sc2220 lecture 5 2011
TRANSCRIPT
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SC2220: Gender Studies
Lecture 5: Selling Gender Identity
Eric C. ThompsonSemester 2, 2010/2011
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Where We Have Been…History of Gender
StudiesSex/Gender
DistinctionBecoming Male or
FemaleGender socialization;
paths to learning gender.
Gender SystemsMasculinity/
FemininityGender as systems of
beliefs and behaviors
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Where We Are Going…Gender in Popular
CultureGender in AdvertisingPopular Culture
Gender in Social RelationsGender and PowerGender and Work
Gender, Here and NowGender in Singapore
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Today’s Lecture…“Killing Us Softly” –
Images of Women in Advertising
Content Analysis and Influences of Advertising
Cultural Differences in Beauty
Why do advertising and popular culture seem to objectify women and not men?
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“Killing Us Softly 3”:Gender and Advertising
Killing Us Softly: 1979Still Killing Us Softly: 1987
Killing Us Softly 3: 2000
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Men and Women in AdvertisingContent Analysis of Advertising general
shows the following:Men as “expert” voiceover announcer on all
types of productsMen overrepresented numericallyWomen younger, shorter, more likely
secondary roleWomen more often a smaller % of the image
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Content Analysis of Advertising (Continued…)Men less often in family role; if dads then less
often with daughters or infantsWomen more likely appear unemployed or in
“pink collar” job; men are shown in all jobs (especially occupations with authority).
Men more often give advice, women receive advice
Ads selling to women more often focus on appearance; those selling to men focus on status.
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“Real Beauty”Dove “Real Beauty”
CampaignRevolutionary?Shock/Difference =
Attention = Interest = Sales = $$$$
And still . . . “Advertising involves selling us things we did not know we needed to solve problems we did not know we had.”
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Shaping PossibilitiesBrittney Spears Pepsi Ad
CampaignInfluence on Clothing StylesIn mass market, clothing
choices are determined by producers as much as by consumers.
Low-cut jeans become the norm (and the only thing available in stores).
How many people choose to wear clothes other than those available in shops?
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Masculinity and Advertising“Instruction Manual” & “Structure of
appropriate behavior”
Advertising exaggerates male status-seeking (as ‘what women want’) and female beauty & sexuality (as ‘what men want’)
Findings from Psychology:Men who view beautiful models are less
satisfied and less committed to current partner.*
Women who listen to stories about successful men are less satisfied with current partner.
See: David Buss, Evolutionary Psychology
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“Killing Us Softly”:Gender and Advertising
Version 4: 2010
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Cultural Differences in Images of BeautySome aspects of
beauty are consistent across cultures:SymmetryWaist-to-Hip Ratio (.70)Indicate Health, Fertility
Many others are not.Why do standards of
beauty vary widely in different societies and cultures?
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640): Set the standard of “Rubenesque” beauty.
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Mauritania Fat-Farms: Force Fed Beauty
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Radically Different Images of Beauty:But Equally Extreme
Correlation between Body Image and Status
If little food is available, fatness is a display of wealth and high social status.
If food is abundant, thinness is a display of discipline and leisure time to exercise and high social status.Anorexia = Beauty
Obesity = Beauty
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Skin Deep BeautyAgricultural societies:
Dark skin = Working Outdoors = Low Social StatusLight skin = Staying Indoors = High Social Status
Industrial societies:Dark skin = Leisure Outdoors = High Social StatusLight skin = Working Indoors (factory/office) = Low Social
StatusRacism: White = European = Wealth = High Social
Status
Skin Whitening Products Skin Tanning Products
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Influence of Mass Popular CultureMass popular culture =
greater body image pressure.
Introduction of television correlated with increased emphasis on body image cross-culturally.
Societies without mass media are much less obsessed with body image. (e.g. Shostak 1981, Nisa)
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Men Don’t Seem to Need a“Real Beauty” Campaign
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Objectification of WomenWhy are women’s bodies objectified and not
men’s? (or women’s bodies more so than men’s)Thesis 1: Men control advertising firms; they
choose to display women as sex objects (for their gratification and to perpetuate male power over women).
Thesis 2: Heterosexual dynamics are such that women are a sexual commodity in ways that men are not (there is a “market” for women’s sexuality; but not much of one for men’s).
The two theses are not mutually exclusion; evidence exists to support both.
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Cultural, Social, BiologicalPopular Culture: Images teach us how to be
men, women, gendered beingsSocial Organization: Different social-
economic organization (agricultural, industrial; scarcity, abundance) influences cultural representations of high and low status
Heterosexual Chemistry/Dynamics: Inclines women to be Sex Objects more so than men.
There is no single explanation for gender. Gender systems are “overdetermined.” (see Ridgeway and Correll, p. 512)
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Summary PointsAdvertising plays a powerful role in gender
beliefs.Advertising reinforces stereotypes and gender
polarization; playing on evolved psychology:Women appear as “sex objects”Men appear as “success objects”
Beauty has both culturally consistent and culturally consistent elements
Gender systems are “overdetermined” – by culture, social relations and biology; they cannot be reduced to single causes.