is seen to be the center of attention even when the men are doing really important jobs. The men are seen to be easily distracted by the woman’s beauty causing them to screw up in their work. However, the ending suggests that both sexes have an equal balance of power because they both use their beauty against the opposite sex in the same manner.
3. . In some commercial, such as the Axe commercial listen above, the use of sex can be somewhat humorous. Yes, it does degrade the sexes, maybe one more than the other, but it does convince the viewer to buy the product. Neither, by discouraging the objectification of women or encouraging the objectification of men will establish a balance between portrayal of men and women in society. A way to establish a balance of power between men and women is by avoiding the use of objectification. However, it is understandable that many advertisers use sex and objectification because it is easy to use and it helps sell the product. If a commercial objectifies only one sex than it should objectify the other sex as well. For example, in the clothing commercial listed above, both sexes are objectified. Only this way, a balance between
Simmi, I think I have a different view than yours on the ad above. I don't think that the men are dominating that only women at all (well, clearly they are dominant in number but not in the sense that they are superior to her). My interpretation of this image is that the woman is the one in power - she is like the Queen and being besieged by those men around her. I personally think that this image does not portray the stereotype that is very common in today's society, that women are inferior to men in all areas, they are submissive and compliant. To me this image looks more like it is acknowledging the "power" of women (by "power" I mean their attractive appearance that they could use for their own purposes, e.g making men do things for them) rather than degrading their roles.
ReplyDeleteOne common method to make one thing superior than the other is to degrade that other thing being compared. For example, some people tend to downplay the achievements of others in order to make their own achievements outstanding. However, this method won't work eventually, and it only shows that the person who does this is insecure of their own ability, worthless and shameful. In regards to Simmi's first question, I think no, degrading women is definitely not a way to make men superior. It is really absurd and nonsense.
Since society keeps on changing and improving, so does our mentality regarding the roles of men and women, I believe that in the near future both genders will be equally important. The importance of the roles of women has been greatly recognized nowadays, especially in the Western countries, and hopefully this will keep on going until it reaches the equilibrium. Once this equilibrium is achieved, the media will have no other way but to give a balance in their depiction to both.
Will women ever be superior and dominant? Well, it could be. Anything can happy in life. I am, however, not looking forward to that day to come. Otherwise we will have to fight for equality, just as women has been doing all these years.
A better method of establishing a balance between the portrayal of men and women in society? Well, first of all, objectifying men is not a good way to achieve this. It is just childish retaliation and only leads to the vicious circle where neither gender is benefited. Instead, everyone should discourage the objectification of women and stop it. Men should respect and acknowledge their great roles in society. Women, on the other hand, should respect themselves as well and feel that they deserve to be treated well. They should speak up and stand up for themselves and refuse to be the victims of any kind of abuse and ill-treatment by men.
P/s: I have to say that this blog is driving me crazy. It is not auto-saved and once you press the wrong button (e.g the backspace button when your cursor has accidentally clicked outside the comment box), everything is GONE. When you go back to the previous page, the texts you typed has left you and all remains is blankness. Oh, this happened to me twice. But it is not the worst part.
ReplyDeleteI had to retype everything from scratch because I posted my comment without logging in. It took me to the logging page only for me to discover that my comment was completely GONE. I tried my best to recall what I wrote but couldn't get what I originally posted.
So I hope everyone make sure that they have LOGGED IN before posting any comments and copy and paste your comment to another page constantly.
I use My Opera to write my blog and have never experienced this. Did this happen to anyone here other than me? It is really frustrating!!!
Andy, this happened to me once too and it really sucked. My suggestion to you is to write your comments on the notepad and copy/paste it into the comment here.
ReplyDelete1) I think men degrading women would make men appear superior anyways, but it would hide what men are incapable of. I feel men degrade women when men cannot do what women can do themselves. I am not saying men would degrade women for giving birth to children, but for other reasons such as cleaning the house on a regular basis, doing laundry, etc. Unfortunately, there exists a prescribed gender role such as women are responsible for maintaining the house, raising children, and taking good care of the family. Nonetheless, men have to provide the family with financial stability. Some men believe their role is much more significant than women's. In such a situation, the powerful men are bound to degrade women.
ReplyDelete2) The margin of power depiction between men and women might more or less decrease, but men will most probably remain superior for a long time to come. We have a notion instilled in our minds and especially more because of media that women are weaker physically, emotionally, and dependent upon males for support. On a bright note, movies such as Hanna beats the stereotypes regarding how women are controlled by men, instead in the movie, Hanna and Marissa control men. As I said, the margin could reduce, but not to the extent where men and women are equally superior in the media.
3) I do not think discouraging the objectification of women in the media would work because no one will pay attention to the meaning behind that. Objectifying both men and women is a good method of establishing balance between the two genders. The method might be effective in making people realize just how equal men and women are and how important both are for mankind.