Blog #3 Gender Ads Jenny Walton

WS 200 Blog#3 Ad Jenny Walton
This is the link you will need to check out the advertisement I selected for this blog:
http://www.ltcconline.net/lukas/gender/onlythebody/pics/onlythebody30.jpg
First of all, I didn’t know what to attack first, the picture or the caption! The old cliche’ “Sex sells” is certainly at work in this advertisement.
First of all, the woman depicted here has no face, only a very curvy, scantily clad body. She is in a state of undress with the pants coming down, hips, sexily swayed and wearing a bra. The lack of a face or identity portrays the thought that women and their bodies are good for only one thing:sex. It does not necessarily say that all women are good for sex, just those who go to the gym . So this depiction is harmful in that it divides women further from each other, in that those who have good bodies are wanted for sex and those whose bodies aren’t represented in the ad are only good or wanted for their mind. For women who consider sex with love and being “wanted”, this could and would be a very depressing ad.
As far as “tired of guys who want you for your mind?”, this is a slam at a pick-up line used by some guys to get sex. And what woman would not want to be liked for who she is, the whole package and not just a warm body?! So, the ad feeds into that by attempting to tell men what they “really” want which is a body to go along with that mind and that it is perfectly acceptable to use women in this manner. This ad furthers the assumption that if you don’t have a mind and a body that is “perfect” that you, as a woman, are not worthy of male attention.
If you already can’t tell, I am really offended by this ad, for myself and women in general. As a mom I have tried to instill in my children that it’s not the outside, but the inside of a person that counts. Everywhere you look there are ads that confuse and distort the image of women that are degrading and downright nasty. It is no wonder that people, young and old alike, are confused by the issue of sex and love and mistake one for the other, making choices that can negatively affect a lifetime! And what about the women who don’t have heredity on their side for a svelte body? This type of ad tells them that they will never be able to be loved for anything except their mind, which in many women’s minds is a lie.
This ad is anti-feminist in that it allows women to be controlled by men and used for their bodies. This allows the patriarchal idea of male domination to continue and encourages women not to use their minds, just their bodies.
A good way to take part in protesting imagery that is harmful to women and girls is to not shop at stores or buy services from industries that advertise in this way. However, if one does that, a letter of explanation as to why you are doing this would be good to put the business on notice. I would also consider educating friends on this issue and get a group organized to boycott buying and do letter writing, phone calls and emails. This campaign could be sent to newspapers as editorials or a door-to door campaign could be done also.