Chosen question - To what extent does advertising construct our ideas of gender?
I chose this question as advertising is something that regularly irritates me through it's over sexualisation of women and the objectifcation of womens bodies. I am interested in exploring these themes further and also possibly looking into the affect that advertising has on how we see ourselves.
Which academic sources will you reference?
Gill, R , (2003) Supersexualise Me! Advertising and ‘the midriffs’ in Attwood, F ed Mainstreaming Sex: The Sexualisation of
Western Culture , London, I.B. Tauris
Gill, R (2006), Gender and The Media, Cambridge,
Polity Press
Heldman,
C. (2012). Sexual Objectification (Part 2): The Harm. https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2012/07/06/sexual-objectification-part-2-the-harm/.
[Accessed 26 March 2016].
Hills, R. )2015). I Failed At Being A Sex Object.... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rachel-hills/failed-at-being-a-sex-object-and-became-something-hotter_b_7933376.html.
[Accessed 26 March 2016].
Wolf, N (1990), The Beauty Myth, Chatto
and Windus
What images/illustrations will you analyse?
These are the three images that I have chosen to analyse. After doing some research into adverts and different companies, American Apparels hyper sexual adverts have caused controversy and come under fire from the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority). I chose to analyse these images due to their explicit nature, and their obvious objectification of the female body.
Essay map
Thesis - American Apparels controversial representation of women in their adverts objectifies and overly sexualises women and their bodies.
This will be addressed by analysing examples of American Apparel adverts, looking at the sex object.sexual subject argument, midriff advertising, third wave feminism and narcissism and the male gaze.
Four main arguments:
- Sex object to sexual subject - No longer seen in passive or victimised objects but in playful sexual subjects, knowing of their sexual power.
- Midriff advertising - four central themes - emphasis on empowerment, objectification to sexual subjectification, emphasis on the body, discourse of choice and autonomy
- Third wave feminism - sex is power, younger females, in line with popular culture
- Narcissim and the male gaze - John Berger
1 - Tone of Voice: What can you deduce about the authors position in regard to the subject matter from their tone of voice.
From the tone of voice of the author I can deduce that the author is supportive of the role that media has on gender and identity. David Gauntlett continuously makes positive references and comments about the role of media and how this has helped develop gender and identity into a much broader spectrum than the traditional male and female roles that the older generation are accustomed too. Very little mention is made of the negative impact on which the media can have on people who are trying to develop their identities. The discussion towards men and their role is seen as something that has been slower to develop, many men have not modernised to their new role and even though traditional values of what men should be like and should act like are crumbling, the identities prompted to men are still constrained. Very little mention is made of the negative impact mass media can have on how people view themselves, constantly having to live up to the images and ideas promoted in mass media.
2 - Five key points that the text makes.
1. Traditional views of both men and women have changed, with mass media being the force behind this change.
2. Constructing your own identity has become a known requirement, individuals know that they are in control and are in need of making their own choices on lifestyle and identity.
3. Mass media has changed and become more liberal, spreading ideas of modern values and becoming more challenging of traditional values.
4. Mass media can play a role of making the population more or less comfortable with different ways of living. This encompasses different ideas of identities, different sexualities and overall ways of living.
5 - Mass media puts out these messages with levels of contradiction. The audiences are too widespread to give out one certain message, different areas of the media target different audiences and these audiences receive different messages in terms of gender and identity.
3 - Five key quotes from the text.
1. "The traditional view of a woman as a housewife or low-status worker has been kick boxed out of the picture by feisty, successful 'girl power' icons. Meanwhile the masculine ideals of absolute toughness, stubborn self-reliance and emotional silence have been shaken by a new emphasis on men's emotions, need for advice and the problems of masculinity."
2. "...modern media is encouraging the other throw of traditions which kept people within limiting compartments."
3. "In contrast with women 'you can do anything' ethos, the identities promoted to me are relatively constrained."
4. "Popular culture offers a range of stars, icons and characters from whom we can acceptably borrow bits and pieces of their public persona for use in our own"
5. "People are changing, building new identities founded not on the certainties of the past, but organised around the new order of modern living, where the meanings of gender, sexuality and identity are increasingly open."
As is known, Gauntlett's introduction to Media, Gender and Identity focuses on several themes, fluidity of identities, the decline of tradition, the knowing construction of identity, the idea of 'role models', masculinity in possible crisis, 'girl power', popular feminism, diversity of sexualities, gender trouble, media power, contradictions and change. Gauntlet introduces to us the different ways in which media can play a role in all of these themes, and how the mass media is mostly responsible for the non-traditionalist values that many of us hold today. He explores the power that the media has in offering new ways of living and presenting ourselves, offering tools for the audience to utilise in creating their own identity and also how these tools can be of no use to some. It also tackles the idea of masculinity in crisis, looking at how as females get stronger and more independent, the males seem to be in a period of crisis, not being able to modernise to this new form of identity where they no longer have to be the sole provider.
