Here are our two questions we think people should consider while reading:
- Compare the sexism present in the Goodyear commercial we saw last Friday with the sexism presented in the reading "Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt." What is your reaction to each type of sexism? Which type do you feel is more damaging to women and why?
- Consider areas in the reading where society blames the woman for the sexual assault-- the 3 year old molestation case, the rape victim and the victoria's secret underwear, etc. Do you think women would feel protected if they knew sexual assault would always be punished? Or do you think women will always feel a need to keep quiet? Would women feel more confident in coming forward and reporting sexual assault or would there still be a failure to feel safe enough to speak up? What about the trial process in a sexual assault case can discourage women from coming forward?
These are both kind of long. But we thought there was a lot to consider with each question.
Thank you,
Paige and Just Give Us A's
In the Goodyear commercial, women are portrayed as poor and dangerous drivers with no sense of direction or control of the car that they are driving. The reading “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt” uncovered the sexism present in advertisements. These advertisements dehumanize women and portray them as objects which leads to violence and sexual assault. The sexism in both the commercial and the advertisements not only offends women but also makes them feel unsafe. I feel that the advertisements are more damaging to women because of how time has changed. The advertisements still pertain to today, but now, women are not considered such poor drivers as they were back when the commercial was made.
ReplyDeleteEven if sexual assault was always punished, women would still be afraid to come forward and report it. It may for some women make them feel secure, but there will always be fear that keeps them from reporting sexual assault. Reporting a sexual assault puts the women out in the open and makes her vulnerable. If the man is not charged, then he could go free to continue sexually assaulting other women and possibly even the woman that brought up charges on him. The fear that the man will not be punished keeps women from reporting incidents of sexual assault.
When I saw the Goodyear commercial, I thought it was more humorous than anything. I didn't find it funny because of the message it was conveying but rather how they conveyed it. The reason for this is because times have changed and it's not as effective now because of how our society is today. However, when I was reading "Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt", I felt uncomfortable and disgusted. I definitely think the advertisements are more damaging to women because the way they are portrayed. In the Goodyear commercial, the message was more that women are dangerous drivers and they need a man around because they can do things better. In the advertisements, the women were used in a negative light in order to attract men to a certain product. For example, the ad for SYN jeans shows a woman dressed seductively with a message clearly saying that if men wear these jeans, they will "get" women. Why does this have to be the message in order for a company to advertise their product?
ReplyDeleteRegardless if sexual assault would always be punished, I think women would still keep quiet. Whether or not someone gets punished for what they did, the situation already happened and they can't change that. Sure, a woman would feel safer knowing that the man who assaulted her was locked up, but she will still always carry that burden with her.
Initially speaking, in the goodyear commercial, I didn't really catch too much sexism in it until the end when the husband showed up. Maybe this is because I'm a man and thought it didn't really pertain to me because I wasn't a woman and so wasn't paynig close attention at the beginning. But looking back, I can see that the sexism was presnet though I would argue, more subtley than that in "Two ways a Woman Can Get Hurt",which smacked me in the face at the beginning. The sexism in the commercial was less damaging because it only alluded to women being kinda dumb and hopeless without men, which as we see now, isn't true. But the kind present in the reading, portraying women as objects to be gotten by men, is significantly more damaging. When portrayed this way, as the text suggests, it almost will guarantee the transition to abusing them as one might abuse an unliving object without feeling remorse. Because of this connection, I feel portaying women as objects is significantly more damaging to women than the goodyear commercial.
ReplyDeleteIn response to the second question, no, a woman wouldn't feel protected if she knew an assaulter would always be punished. No one said what the punishment would be, and if it's like a year in prison, then after one year, the man will probably come out looking for revenge against the woman and this time, the woman may not be physically capable of reporting the abuse. Because of this possibility, women would still probably elect to stay quiet about assaults, thinking it the safest option in the long run. With respects to he trial process, evidence may arise like in the book examples that suggest the woman is a temptress and brought the abuse on themselves and then even if the man is convicted, she will be shunned by the rest of the public.
While both the Goodyear commercial and the modern advertising shown in "Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt" are sexist, two different types of sexism are exhibited. The Goodyear commercial portrays women as inferior to men and in need of manly protection from the danger women pose to themselves like when driving. In modern advertising women are also shown as inferior, however instead of needing protection, this advertising suggests that women should be exploited and used by men especially sexually without any consideration. While the Goodyear commercial is condescending and sexist, it is essentially nonviolent if anything it is overly protective of women. Thus I consider modern advertising to be much more harmful, Goodyear might set back female equality but modern advertising promotes violence against women.
ReplyDeleteWomen will always be hesitant to report sexual assault, even if punishment is guaranteed. It is not only fear of the attacker that holds women back from reporting the crime, it is usually shame and fear of the repercussions from the report. Our society partially lays the blame on the woman for the sexual assault. Since society teaches us that it is our fault because we were asking for it or being too sexy, women will be afraid to report the crime knowing that it is likely that in trial or even with the police it will be said that she is at fault for the assault. Until society stops looking down on women who were sexually assaulted, these women will be too afraid to report the crime even if there is certain punishment for her attacker.
The Goodyear commercial focused on a cultural stereotype that women are inferior drivers, and especially focused on the concept that they need men to take care of them. This type of sexism is directed at the supposed intelligence of women, as opposed to the sexism described in "Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt." In this incredibly disturbing excerpt, the advertising described is directed at the animalistic impulses that exist in both men and women. It seems as though advertising has evolved to the point where society has accepted the equal intelligence of women--so now advertising is targeted at the physical weakness of women. I was annoyed by the commercial, though not overly so because I know that such a commercial would never be permitted to air today. I was horrified by the excerpt from the book because the advertising described is a cultural norm. I think I was most surprised by my own susceptibility to such advertising. Whenever I view ads similar to those that the excerpt detailed (such as the naked woman covered by watches on page 577), I always react with disgust but I never consider them to be threatening. Now I see the real danger that lies behind such inappropriate advertising techniques, and I find it infinitely more damaging. While both types of sexism are completely ridiculous, the messages so prevalent today focus more on primal desires and giving men permission to take what they want--where as the Goodyear commercial may have brought out a protective, patronizing feeling in men.
ReplyDeleteWomen are merciless when it comes to other women. Even I have to remind myself when I hear about rape cases that no matter how revealing of an outfit a girl was wearing, she always has the right to say no. It is never a woman's fault if she is raped, but it is amazing how often women feel responsible for the actions of a man. Often times a woman is reluctant to come forward because her abuser is not a random stranger, it is someone close to her. There is a psychological problem, in part caused by the demeaning and violent advertising that pervades our society, that prevents women from speaking up because they may love their attacker. They do not want to see them punished because they feel lost without them. Of course, part of the issue is that they do not want to be weakened by the public scandal that may arise if their story is made known--but many times the reason that women do not speak up is because of an unhealthy attachment to the person who they should want to see punished. I see a frightening correlation between advertising that promotes violence and women to reveal more and the amount of women who do not report rape because they feel at fault.
The two cases of sexism are similar, but the Goodyear advertisement is more mocking women as drivers and frantic, and also being submissive to their husbands, but not being sexually submissive as the women characterized in the article.
ReplyDeleteI think, trying to take a different angle on this, that a huge factor in "why" women are raped is the cultural influence on males. This is no excuse for anyone to commit something so heinous, but it is part of the reason. Every guy (that is, most of us) feels the need to be masculine. Unfortunately, our picture of masculinity is perverted. Now, if you want to be a "real man," you need to be a handsome devil that has a trail of women behind him, and the only we to get all these women to fall at your feet is to be dominant but also indifferent. Some women may love a guy who is cool and indifferent, but in the long run this act never fools anyone.
True men love their wives unconditionally. True men care for and nurture their wives. A true man should sacrifice daily for his wife. I use the term wife, but this should apply to any woman a man cares about. This can also include his mother, or another relative.
I fight constantly against wanting to be the tough guy, when being manly is being emotional and wanting to hear the deep dark secrets. I don't think being one is necessarily a bad thing either.
Women are never responsible for being sexually assaulted. A lot of times it can be prevented, but when it happens they are still the victim. Men are the perpetrators, whether we're brainwashed or not.
My reaction to the commercial was not as great as the reading. They are both similar because they show a man’s dominance of a woman. However, the reading provides more examples of dominance, in addition to sexual assault and violence, making the reading’s examples of sexism more damaging to women.
ReplyDeleteWomen will not “feel” more protected if they knew sexual assault would always be punished, because it is quite obvious that sexual assault is punished and this punishment does not prevent the assault from happening, just as the law does not prevent bank robberies to happen or murder. The crime will still occur and there is still a reason to fear sexual assault. Due to their respective social circumstances, women will most likely feel a need to keep quiet. If nothing has changed, there would be no reason to change their existing behavior.
The Goodyear commercial was implying that women and men aren't equal. That Women are like children compared to men and men need to be there to take care of them. If the mans not there then the Goodyear tires will look after the women when she's driving alone. This is pretty innocent compared to the ads in "Two Ways A Women Can get Hurt."
ReplyDeleteThese ads are much more damaging to women. All of them are objectifying women and men. Women as only sexual entities and men as animals who only want sex. In many of these ads there acts of violence against women or are being implied. Showing violence/abuse against women in magazines or any kind of public media normalizes it. It makes it seem acceptable to not take no for an answer when it comes to a women. These ads depict unrealistic expectations of how women should look and act. This causes women to blame them selves for when bad things happen to them because they weren't acting as they should be. The ads in "Two Ways A Women Can Get Hurt," were very shocking and hard to even look at.
Initially, I found the Goodyear commercial humorous because, for one thing, it was definitely out of context and was targeting an audience from the fifties and also because I personally know that women are considered better drivers now a days as proof that insurance agencies charge less for women than they do for men. In contrast, I found the sexism presented in the Rereading America book to be quite disturbing and sickening. I absolutely hate how sex is connected to nearly everything we do in life and I for one hate the way the media tries to use these sexual images and sexism to influence what we buy, what we eat and how we act. Half of the pictures I didn’t even want to look at they bothered me so much.
ReplyDeleteAlthough both the Goodyear commercial and the advertisements presented in the article “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt” are both forms of sexism, the Goodyear commercial did not aim at violence while the advertisements clearly incite it. The purpose of the Goodyear commercial was to encourage men, husbands, to buy Goodyear tires which are supposed to be safer for women who are driving at night. While the commercial does deride woman by presenting them as less intelligent and unable to handle difficult situations, it does not in any way, shape or form encourage the men to hurt these women. Instead it tries to persuade these men that their wives need protection which is the opposite of violence. The advertisements presented in the article “Two Ways a Woman can Get Hurt” clearly want to portray women as “submissive” and for “men to be forceful and dominant” (583,577). In most of these advertisements, the media have objectified women, which according to the Kilbourne, “is almost always the first step toward justifying violence” (585). The sexism shown in these advertisements is more damaging toward women and even men because it implants these stereotypes which essentially become reality. When girls grow up seeing themselves as sexual objects of appeal rather than human beings with a say in their own life, then that could affect how they behave as an adolescent and adult. Men on the other hand are also damaged by these advertisements because they are conditioned to believe that all women internally act the same as those in these advertisements and learn to see themselves as dominant. As an addition to these mental issues, the increase in violence associated with these advertisements also shows that they are more damaging than the Goodyear commercial.
While both the commercial and the readings displayed clear sexism there was a definite difference in the brand of sexism present. The Goodyear commercial showed women as bad drivers and unintelligent and they did so in such an obvious way as to make me find it a bit funny because of how outdated it seemed. Meanwhile the ads in the reading did much more to objectify women and showed them as weak and vulnerable. This along with the violent and dangerous things they allude to women doing or having happen to them in some ads made me feel a little offended and just plain bad as well as incredulous they actually go to such lengths to do so. Due to that I believe the form of sexism in the readings is much more damaging to women. It can develop a much more dangerous mindset in viewers, men and women both, than the Goodyear commercial can.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the knowledge that sexual assault would always go punished would do all that much to make women feel safer because the act could still happen even if it would become much less likely. However, I believe more women would speak up about it if they were the victims and would feel less prone to stay quiet if they knew their attacker would be punished. Having to face your attacker in court could still scare women away from coming forward. That and they may feel ashamed when recounting what happened to the court when they have to testify.
The sexism present in the Goodyear commercial portrays women as vastly inferior to men, incompetent, and subservient. The ads in the reading are all about sex and present women as not necessarily inferior, but a prize that can be obtained or an object of desire. While the sexism from the reading may be a cause of some violence towards women and is therefore damaging in a tangible way, however I believe that the sexism from the Goodyear commercial is more damaging to women overall. The idea that women are inferior to men, as presented in the commercial, affects women in so many ways such as lower pay, less respect at work, and possible violence from men that believe they are superior. Many of us laughed when we saw the commercial because we never see commercials like this that it seems ridiculous. We don't see commercials like this because people have worked hard to essentially ban this type of advertising from today's world. While the "sex" sexism is damaging in a tangible, physical way, I believe that the belief that women are inferior is more damaging overall.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI would agree with Mark Sin that the Goodyear commercial is more damaging to the image of women, but i believe the ads in the reading are more dangerous. The ads suggest that women are part of the problem of violence to them self. The fact that the ads are seductive and give wrong impressions of the word "NO" does change your thoughts toward women. Although this may encourage men to act violently i still do not believe it's an excuse. I feel that these ads are not a direct result of rape and abuse to women because most people understand that it is not okay not matter what. For example the NO ad shows a women laughing and looking into the eyes of a man while saying no. If a man portrays that as anytime a girl says no regardless of her actions is not very understanding of women and most likely needs to seek help. Although i don't believe the ads are a direct result of harm to women, i feel it is an excuse of why it happens
ReplyDeleteThe Goodyear ad that we watched in class doesn't as blatantly objectify women or human beings as many of the ads that were analyzed in the reading "Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt"do.
ReplyDeleteWe can see how the vulnerability of the wife and the masculinity of the husband are portrayed in the tire commercial, but the ad is not as detrimental to women as many of the advertisements in the reading that are so called "pornographic". The Goodyear tire ad may be sexist, but it doesn't dehumanize the people within it. Though the wife is depicted as inferior, there is a level of worry in the husbands role - meaning the ad shows the husband cares for his wife.
In many of the advertisements in the reading, women are portrayed as sex temptresses, naive, animal-like. Many emotions are taken out of the people, aside from lust. This is harmful to our well-being as a whole because it is a reflection of us. This is what catches our attention. This is how the advertising companies reel us in, and it's beginning to normalize immoral and unattractive behavior. These ads are desensitizing our culture. It's not just women that are being affected, it's men, children, teens, etc. too. Advertisements are passive propaganda.
The sexism present in the article "Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt" contained many stereotypes and generalizations about both men and women. The article generally portrayed all men as overpowering and demanding of sexual requests from women and women as helpless to any sexual harassment that enters their life. These types of men and women certainly exist in the world, as the statistics the author presented clearly show. However, she ignores the fact that there are many men in the world who genuinely care about women, who don't treat them as "objects" and who are supportive towards a partner in a relationship. She also makes the false assumption that nothing can be done to avoid sexual harassment especially in public schools. The girl that the author mentions who was harrassed by boys that dragged her by the arms, looked up her skirt, layed their heads on her chest and made lewd comments could have easily told someone about this incident and (especially with such an extreme advance) not been judged or outcast for her actions to protect herself. Many of the examples the author gives in advertisement are possibly misinterpreted to fit the author's intended message. One such example is the comparison of women's underwear to a child running naked, which was meant to emphasize comfort while wearing the underwear and not degrading toward women as the author suggests. The author also mentions that if the roles were reversed in commercials that depict women as beautiful and men looking on, the result would be "frightening" or "rightfully fear for [the on looking teenage girls]." However, an ad depicting almost the exact same scenario as the mentioned diet Pepsi commercial where the men made suggestive comments that ended up being about the diet Pepsi can appeared in a 3 Musketeers candy bar commercial where 3 women make suggestive comments seemingly about a man that end up being about the candy bar. To my knowledge this commercial caused no conflict, uproar, controversy, or fear as the author predicts. I am not trying to undermine the fact that there are plenty of perverted, cruel, insensitive and harmful men in the world or the effect on a woman that said man victimizes, I am simply saying that the author ignores the ability of a man to be everything a woman asks for, and an abundance of men that are willing to do so.
ReplyDeleteThe examples of sexism brought up in Kilbourne's article are examples which she believes indicate an acceptance of sexual violence. The woman in the Goodyear commercial, while being seen as incapable, is nevertheless humanized and seen as worth protecting. In a sense, one might consider the more recent advertisements worse if we accept Kilbourne's interpretation.
ReplyDeleteWhile some of Kilbourne's interpretations of her examples seem a little far-fetched, she does make a good point that sexual violence can only increase as a result of the way the media portrays women. Some of her statistics about such violence shocked me; this simply does not get as much attention as one would think. Even when a news story describes such an instance it leads one to believe that these are significant isolated events when clearly this happens every day.
Feminists now have something of a reputation for overreaction, which is unfortunate since they still have an important cause to fight for. Their cause for militancy may have changed since the '60s but it has not gone away.
To answer the first question, I feel that the sexism in advertisements were more hurtful towards women than the goodyear commercial. I mean sure the goodyear commercial was feeding into a negative stereotype that women are bad drivers, but the advertisements portraying women as objects are much more dangerous in terms of sexual abuse and date rape. I feel as if these advertisements are condoning the act of mistreating women and almost feeding into the cultural statement that men are dominant over women. The worst part is that some of these degrading depictions of women are meant to be "humorous" or "seductive". I think that this method of gaining the audiences attention is destructive.
ReplyDeleteLet's be realistic though, advertising in the form of sexual appeal and seduction has been around for a while now. I've recently been watching the show "Mad Men", which has a main focus in advertising in the late 50's, early 60's, and the advertising team would use the method of sexism to sell the products to the male community. On a side note, the men of that time also degraded their women, so i'm not too sure which influenced which. In my opinion, the innocent commercials need to come back to mainstream radio and television. I think if that happens, the country could benefit from the moralistic messages portrayed in these positive advertisments.
I can't speak for other females but being a woman myself I would have to say that I would not feel “protected” if assault would always be punished. First off, even if someone were to be punished for his or her actions, it would not prevent it from happening in the first place so why would I feel safe? People generally don’t have consequences in mind when they want to do something. If they desire it enough, they will just do it with no second thoughts. I also don’t think punishing will make the pain of assault go away. It will only make the assailant angrier because they are being punished. I think people generally don’t feel comfortable talking about certain situations therefore they will probably keep quiet regardless and keep that memory neatly tucked away. It is always difficult and frightening to speak against someone being prosecuted. For example, even with witness protection programs nothing is a hundred percent. The defendant can have family members that might come after you. In addition, information has been easier to get to then ever. So it is not impossible for someone to find where you live or where you work. Overall, it is not easy to come forward about a compromising event because there is always your safety at stake even outside the court walls.
ReplyDeleteBoth the sexism in the Goodyear commercial and the sexism presented in the reading were very damaging to women. I believe that the sexism in the book is far more severe than the commercial, however. The Goodyear commercial in today’s mainstream media would generate nothing more than a few chuckles and some sexist comments. Most people would be able to see right through the sexist standards the commercial was using to sell their product and dismiss the commercial as nothing more than another stereotype. The book mentions that advertisements today use pornography as a means of selling their product. Although I believe this to be an exaggeration, it is to some extent true. The subliminal messages Victoria’s Secret, Old Spice, Calvin Klein, and many other companies use to market their products have the potential to change the thinking men and women have about gender roles in society. Men are encouraged to control their women where as any intimacy or emotional weakness is ridiculed. This type of sexism is far more damaging because it is implanted into our subconscious without us even thinking twice about it.
ReplyDeleteDo I think women would feel protected if they knew sexual assault would always be punished? Well as far as I know, sexual assault is always punished. In many cases it is hard to determine if the act of sex was consensual by both partners—in cases like these I don’t know what the right answer is. I feel like there will always be some women who are intimidated to come forward and report sexual assault. In abusive relationships, a woman might fear for her life if she tells anyone. Circumstances like this are horrible and unfortunately will always discourage women from coming forward. One thing is for sure, society should not blame women for sexual violence but rather the evil, corrupt people that commit these atrocities. Maybe some of the advertisements themselves are to blame as well.
I feel that if sexual assault was always punished, women still wouldn’t feel protected. Even today, the United States punishes sex offenders, but I still know women that are afraid to go out alone at night. I mean, just because theirs punishment for a crime, doesn’t mean people won’t commit it. I feel if someone sexually harassed me, I would be too scared to let anyone know.
ReplyDeleteI think they would still feel unsafe to speak up because women mainly don’t tell anyone because they fear criticism and people looking at them differently. Also, it is a very difficult topic to talk to someone about. They know if they tell someone, they are going to have to explain the whole story, maybe several times. They would have to relieve that moment over and over again when they really just want to forget about it. I think women feel safe enough to speak up about what happened, but I think they just don’t feel comfortable about it. Often, the people that sexually harass women are someone they know. It could be a friend, family member, or someone they may be acquainted with. It would be difficult to speak up about sexual harassment if it meant sending them to prison which could ruin their life. For most young women, that is a lot of weight on their shoulders and the easiest way out of making that decision is to keep quiet about it.
Moreover, the trial process would discourage women because they would have to retell their experience. They would have to testify what exactly the person did to them in front of many people. Plus, what you say has a huge impact on what is going to happen to the sex offender. If its someone they know, it would be difficult to tell people how they sexual harassed you and sometimes wouldn’t want them to receive a huge punishment. In conclusion, I believe that speaking up about problems in general and sexual harassment is about ten time harder, I wish we could somehow make it easier especially for younger children to speak up.
Okay watching the Goodyear commercial was humorous, I'm sure that was their way of marketing and advertising their tires at the time. Using the stereotypes of women not being able to drive or its dangerous no matter what turn shes taking is just to capture the men's attention. If i were to ask every male in the class, and i mean honestly who didnt find that a bit humorous? sure you're going to say no it was horrific and not funny just to suck up to the professor. But really, it was a funny commercial. I'm sure women aren't offended by it at this modern time, but yes its understandable that there are debates about it. What's happened has happened. It was a way at the time of the housewives era to capture men's attention by posting such like commercial. I'm sure at the time more men drove than women so it was understandable, Surely you wouldn't find commercials like that nowadays. This is how human nature and dominance works, I am not sexist, nor would i treat a woman like this but the commercial worked.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with Ryan Campbell on this one, In the article nothing was presented about the men who DO care about women in this world. Every little stereotype used were pretty exaggerated however i do want to disagree that we can change sexual violence. People just need to understand that we're all equal its all in the mind, men are born thinking theyre the dominant one because of the household. Who do you really look up to ? Your dad. Who's the leader of the house ? Your father. There is a reason why people use the phrase "Man of the house." It is often ignored seeing this dominance that there is that one person he controls the man. The phrase behind every great man is a great woman is true. The optimistic side of all this stereotype is that women help shape the world they live in, the society they put themselves in. the audience that see this unfair are just asking for too much. Men and Women have their equities depending of their place.
First off, to be perfectly honest, I did not find the Goodyear commercial offensive at all. This is because I personally am a horrible driver and really do prefer a man to drive rather than a woman. This will sound very stereotypical, but whenever I see a woman driving on the road she is either putting on makeup, checking herself out in the mirror, texting/talking of the phone, and trying to do everything else BUT drive. I do believe that some men do some of these things such as texting while driving, but it seems so much more prominent with women. Whenever I see someone driving ridiculously behind me and tailgating me, it's more than usually a woman. All of you can say that I am generalizing and stereotyping and I agree, but I just believe these things because of personal experience. I myself am not a good driver, my mother is even worse, and the drivers I see around me that are not driving well are women. So in this situation I actually find the commercial humorous and agree with it because the women I see, including me, are always doing everything EXCEPT driving.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, the reading, "Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt", brought to light some things that have always bothered me. I can not stand how is is socially more acceptable for men to be more open about their sexuality. I do believe that this article's topic is more damaging to women because women are scolded for certain sexual acts or thoughts and men are praised. It seems as though men can do whatever they want and not get in trouble for it or won't be considered socially unacceptable. On page 580 of our reading, one sentence reads, "In general, females are still held responsible and hold each other responsible when sex goes wrong - when they become pregnant or are the victims of rape and sexual assault or cause a scandal." This really makes me angry because the men are juts as responsible a lot of situations like these yet the women are held responsible because it is socially unacceptable for a woman to be open about her sexuality. For example, when a woman of a young age gets pregnant, most people assume the girl is a slut and sleeps around with tons of guys but they forget about the man on the other side of the situation. What about the man? Shouldn't he be considered a "slut" too and be accused of sleeping around with tons of girls? It is just ridiculous how situations like these only favor the men. Most people don't even look at the man's "wrong doing", they only accuse the woman of doing wrong.
This article overall has left me with the sense that society has lost its innocence and reservations. Modesty is a thing of the past, and media today uses any methods possible, often sexual, to promote products and ideas. It is interesting to note that women are almost always seen as more vulnerable than men. Thus, this gives the idea that men are dominant and superior. This idea was exemplified quite clearly in the Goodyear commercial, where the woman was seen as reckless and unintelligent. However, the degree to which women are objectified is much more apparent in current advertisements. Calvin Klein for instance shows no problem in pushing the limits of acceptable advertising. This can be attributed to the fact that there are very few social taboos. In a country where freedom to do what one wants is championed, this makes sense. However, is it okay for society to completely eradicate all boundaries? I feel that, in order to reduce and possibly eliminate sexual assault, education and sensibility is key. However, even more important than that is morality. Unfortunately, in the hyper-sexualized world that is today, strong morals are difficult to establish due to societal pressures to conform and "fit in".
ReplyDeleteThe sexism depicted in the Goodyear commercial is juvenile (it is wrong nonetheless) compared to the sexism shown in the reading. The Goodyear commercial mocked women’s supposed lack of good driving skills and reduced them to subordinates to men. It is an obsolete message and the commercial would obviously not air now; viewed upon some women may still get hurt today. I did chuckle the first time I saw it as I perceived it as a parody at first, deliberately trying to take itself way too seriously. But the reading used evidence, stories, and soaring rhetoric to take the issue to another level. These sexist ads were indeed disturbing. I was shocked by statistics like, “one in five of us has been a victim of rape,” the line “Destroy all girls” from a T-shirt, and the numerous stories of sexual assault, battery of girls in high schools and junior high schools. The response made by a Senate staffer: “kind of cool,” in response to the sadistic line on the T-shirt was very concerning and perplexing. Suddenly the Goodyear commercial doesn’t seem so outdated anymore. I think any type of sexism is damaging; what varies are the results of it. The Goodyear commercial may have incited feminists of that time but its intention was just to make tire sales, no matter how sexist it came across. But the reading shows that the sexism today has led to many women taking the road of self-destruction and/or ending up in jail due to the explicit, obscene, and violent nature of the ads.
ReplyDeleteThe strongest reaction I had while reading was over the judge who deemed a 3 year old “sexually aggressive and suspended the sentence of her molester.” How can a woman feel protected if not even this particular molester is punished severely? All I know about the story is from reading those three lines from the book but it is ridiculous of any person, let alone a judge, to think that way. The overall classifying women as temptresses and blaming them in cases such as this is like blaming a bank after a robbery for holding too much money. Also, assault namely rape can cause severe post-traumatic stress disorder which could be why women will feel a need to keep quiet. It is imperative that anyone abused comes forward speak up by means of putting on a brave face and hiding your fear and appearing confident. By keeping quiet and not feeling safe enough to report sexual assault will only make it worse and even perpetuate the stereotype of the submissive woman presented in the Goodyear commercial.
The Goodyear commercial and the modern day advertisements are both sexist and offensive to women, however as many people have stated above, the modern day advertisements presented in "Two Way Women Can Get Hurt" are more offensive and harmful than the Goodyear commercial because they advertise the exploitation of women and that women can easily be used and physically harmed. I agree with Whitney H. in that although the Goodyear commercial was extremely sexist, they more or less advertised the safety of women; the commercial did not show the woman being sexually abused in any way, as many of modern day advertisements have shown. The fact that the Goodyear commercial was outdated and not extremely sexually abusive to women, made my reaction to it less intense, as opposed to the ads presented in the reading. These ads simply left me shocked and disgusted with the way women are being exploited in our society today.
ReplyDeleteI believe that, more or less, women would feel more protected if they knew the assault would be punished. However, there will always be women who will feel uncomfortable and keep quiet about the assault. From the reading, we can gather that women feel discouraged about the trial process because they are afraid of being accused of the crime; accused of being "sexually agressive" (as in the case of the three-year-old girl from Canada), even if the crime is 100% not their fault. I believe women would feel more protected if they the assault would be punished, however this does not necessarily mean that women will start speaking up - there could be many other reasons as to why women do not speak up than just the fear of being accused.
First of all I thoroughly enjoyed reading the story "Two Ways a Women Can Get Hurt" due to the powerful voice by Kilbourne throughout the whole story. In this story I found that women were portrayed as vulnerable and easily taken advantage of for their sexual presence. I have found myself even interested in commercials solely because of the "tease" of the good looking girl in the ad. I don't think the women being abused is as present anymore since our moral values are always changing but the sexual part of advertising is all too true for women. I personally do not find this to be all bad since women like to feel sexy and wanted. I feel strongly that they would much rather feel this way than be portrayed as incapable and all around stupid as the Goodyear commercial did. I believe it is an unreasonable assumption for women to automatically be categorized as terrible drivers since no two people, not even the almighty men, are the same or all good drivers.
ReplyDeleteIn summary, some women will look down upon the commercials with sexual references of women in skimpy clothing and that will always be the case. Now that there are ads displaying men shirtless or barely covering body parts I believe it is fair to say that the sexual references help advertising more than it hurts personal feelings since it goes both ways.
The Goodyear commercial differs from “Two ways women can get hurt”. In the commercial, you see a stereotypical woman portrayed as a bad driver. The point of the commercial is to promote sales of the Goodyear tires. The ads that were mentioned in the “Two ways women can get hurt” are focused on violence women bring up onto themselves which some people may find to be offensive. The advertisements portray women in a sexual way just to attract men to the product that was being sold. The sexism in the ads was more damaging to the women’s reputation.
ReplyDeleteI think women would feel more protected if they knew sexual assault would always be punishable yet thousands of women decide keep quite even about a sexual assault simply to keep a good reputation, personal reasons, or safety issues.
I believe the type of sexism expressed in the Goodyear commercial is not nearly as degrading to the type of sexism in the reading. In the Goodyear commercial it was pointing out the more humorous stereotypes in women such as bad drivers which can be easily brushed off by most women. But in the reading the ad’s were extremely degrading to women as a whole (almost making their life seem like a joke). These ad’s signaled men to treat women in a degrading way and those actions could have damaged a women’s life forever. The ad’s are more damaging because men are being taught by these degrading ad’s such as the ones shown in “Two Ways a Women Can Get Hurt” about how to treat women and what their purpose is, when clearly the messages are degrading and should not be allowed as advertisements for large companies.
ReplyDeleteYes, I strongly believe that if women reported sexual assault cases and the criminals were always punished, women would not be hesitant to report them but actually feel more safe after reporting the crime because they know for a fact the assaulter is in the hands of police and is away from the streets. I think the only reason women keep quiet about such things is because they are scared the assaulter will come back to punish the women for attempting to get them in trouble; therefore, if there was a law that promised punishment on those who were guilty of such crimes women would be a lot more willing to confess. I also believe that in court trials a women should have the choice if they have to look at the assaulter or not, the victim should identify them in the beginning of a trial but should not have to look at the person though out the trial because it could make the victim feel uncomfortable and not tell the whole truth.
I found the Good year commercial more funny than sexist. It wasn't because it protrayed women as bad drivers but because it was heavily out dated, and although it did expliot the sterotype that women are bad drivers, none of the females in class seem offended and they didn't seem to be offened after reading thier post. However more of the females in the class weem to got offened by Two Ways a Women Can Get Hurt. The way that companies sell sex is ridiculous but this is being the norm in todays society. I don't go a day without being sold sex from ads on tv or even the newsppaper for that matter. This is exploiting women's bodies and giving men a unrealsitc ideal on what they expect from women.
ReplyDeleteOn one hand I do think that if sexual assault was heavier punished then more women would report it. In the other hand you have to understand why women are not reporting the assaults. I think thinks because they don't want to get the assaulter in the first place. That is why women that are abused by their husbands don't do it. Because they are dependent on there husbands or don't want to matter worse for them and their families.
I thought the sexism that was displayed in the Goodyear commercial was just laughable to be honest. Times have obviously changed so much and the advertisements have also changed accordingly. I'd actually be surprised if anyone found that offensive as of now. What it really shows is how much we've changed from the blatant use of sexism to know i guess you could say subtle use of sexism. Advertising now could not get away with something like that good year commercial. Advertising has become more clever though over the times. I guess you could that instead of throwing the sexism in your face, they kind of play it on you without you realizing it. When you sit down and analyze some of these commercials you realize that some do come off as sexist. I think the way they do it now would be more damaging considering it’s almost like instilling and reinforcing certain traits and behaviors that lead to sexism in real life.
ReplyDeleteAs for the other question, I really don't know. It can often be a hard crime to convict people of as it’s usually just his word vs. her word with often times no other supporting evidence. That’s just the way it is unfortunately, but that’s no reason to not come forward and say something. It’s not like we can just go round up every guy that’s accused of sexual assault and throw them in jail. Just like any other crime the evidence has to be there and just like every other crime, if it’s there they will be convicted. Like I said it’s not an easy problem to solve but there’s just no other way to around it.
In comparison of the two samples of sexism, I have a difficult time categorizing one example different from another. In my mind they both are sexist, and that aggravates me and frankly makes me not want to listen to anything stated further. Short-sided of me? Yes, but honestly I find it belittling to listen to or read about.
ReplyDeleteAside from my mini rant I will discuss the two samples and declare which of the two is more damaging to women.
In the Goodyear commercial, the intense and gloomy scene portrayed during the woman's commute was simply humorous, and ignorant. Stereotypes, as unimportant as this, limit society and its equality of sexes. Limitations start at a minuscule level and work their way to full scale restrictions and bias against any social class. If this connection were not true, the add itself would be a simple add of a woman driving; woman can recover from a dumb generalization such as this, but woman are affected by the large scale issues more seriously. In this case the minor sexist act would be the Goodyear tire commercial, and the full scale limitations being the expectations of a woman in American society.
In the reading, the discussion of the societal acceptance of men and woman concerning sexuality is quite different. In this unfair distribution of acceptance, woman are limited so much they fear pursuing justice for sexually heinous crimes committed by men. The idea that woman are to hold themselves more respectably than a man are evident in this reading. Personally I believe both sexes should be held at an equal level. I generally respect a person more so if I am not aware of their sexual endeavors, but of their character. Unfortunately for woman when a relationship is shared with a man, and it is made public, a woman is scolded, and a man is praised. I don't agree with the different responses being applied due to the sex of the person but it is what it is.
Once again, the Goodyear tire commercial is a tiny stereotype applied to women, but that small commercial is part of a puzzle that adds up, over time, to create the unfair view of woman in comparison to a man.
I think the main glaring difference between the sexism we saw in the 1960's Goodyear commercial and the modern day sexist ads we view each day, is that it's been over 50 years. How is that after all this time, subjugation of women is still a problem? Whether it be a portrayal of women as dumb, or a glorified sex ad, the mere fact that much like racism, homophobia, and prejudice, sexism still exists today is a huge problem. However, it is good that people have gotten past the idea that women are not mindless creatures. But is their portrayal as sexual deviants any better? Especially now, when sexual and physical assault becomes more prevalent in societies around the world, why would anyone take it upon themselves to use any such notion in an advertisement? Honestly, the ads of the sixties seem less sexist than the ones now. At least then they were seen as humans. I myself would rather be seen as a "dumb" human rather than some piece of meat for men to drool over.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the comfort about coming out as a rape victim will never be an easy feat. The fact that the rapist may not be subject to punishment is only one part of the problem. The sheer shame and fear that women can feel after an attack can make them far too afraid to come out and admit they have been attacked. For anyone this would be incredibly difficult, and I think most men simply cannot understand the concept of having to constantly live in fear. The articles point out the fact that places like elevators, parking lots, and even the streets are places where potential attackers may lurk. In an article, Andrew Sullivan shares an insight into a discussion about homosexuality, and a male student admitted that once a man had made a pass at him, and he said he felt disgusted and scared. All the girls in the class prodded and shared with the boys the idea that they have to be on guard 24/7, which most men cannot even comprehend. Therefore, I think not only should conviction be less volatile, but the process itself (trial, conviction, etc.) should be made more comfortable for the victim.
I think that women would feel safer reporting a sexual assault charge if they were more protected under the law. In other words, in too many sexual assault cases women are blamed for the crime that has been committed against them. There has been too many cases where women have been blamed based off of their attire, profession, time the crime was committed- like if they were walking alone late at night and so on-, to what they may have said to the person assaulted them to make them be assaulted. There has always been a stipulation over women when they claim that an assault has just taken place based off of the woman's profession should could be labeled a hoe or junky, which would in turn strip her of her integrity. With lables and sterotypes like this laying around women will never feel comfortable reporting an assault to a police officer or standing in a court of law.
ReplyDeleteTo begin, there's a sizable difference between the treatment of women in the commercial and in the advertisements described by the reading. The commercial, while demeaning to women, was intended as humor, and only poked fun at women for the sake of being funny. What was shown in the article, however was on an entirely different level. The entire point was to be sexual. And in such a medium, all things are reduced to symbols and objects. But the more damaging one is going to be the one that implies violence, making the book examples the worse.
ReplyDeleteI really can't speak for women on the point of if they would feel safer if all sexual assaults were punished. I can say as a male, however, that the prospect of committing a sexual crime would be even more unthinkable than it is presently. But one needs to keep in mind that most of these acts are committed with at least one of the participants not fully in control of their own faculties, such as with alcohol. As for the "safety" of reporting sex crimes, I assume it would change over time as the social paradigms and such change with the climate. And I'm really not sure about the bias against women in trial cases, honestly. I assume that if the social climate changes such that all such crimes go punished, there will be less disparaging of women based on silly and shallow "evidence".
The difference between the sexism in the Goodyear tire commercial and the sexism in "Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt" is that in the commercial, the woman was portraying a sexist stereotype (women can't drive) while in the reading, the women were sexually objectified. In my opinion, the second one is more damaging to women. If a class had watched the goodyear tire commercial back in the 70's, they probably wouldn't have batted an eyelash at it. Meanwhile, our class laughed and thought it was funny. That's because these days we realize that to stereotype a person is wrong and therefore we can look at stereotypes in a lighthearted way. If I could make up a random statistic, I'd say that sterotypical jokes make up about 50% of jokes out there today. The rest would probably fall under puns, chuck norris, or something to do with politics/ whatever is currently trending. The point is, stereotypes are a lot less harmful today. I believe that as a society, we're now able to laugh about our mistakes and previous misconceptions of race and sex. The second type of sexism is more damaging to women for several reasons. 1) It portrays women as objects and therefore makes men treat women as such (rape, domestic viloence, etc.). 2) It interferes with a woman's self esteem making her think that she needs to act or dress a certain way in order to be desirable or accepted. 3) It can perpetuate negative gender stereotypes about woman and how they are supposed to be submissive/ dominated by men and not treated as equals. It's safe to say that the goodyear tire commercial may have been a negative and damaging form of advertisement back in the day. But nowadays, the sexual objectification of women is a much more serious topic while the idea of "a woman can't drive" is reserved for the punchline of jokes.
ReplyDeleteSexism will always be around no matter what. In the commercial of Goodyear it was not so bad because of the era that they made it in. How they emphasized the women to be a bad driver or even useless was not as bad as calling them inappropriate names. Just like everyone else said the commercial was kinda funny. They made it entertaining. But In the story of "two ways a women can get hurt", was more drastic. How the pictures made the women seem like a sexual object was disgusting in my opinion. What man in their right mind would enjoy looking at women being treated bad?
ReplyDeleteFurthermore if women speak up and know that sexual assault is punished maybe more cases would pop up. I understand that man are more powerful causing women to feel like they cant do anything about it but their is something that can be done. Keeping quite is nto the solution. Women need to feel like they are safe not like their in danger every where they go. For instance that case of victoria secrete i found my self getting angry. I mean they should judge a women for the preference of underwear they choose. Just because they wear victoria secrete doesn't make they more vulnerable to sexual assaults. Although i hate to admit it but at the end of the day their will always be victims that don't want to speak up and feel the need to hide. I know this is really off topic but today's readings were really interesting i enjoyed reading them.
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ReplyDeleteI was quite torn on my answer for the first question, as both the commercial and the advertisements depicted in the reading employ the same tactics to entice consumers. However, I found the commercial to be far more disrespectful, as it portrayed woman to be inferior and incompetent to males. As a female, I consider the sexism in the reading to be more damaging only because we're bombarded with it on a daily basis and they can start to have a “brainwashing” effect on your psyche whether you realize or not . I think woman are hesitant to come forward after sexual assault, because the legal process can be quite intimidating. Whether or not a witness was present, or if there's sufficient evidence could determine if prosecution is necessary or if the alleged attacker walks away a free man. It might not seem worth the fight, it punishment could mean a simple slap on the hand.
ReplyDeleteAs the any commercial their trying to give out a message and as we see in the video the message is well sent.
ReplyDeleteThings On a commercials are the way the so that people can stop, care, and correct them or help out.
Women will look down on this type of propaganda but this rep of advertisement will never but ,old buy
Ladies .