Week 3: Femininity & Advertising

Cutting Girls Down to Size

(gendersex.net, 2011)

Today our children are not brought up by parents, they are brought up by mass media so when they hear, listen and watch commercials, television or the music videos they are constantly subjected to the peer pressures that erode private and individual values of the home and community. "Advertisers are aware of their role and do not hesitate to take advantage of the insecurities and anxieties of young people, usually in the guise of offering a solution." (Dines & Kilbourne, Ch 26-pp 258)

(beautyredefined.com, 2010)

There is a kind of suffering in our media and culture that particular afflicts girls.  As girls enter adolecsense, she faces many feelings of loss; loss of ones self-confidence, loss of ambition, and even the loss of ones voice. It's hard enough being a girl and going through the changes in which we go through with our bodies but then to include the added pressures and influences of media is more than one can block out. "Even girls that are raised in loving homes by supportive parents grow up in a toxic cultral environment, at risk for self-mutulation, eating disorders and addictions. The culture, both reflected and reinforced by advertising, urges girls to adopt a false self, to bury alive their real selves, to become feminine, which means to be nice, kind and sweet, to compete with other girls for attention of boys, and to value romantic relationships with boys above all else." (Dines & Kilbourne, Ch 26-pp 259)

(cooladvertisement.com, 2010)

Sources:

beautyredefined.net. (2010, April 14). Salmampop. Retrieved from http://cooladvertisement.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/salmacampop.jpg

beautyredefined.net. (2010, December 1). Victoria secret fashion show. Retrieved from http://beautyredefined2010.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/victorias-secret-fashion.jpg

Dines, G. (2003). Gender, race, and class in the media. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oakes London: Sage Publications.

gendersex.net. (2011 , August). wasted barbie. Retrieved from http://gendersex.net/files/2010/08/wasted-barbie.jpg