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Jean Kilbourne's Objectification Of Women

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watching the film Killing Us Softly 4 I agreed with Jean Kilbourne that advertising images objectify women and lower their self-esteem. Sexualized images are widely used and degrade women by encouraging abuse and reinforcing the idea of patriarchal society. Women are shown that femininity means being passive, innocent/ pure, and virginal but sexually experienced at the same time. To be feminine you have to be obsessed with the way you look, within this women of color are only considered beautiful if they look like the "white ideal" (light skin, straight hair, etc.). Women are also shown to be silent in many ads with their mouths covered, which helps encourage the idea of women being turned into objects which perpetuate violence against women. I agreed with Kilbourne that sometimes girls learned that sexualized behavior is seen as a declaration of empowerment although it isn't really their choice. Ultimately, being beautiful is the most important measure of being successful for women instead of being shown as smart, strong, or capable. …show more content…

Boys are shown through ads that brutal violence, toughness, and insensitivity is the norm. Because of the distorted view of how women should act, men feel that those qualities like compassion, empathy, cooperation, sensitivity, etc. are feminine and cannot be shown by men.I feel that advertising images have a great influence over shaping our gender and racial schemas. Kilbourne discussed how while many feel they are immune to the effects of advertising we still process an ad's message unconsciously, after the fact. I do feel as a society overall we have made some improvement in celebrating more body types (e.g.- Ashley Graham) and strong women of color (e.g.- Serena Williams). But there is still a lot of work to be done, women of all colors and ages should include in being portrayed as

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The episode “Killing Us Softly - Advertising Image of Women” dives into the many ways women are portrayed in the media. This episode of “Killing Us Softly - Advertising Image of Women” dives into the many ways women are portrayed in the media. This episode discusses the different kinds of ads that are used to push negative and harmful ideals. The idea that advertisements don’t affect us is also debunked, through research on the mind and the way our society has been shaped by these advertisements. The producer of this episode, Jean Kilbourne, noticed ads that were off-putting.

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The expectation of women to look a certain way is immensely affecting women around the world. Killbourne, 2010 discusses immense influence the media has in our society, furthermore, stating “Almost every aspect of popular culture is about marketing” (J. Killbourne, 2010). The need for individuals to fit in drives the markets, which results in personas that many women believe are obtainable, however the figures displayed are often shown completely reconfigured from their original self. Killbourne, 2010 also discusses how advertisements tell individuals who they are, and who they should be; due to the nature of the advertisements targeting individuals subconscious, which furthermore creates the pressures of conformity that are extremely negative for youth. Women see models, wearing varieties of different things, which drives the subconscious to influence individuals to conform to the standards and try and obtain looks exactly, or similar to the figures they witness in adds (J. Killbourne, 2010).

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These advertisements become the garments women wear and the body image they strive to match. The issue with this is that this body image is not real or healthy, they are not human beings they are toys. The suggestive sexual imagery within the media is just continuing to feed into the ideals that thrive in the society’s culture. Since media is such a large part of people‘s everyday lives it influences how people, especially women, perceive themselves and the world. The prevalence of such images of women in advertisements is a problem as it normalizes their objectification of women as it becomes more common.

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“Advertising contributes to people’s attitudes about gender, sex, and violence,” states Jean Kilbourne in her article, Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt With advertising agencies standing by the notion that “Sex Sells” it isn’t uncommon to find sex tied into a number of advertisements seen everywhere on a daily basis. “Sex in advertising is pornographic because it dehumanizes and objectifies people, especially women …” (Kilbourne, 271). The objectification of women in our society is more prevalent than many would like to believe. Women being portrayed as passive, easy, innocent, needy, submissive and dependent beings create an understanding that women are less human than men.

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