Stereotypes In Battling Bare

Stereotypes have created a distortion in the eyes of society. It has affected many of lives and will continue to do so. One of these many victims, are military spouses. For countless of years, military spouses have been told they got married for the benefits, that they are dumb, and depend on their spouse to take care of them financially. Military spouses have had to deal with societies standards, while the media provides civilians an unrealistic view of what being a military spouse is really all about by promoting negative stereotypes. Through this cover named “Battling Bare” from Military Spouse magazine, we can spot how the media uses these stereotypes in a provocative way to change the consumers perspective. The “Battling Bare” cover,

Jennifer Lundquist, a researcher from the University of Massachusetts, found that rather marrying for money, most military spouses get married because they want to “be with their service member and be a part of their life when they get stationed far away from their hometown.“ This stereotype can be spotted in the right bottom corner of the “Battling Bare” ad. By promoting the best honeymoon places for military couples, it can be considered financially related to give military couples ideas to take advantage of their spouse’s pay and benefits. Stereotypes damages military spouse’s reputations, there’s a term people in the service use, “Dependapotamus” which is known for a woman who marries into the military, has multiple children, doesn’t work and lets herself go. Also, “Tag chaser” which is a woman who apparently targets men in the military who will be deployed in order to gain power of attorney and access to his direct deposits and benefits from the military. This gives society a wrong and nasty impression of military spouses. It is an awful way to look at someone like that when they truly care about their spouse and aren’t at all like these stereotypes define them. The reality of getting married to a person in the service is about many other things than just

The stereotype of PTSD is another big topic society talks about. Not everyone in the service comes back broken to their wives in need of mental help, but there are families that deal with it. One way media convinces the audience is using rhetorical analysis. For instance, Pathos is how the image can send an emotional appeal to the audience. In this case, the poem in the back of the woman in this magazine cover, was written by the founder of the Battling Bare campaign, wanting to share her emotions towards her PTSD husband and make a statement to the world how she’s the one helping him. It went viral and many military wives around the world started to do the same. It provided a feeling of satisfaction and joy for those who felt the same but could not put a label to what they were feeling. It shared the reality behind the men that come back from being deployed and going to war. On the other hand, ethos is another rhetorical tool the magazine used in this cover. Ethos is the credibility used to persuade the reader, which they used experiences from wives that tell their stories and how to help newly spouses deal with the situations. This can be spotted on the top left corner of the ad where it says: “Wives Helping Their Spouses Beat Combat Stress”. Letting them know they are not alone. This is what the magazine and organization is all about, mutually helping spouses deal with the distance and the situations found in