Monday, February 2, 2009
Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt
Kilbourne argues that it is dangerous to depict men and women as sex objects due to the fact that it dehumanizes them, and when you view someone as less than human, it is much easier to victimize them. We would be extremely unlikely to injure someone who we saw as an equal, someone we respected and felt empathy for. A prominent historical example can be found with Nazi Germany. The Nazi regime portrayed the Jews as subhuman; this was the only way they could justify the slaughter of millions of Jews to themselves. To admit that Jews were equal to them in their humanity would have introduced doubt into the scenario, and made it impossible for the Nazis to do what they did. Kilbourne views the objectification of women as more troubling than that of men due to the fact that our culture is already highly stilted towards mysoginism even without the latest trends towards objectifying women. I agree with Kilbourne's assertion. Trends in advertising to objectify women tend to be more troubling than the male equivilant in advertising - however, in a sense these ads can be as damaging for men as they are for women. They try and convince men that they need to be dominant at all times, and that to "score" with a woman, they should treat her poorly. In this sense, men are victimized by these advertisements as well. Obviously this is not the same circumstance as it is with women - the objectification of women is much more immediately concering. However, in the end, such mentalities are unhealthy for everyone; men and women alike.
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2 comments:
I agree with the comments you made about this article, and especially liked the example of Nazi Germany as a tie-in to the objectification of individuals as a path towards their victimization. However, I am going to be nit-picky and disagree that the trend of objectifying women is recent... Women have been objectified for their sexual potential for hundreds of years, in ways probably less subtle than advertising. sexualized ads are simply a new symptom of a chronic problem.
I agree with you, my post did not mean to imply that objectification of women is a recent phenomenon. Rather I meant to illustrate the fact that objectification has increased with the advent of mediums such as sexualized advertising. This is not a new problem, but historical evidence will back up the assertion that it has gotten worse. Many years ago, a women was considered promiscuous if she publicly displayed her ankles. Such an act was considered positively scandalous. Now days, advertisements can feature virtually full nudity, and no one bats an eye. Such an occurrence is commonplace. As a matter of fact, I will go one further - such an occurrence is virtually expected in this day and age. The public possesses a voracious appetite when it comes to seeing women being subservient to men. It isn't enough to have such media on the internet, it needs to be on TV and in magazines as well. Advertisers advertise the way they do because it works. The offensive and downright obnoxious Go Daddy ad from the Super Bowl is going to move domain names, I can guarantee it. Such a message resonates with people, unfortunate as that may be. Perhaps this urge to objectify and dehumanize has always existed within us to this extent, but until now, there was virtually no way to vocalize it as it were. With mediums such as advertising now available to us, an age old problem is undoubtedly much worse.
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