Women In Advertising: An Example Of An Ad By American Apparel

Women in Advertising Sex sells. In fact, sex sells so much that according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Crime Victimization Survey, there is an average of about 293,066 victims of rape and sexual assault each year. It is not uncommon to see women featured in advertisements in a sexual way, sometimes violently. Often times, women in both media and advertising are portrayed in a way that reduces them to nothing more than an object for a strong male figure to use at will. This type of advertisement sends messages to both men and women, that women should be submissive, and men should be dominant, leading to more violence in women. One example, is an ad by American Apparel. In the ad, a well-dressed man, shown from shoulders to

Even more so, because her legs are spread open to the masculine figure in the advertisement. The ad is selling the idea that the only important part of her, is the part that can please a man sexually. Especially with the American Apparel logo slapped right between them. Because according to this ad, what really matters is what’s between her legs.

Ideas like this in advertising can make these behaviors more widely acceptable. To prove this, one study took a survey from college women and found that they found the advertisements less problematic than they did a few decades ago. “They were and are constantly surrounded by sexual images of females, and many have adopted views of third wave feminists, which interpret these formally negative and sometimes harmful images as acceptable ones.” (Zimmerman and Dahlberg

According to one study, “...Engagement in gender-atypical behaviors and preference with interacting primarily with other-gender peers were expected to be associated with lower peer acceptance and greater victimization” it was also mentioned that “these relations would be stronger for boys than girls.” (Kreiger and Kochenderfer-Ladd 2) If a man doesn’t live up to the expectations of what a man should be, that are enforced by advertisements featuring these expectations, men and boys will be outcasted from their peers, and even become victims from verbal, mental, and sometimes physical