Sexist Advertising

This ad from American Apparel is extremely sexist in that it show a teenage girl who has been sexualized. She is probably not even of age to have sex, yet her body language invites men to come sleep with her. This is incredibly dangerous for young women to see because it encourages girls to have sex at an early age without thinking about the repercussions.

This advertisement is all about the power of the male sexuality. It shows a weak female surrounded by three men and so the woman is there for their pleasure. It objectifies and de-humanizes her.

Gang rape is ok, or at least that's what Dolce and Gabbana says. This woman looks to be forced against her will to be held down and the men are ready to rape her. It indicates that violence against women is ok, especially by a group of men.

This Arby's ad is trying to be clever but comes of objectifying women's breasts as pieces of meat. There is no head or body attached so it seems to say that you can separate a woman's breasts from her body.

Gossip Girl is a highly popular show and yet here teen sex is glorified again. In this ad, you can't see the guy's face so the girl just looks like a sex object. This pressures girls into thinking they need to have sex and they should look just like her when they do. This is a set up for an unhealthy sex life.

Pop culture has had an influence on me and the way I view men and women, and it really wasn't until I was in a real relationship that I realized most of the stereotypes are fabricated and used for ratings. Pop culture also influences how you view race and class, but once again, when you get out into real life, you see how negative those stereotypes are. I was appalled at Disney's "The Princess and the Frog" because it enforced racial stereotypes in that the mother was a housekeeper for a wealthy white family. In this day and age, there shouldn't be media produced like this.

I often talk about sexist material on TV with my friends because several of them have taken Women's Studies classes and once you take one, you will never look at media the same. We had a big Superbowl party and my friends and I were shocked at how sexist the ads have become. It definitely took away from the spirit of the game when I had to look at women in soft core porn.

When I first thought of feminist, I thought of the radicals who marched through streets and bra burning. These perceptions come from the media, who only air what they want to. In this case it's because the media portrays feminism as a bad thing because it has produced change, so therefore it gets a negative connotation.