Killing us softly 3

Today in my sociology class we watched a video called "Killing Us Softly 3". It's a video by Jean Kilbourne about the way women, sex, and racism are portrayed in the media. This video is really sad.

I know that women are always shown as sex symbols and objects, but I've never seen it to this extent. Kilbourne showed magazine ads and tv commercials from way before I was born, as well as today. A few of these ads stood out to me:

1. A jeans advertisement with a woman wearing no jeans. Or underwear.
2. A man using a woman in a bra and a thong as a foot stool. I think they were trying to sell skateboards?
3. A man smoking a cigar with something along the lines of "it won't talk back, bother you, or nag you" written with a woman yelling in the background.
4. A woman getting beaten by her man who is wearing a leather jacket, but saying "he can do whatever he wants as long as he has his leather"
5. A woman's corpse with the line "good hair never dies"
6. A female mannequin's body in a body bag with blood coming out that reads "I'd kill for shoes" or something like that
7. Women getting hurt, beaten, yelled at, or strangled by men, but looking happy, excited, and aroused.
8. A woman's body as a beer bottle?

And this is list is nothing. There are several hundred more that I can't remember. The list goes on. It's sad, right?

-When there's a naked girl on a magazine ad, jeans are not what you're advertising.
-Why the woman is being used as a foot stool, I don't know, but it's sad. Why is she naked? I have no idea, but it's sick. What this has to do with skateboards...I don't know.
-Not all women are chatty and annoying and a lot of men happen to be like that too. They made it sound like women are dumb and pathetic and are only good for looking pretty.
-Beating a woman is not okay, even if you're wearing leather! These are some of the reasons that men find it okay to hit a woman and women stay with these men and forgive these men even after getting physically hurt.
-As if good hair is more important than a woman being dead. It's okay for a woman to DIE for good hair because in the long run, it's the hair that's gonna stay!
-It's one thing to just say "I'd kill for shoes", but to show a BLOODY mannequin in a body bag and then write that is just sick and twisted. First of all, women aren't that desperate for shoes and second of all when did it become okay to show something that gory in a display window?
-By creating these ads where women are getting beaten, but are feeling sexually aroused make it seem as though it's OKAY to do that a woman because she LIKES it. It is not okay.
-Why can't a beer bottle just be a beer bottle?


Why are printing agencies okay with this? And more importantly, why are we okay with this?

I don't have an answer to either of those questions, but something tells me that women have done this to themselves.

Since before I was born, women have posed in swimsuits, been expected to stay quiet, submissive and be housewives (and we've done a good job in living up to those expectations), competing in pageants (which is 97% based on your looks and body and 3% based on your brain), play seductresses (roger rabbit), and always emphasize the importance of "looking good".

When women voluntary do this to themselves, what else are we supposed to think of them? These beliefs have been instilled in our brains since we were born. We've seen it on tv and in magazines, so of course we're going to show them like that in ads because that's how we think women behave and this is what we know them as. Of course personally most women know that they are much more than that and are worth a great deal, but ask any men what the first thing that comes to his mind is when the word "woman" is mentioned. He'll probably say "sexy, a companion, sex, abuse, talks a lot, supermodels" or anything along those lines. People will almost never say "intelligent, kind, good mothers, supportive, superwoman" because they don't know that depiction of women, and advertisers aren't the only ones to blame.

Yes of course there are female activists and a lot of movies and ads portray women as strong and intelligent, but that's not the most common belief. It's not the norm. WOMEN are prostitutes, WOMEN are victoria's secret models, WOMEN get bagged on for being porn stars, WOMEN compete in pageants, WOMEN are willing to do anything to become a supermodel. Women are their own worst enemy.

It's really, really sad because I know that women aren't like this. I don't know any woman who is, especially mothers. They're the best. But I think before we start yelling and hating on advertisers, we should really think about the root of this problem and if people are smart enough, they'll realize that the root is not an advertising company.




"Women are like tea bags, you never know how strong they are 'til you put them in some hot water"-Eleanor Roosevelt.