PSY 3121 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Killing Us Softly, Brave Girls, Civil Union
5 May 2018
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Images of Women in Media and Other Social Contexts
•Advertisements
-A study by Jean Kilborne (1979): Killing Us Softly
-Babies at 6 months can recognize corporate logos.
-The influence of ads are quick, cumulative, subconscious. Sell more than just products.
-Older women need to look impossibly young, thin, and beautiful (increased pressure).
-photoshop is a tool used to achieve these goals
-women are edited to remove wrinkles, older characteristics are desired in men
-Men are made bigger and more muscular.
-Women of colour resemble the Caucasian ideal (light-skin, straight hair).
-Women’s bodies are dismembered and insulted.
-Normalizes violence and pornography due to objectification.
-women’s poses are passive, vulnerable, submissive
-the use of children and their sexualizes also normalize these behaviours
-sex is trivialized in advertisements, sex is used to sell (graphic, pornographic)
-learn to sexualize themselves and see themselves as objects
-Brave Girls Alliance, Media Literacy in schools (films, books, and organizations).
-Images are not real, and are constructed. Females and males are affected by these
doctored photos. The emphasis on physical perfection result in plummeting self-esteem.
-Boys are sexualized too, but in very different ways than women. We allow them to be
sexualized without teaching them sex-education.
-Advertising sells products, values, image, concepts of love/ sexuality, romance, success,
normalcy.!
-Ads tell us who we are and who we should be. It sells the ideal, and what people should
aspire towards, regardless of the realisticness of achievement.
-Ads tell us the “ideal” female beauty (which is unattainable).
-Women are meant to feel shame and guilt when we fail.
-Violence against women.!Turns women into a thing, an object. Silencing: covering their
mouths or being covered, meaning being quiet/submissive (voices not meant to be heard).
-Body Language: passive, vulnerable.!Silly poses.!Men are given dignity and strength.
-Infantilizing: make individuals look very young (clothing, makeup), and the sexualization of
younger girls (look older).
-Sex as dirty, and like a joke. Trivialize sex with no emphasis on relationships. Sex is available,
quick, and easily obtainable. Advertisements are very heterosexual and hypersexual.
-Sex and sexuality belong to the young and the beautiful. It is heterosexual and comes from
the world of porn which becomes mainstream.
-sexualized appearance, seem as objects
-sexualization is not inherently wrong, the problem is emphasized because these women
are very young and at the exclusion of other abilities (experienced and virginal, sexual
and innocent)
-link sex with objects to make object sexual (designed to promote consumerism)
-Advertisements also target men. Men should be violent and aggressive, tough and insensitive
and ultimately do not want to be labelled as “feminine”.
-these viewpoints creates contempt for women and femininity, devaluing women.
-in real life you have to communicate for a healthy relationship
-compassion, cooperation, sensitivity, communication are not shown but are needed in
real life partnerships in order to have a healthy relationship
-romanticize violence, desensitize women, casual and nonchalant
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Images of women in media and other social contexts: advertisements. A study by jean kilborne (1979): killing us softly. Babies at 6 months can recognize corporate logos. The in uence of ads are quick, cumulative, subconscious. Older women need to look impossibly young, thin, and beautiful (increased pressure). Photoshop is a tool used to achieve these goals. Women are edited to remove wrinkles, older characteristics are desired in men. Women of colour resemble the caucasian ideal (light-skin, straight hair). The use of children and their sexualizes also normalize these behaviours. Sex is trivialized in advertisements, sex is used to sell (graphic, pornographic) Learn to sexualize themselves and see themselves as objects. Brave girls alliance, media literacy in schools ( lms, books, and organizations). Females and males are affected by these doctored photos. The emphasis on physical perfection result in plummeting self-esteem. Boys are sexualized too, but in very different ways than women.
