Critical Analysis of Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt by Jean Kilbourne - Article Example

Critical Analysis of Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt by Jean Kilbourne Abstract The essay Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt written by Jean Kilbourne dwells on the negative impact advertising and advertisements in the electronic and print media can have on society. She talks about how advertisements use women’s bodies as objects to increase sales of a product. The other element of her essay deals with how violence and sex are used to represent women in the media and how objectifying women results in dehumanizing them. Keywords: objectification of women in ads, violence against women, critical analysis of Jean Kilbourne’s “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt” An analysis of the article A thorough reading of the essay leads one to agree with Jean Kilbourne’s thesis that objectifying women in commercials and advertisements for products has desensitized people towards violence perpetrated against women. Portraying women as seductive and helpless reaffirms the notion that men are superior to women in an already male dominated culture. This does not help the cause of women fighting for equal rights, opportunities, wages and representation in the real world. Jean Kilbourne’s main hypothesis is that using women as objects of sex appeal in advertisements to promote consumer products objectifies them, shows them as commodities that are easily available, makes their position vulnerable and exposes them to aggression. She has used several examples of advertisements that expose women to near pornographic depiction and shows women as having little resistance towards male attraction. She claims that using woman’s body as an object to enhance sales of commodities like perfumes, some companies use women in erotic, fantasy settings which in reality have no bearing with the product they are endorsing. However, the advertisements leave images of nude women in the minds of customers who start to associate perfumes with these models and in a bid to be like them, buy more perfume. So what is meant to be a delicate olfactory experience is converted into a visual stimulant quite disassociated from the product. For an advertisement meant to promote a tender and light perfume the use of nude women is quite unnecessary. According to Kilbourne, images of this kind use women’s bodies as objects of desire rather than the product. It is not surprising then, that women are used as symbols of sex which leads to crimes and harassment against women. These pictures are suggestive and when put up for public display may be taken literally, demeaning the image of women and create confusion in people’s minds about women’s right to say no to unwanted attention. It dyes all women in the same hue creating stereotypes for women. In contrast, some advertisements for men’s perfumes also have very explicit pictures that suggest using these perfumes will make men more attractive to women. It also gives them a false sense of dominance over women and makes them feel that they can get whatever they want. According to Kilbourne’s hypothesis, women can be hurt, physically and emotionally by the senseless use of such advertisements. Commercializing women’s bodies and using them to tantalize the customer is wrong as it undercuts women’s respect and honor. Objectifying women dehumanizes them and those who perpetrate violence against them do not realize the impact because they have disassociated the human element from the woman. This disconnection between the woman as an object and the woman as a person takes away the sense of guilt or conscience from those who abuse women. This results in an increase in violence against women because men who are exposed to this kind of commercials for a long time assume women to be permissive and open to flirtation. They start to believe that women are open to their overtures and resort to violence against them when they come up against any kind of resistance from women. The commercials are sometimes lewd and obscene and antithetic to the aesthetics of perfume. The author mostly relies on secondary data to research her theory. She presents numerous examples of advertisements of different consumer brands in her article for the readers to visualize and analyze the gravity of the situation along with her. The author collects evidences from advertisements from various sources of different commercial enterprises to study the impact of portrayal of women in the nude can have on its audience. Since the author provides some of these evidences in her work, the reader is provided with a more concrete representation of the problem the writer wishes to highlight. She analyses the effect of negative portrayal of women on society by analyzing the content through skilled communication. The author has based her study on whether the objectification of women in advertisements has lead to the desensitization of women towards other women. Her research directed her to a case concerning a young woman where the jury composed mostly of women gave a verdict against the rape victim for having been provocative. 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. (Kilbourne, 2007, p. 424). However, some readers may not fully agree with Jean Kilbourne’s theory that women can be the worst critics of other women and be judgmental about their moral standards. She has quoted the instance of women jury acquitting a man convicted of rape because the jury was judging the woman’s behavior from an unsympathetic stand-point. “It is sadly not surprising that the jury was composed mostly of women. Women are especially cruel judges of other women's sexual behavior; mostly because we are so desperate to believe we are in control of what happens to us. It is too frightening to face the fact that male violence against women is irrational and commonplace. It is reassuring to believe that we can avoid it by being good girls, avoiding dark places, staying out of bars, dressing "innocently." (Kilbourne, 2007, p. 425). The author believes that women think that violence against them can be prevented by being “good girls” and dressing innocently. They may argue that an austere appearance can give a woman more control over circumstances; however, that may not always be the case. There are many instances of women who have been victims of violence who were not in the least provocative. A woman alone needs to understand a woman’s humiliation and degradation. Women alone can be the most effective voice of protest against dehumanizing and disgracing women in advertisements for commercial purposes. Like Jean Kilbourne, Gloria Steinman in her essay, Sex, Lies and Advertising, says that women feel contemptuous of other women as a result of the distorted standards set by the commercials which have negatively impacted the mindset of people. This premise can be borne out by the examples used in Jean Kilbourne’s research. Advertisements of this kind not only boost men’s egos they also impact young, vulnerable people to aspire to be like the models; in turn creating a very negative self-image. Little do they realize that most of the photographs are digitally manipulated and misguided persons harm themselves in trying to emulate these models. Most eating disorders and anxiety disorders amongst young people stem from low self esteem and lack of confidence to stand up to male expectations. Advertisements using human bodies set much distorted standards of beauty and misguide consumers by making them think that using a particular product will make them attractive. Another aspect which Kilbourne finds disturbing is the increasing use of sexualization of children in advertisements in which they are made to dress up and pose with tempting captions like “Very Cherry” (p. 126). The author provides another example of Prada’s clothing line featuring a very young woman dressed in lingerie and looking up startled as if she heard a strange sound. Kilbourne says that "this could be a woman awaiting her lover, but it could as easily be a girl being preyed upon." (p. 127). So these advertisements leave the young women more vulnerable on two accounts- their gender and young age. Jean Kilbourne in her article argues that these advertisements portray women in more vulnerable situations than men. Men when used to promote similar products are always shown in a more dominant image vis-à-vis women. Though she cites many categories of advertisements there is an absence of clear statistics in her study. Kilbourne records her findings and analyzes them; however, there is a lack of quantitative values in her research, such as the number of instances of violence against women following an increase in the number of advertisements featuring women in indecent attire and postures. Despite this the creative use of images from various brands substantiates her main thrust. The effect of such commercials on customers is usually negative. Apart from undermining the image of a woman, it promises unattainable results causing conflict and trauma. The advertisements also add to the price of the product that adds insult to injury. Advertising of products, per se is not bad. People get a lot of information from advertisement write-ups and images. However, using advertisements that use women merely as sex objects to endorse branded products may cause damage to a woman’s self esteem and sense of well being. This trend of advertising should be monitored carefully and censored if necessary. References Kilbourne, J. (2007). “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt.” Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing [Paperback]. G. Colombo, R. Cullen, B. Lisle, (Ed. 7). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s. Steinem, G. (1990). “Sex, Lies & Advertising.” MS Magazine, July/August 1990. Retrieved from http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/sex_lies.html Read More