Updated Project Proposal

Simona Borkina

Professor Cacoilo

November 11^th, 2016

         We all know that sex sells, but so does color. I have decided to change my topic from gendered double standards to gendered marketing. For my semester final project, I will be making a video and publishing it to YouTube and I will title it: Gender Spender. Growing up, I was exposed to toys limited to my sex, not because my parents thought me being a girl meant that I was to play dress up and play with my Barbie’s but because they did not know it any other way. They walked into the nearest toy store and bought the items that were clearly marked and meant for girls. As I grew up, I noticed more and more that gender plays a huge role in separating products; not only toys for children but hygiene products, office supplies, power tools, and much, much more. In most cases, products that are aimed at women cost more than the same product for a man. Target is a prime example of a modern company removing gendered labels from their toys and bedding, as well as removing the pink and blue shelves that indicate who the product is aimed at.

            Currently, I am researching the effects that gender-type toys have on children. So far, I have found that “78% of the magnitude of gender differences were in the small or close-to-zero range” (CNN). I also discovered from that same CNN article that parents and the child’s environment are more likely to influence which toy the child picks up rather than the packaging. Various toys provide different developmental skills and it is only logical that both sides get a taste of what the other has to offer. Toys, however, are only a fraction of items that are gendered in the market; pens, earplugs, tissues, and tea are just barely scratching the surface. There are countless amounts of products that are unnecessarily gendered and I will be discussing them. 

            My video will shed light on the toys children are socialized to like, apparel that is geared to a particular gender (i.e., “Daddy’s little princess”), the methods that advertisers use to create commercials that appeal to girls/boys, and the techniques companies use to alter their packaging in order to draw in their intended consumer. I intend on reaching a wide range of viewers in order to encourage people to raise questions and think critically about why companies decide to gender all different types of products.

It frustrates me when I hear stories about a parent not letting their boy play with a Barbie in fear that their child will lean toward homophobic tendencies. I personally feel that a parent should allow their child to choose the types of toys they play with and not impose a certain way of behaving on that child. In addition to children’s toys, seeing a company sell a pen “for Her” is simply appalling to me and through my video I will be voicing my opinions. Not only are gendered items encouraging the sexist society that we are already engulfed in, but they are also leaving adverse lasting impacts on children and young adults.

            I am currently in the brainstorming part of production in terms of deciding what I want to cover in my video. I aim to begin filming and editing my video within the next week to two weeks. I also want to go to a store like Target or K-Mart in order to see first hand the gendering of an array of products on the hangers and shelves. 

 

Some websites and videos that inspired me:
Gendered Marketing 
Ellen's Thoughts on Bic Pens
Man Poses as 'Target' in Order to Troll Those Who Did Not Like Target's Gender-Neutral Move

http://www.jeongmeeyoon.com/
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/24/living/gender-neutral-toys-marketing-feat/

http://time.com/3990442/target-gender-based-signs/

Project Proposal #2 ASHLEY ROTH

Ashley Roth

Professor Cacoilo

Media 384

November 9, 2016

                                                     Final Project Proposal #2

            I am appalled that Hillary Clinton did not win the 2016 Presidential election.  She has the educational credentials, political experience and wants to help everyone regardless of their sex, gender or their religion.  I heard on the news channels that about 85% of men voted for Donald Trump because we live in a sexist society.  After I found out the results of the Presidential election, I started to think about everything I learned in this class and how sexist our society truly is. I became so upset that Hillary, a qualified, experienced, and strong woman would surely defeat a sexist, racist, unexperienced Trump. I have become more aware of the various problems that women still face in America’s Patriarchal, sexist society especially due to the unjust result of the Presidential election.

 I would like to create a video on YouTube where I will give several reasons why I am a feminist. I will then supply numerous reasons why I am proud to be a committed Feminist in the fight for equal rights for all women. I will either write all the reasons on paper and show the pages to the camera or will say the reasons aloud. I will include some images, as well. to depict the reasons that I believe in feminism. For example, I will show images of how women are objectified into various body parts in the Advertising Industry as I state the reasons that I am a feminist. I will use some information from the articles we read from class to show that females are judged so harshly which results in low self-esteem. One reason why I am a Feminist is because no one is perfect and society dictates what “a perfect woman is” when there is no such woman in real life. Of course I will include other examples why I am a Feminist. Some of these examples will come the readings in class, while others will be my own personal reasons. The goal of my video is to encourage women to become feminists and stand up for women’s equal rights. I hope to inspire women and girls of all ages to realize how prevalent women’s inequality exist in our society and to encourage them to fight against such injustices.

            In my video, I will also include several ways that the audience members can join Feminist organizations that are committed to fighting against sexism and fight for equal rights in our modern society. It is very important for women to know about different organizations so they can get involved in them. I truly believe that my feminist YouTube video will encourage women and girls to join in their quest for equality through these various organizations. I hope that men and boys will watch my video, and join in the fight to put an end to our Patriarchal sexist attitudes and beliefs that women should be objectified, seen but not heard, and remain barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.  Enough is enough, women deserve to be treated with respect! All women should enjoy the same equal rights like their counterparts, men!  Let’s unite!

Works Cited:

Beauty and the Beast of Advertising- Jean Kilbourne





Body Messages- Wykes Gunther





Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings.  Eds. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen.  New York: Oxford UP, 1999: 833-844





Sex, Lies and Advertising- Gloria Steinem

Advertising: A Bloodline Of Our Culture

Jimmy Hu Professor Cacoilo Media 384 Nov 5, 2016

Advertising: A Bloodline Of Our Culture

Jean Kilbourne once said that “advertising is the foundation and economic bloodline of the mass media. The primary purpose of the mass media is to deliver an audience to advertisers” (Kilbourne 121). TV commercials are one form of advertising that has permeated our culture and the children are learning from it. The children are influenced by these advertising images which could potentially create a negative environment. Kilbourne would say that advertising is a great “‘educational’ forces in the culture--one that greatly affects our self-images, our ability to relate to each other, and effectively destroys awareness and action that might help to change that climate”(Kilbourne 125). In this age of mass media, no one is immune to these kinds of advertising images that are pervasive and are sometimes sexist or racist. These kind of images may be so influential that if an image was a woman with a hammer building a treehouse, we may recall that image with a man instead of a woman because the sexist images are rooted in our brains.

I do not think it is possible to escape the mass media and advertising images and if someone said she did then I would have said I am so sorry when I said see you later when you can’t see. For an advertiser, image is everything and they reinforce their images with many symbols to influence people into buying their product. Most of the time the companies are not selling products but the idea imbued in those products. Those idea are harmful especially to the women of our society. Sometimes the product is harmful to the women of our society as shown in "the Ms. Gazette, we do a brief report on a congressional hearing into chemicals used in hair dyes that are absorbed through the skin and may be carcinogenic" (Steinem 114). Thinking about things that are carcinogenic, cigarettes come to mine. Cigarettes may be the most popular product that have negative effect on the health of women and the image of women. In the “Virginia Slims theme, ‘You’ve come a long way, baby,’ has more than a ‘baby’ problem. It makes smoking a symbol of progress for women”(Steinem 115). I am not sure if the baby is a subtle message that say women are still object of men’s fantasy but it seems like a contradiction to the progress women supposedly has.

Ad from Virginia Slims. Taken from Pinterest. Notice that the product is small compare to the women.

While images from advertisement are very ambiguous, they clearly show the gender and racial differences.  The men and the women would have different gender roles in the advertisements like a man shown tuning a car while a women is in the kitchen.  These commercials are seen in something medical like an advertisement for a pill or drug. The people would be found in gender stereotypical settings saying, after they took the drug they feel better.  There are also those fashion commercials featuring beauty products commonly showing white models.  The lack of diversity in these commercials reinforce racism because it is saying the others do not have representation in the media.  Since Ads are everywhere it would be better to have a variety of images so that the youth could see the diverse culture that they live in.

I like to think that the advertising culture is more diverse now but there should be more of something different because of the years and years of the same.  The Honda advertisement with Kevin Hart shows something different because it is not white only and it is relatable.  Advertisers should include more and more of people from other races and ethnicity so that the numbers of representation may balance already existing images.  They should have one commercial representing white people and three commercial representing the other communities like the LGBTQ or the Asian or the black or the Hispanics, or etc.

Another way for the Advertising to be diverse is to include girls playing with princess and monster trucks.  While boys are known to like firetrucks and action figures that display multiple functions, girls are flexible with the toys, since all girls do not like princesses and tea party.  Toy advertisers should include more for girls since the toys for boys are already awesome.  Having more toys accessible to both boys and girls would provide a culture where girls could play with any toy.  This could provide a future where girls do not only appear but act like the boy with a police car or firetruck.

From LEGO, taken from npr.org.  This one was specifically for girls.

From LEGO, taken from Pinterest.  Lego are played by both boys and girls.

The Modern society appears to have more advertisements due to social media.  People have taken the role of a products by having a brand which may restrict their activities.  Applying for a job seems like having a good brand is important.  I just hope that in the future, advertisements include everybody since everybody buys.  Looking at the social media sites can provide people's ideas about what is acceptable and what is sexy and how advertising culture has influenced people's lives.

Work Cited

Kilbourne, Jean.  Beauty and the Beast of Advertising.

Steinem, Gloria. Sex, Lies and Advertising.

My Final Proposal

Has media failed women? Or have women failed media?

Movies exist to entertain, so some or most would say that its simply entertainment,  nothing serious about it. Really? We are all guilty of being influenced in some aspects when watching movies. We learn, we question and observe reactions from others in any given circumstance. For this reason, I want to create a blog to inform other women that we are capable of changing these views, that we are strong individuals, we do not by any means have to follow the traditional norms, to be you and stay true to who you are is a wonderful thing.

My idea for this semesters final project is to write a blog, critically analyzing a few short films and movies based on how women’s identity is being perceived. Liberation to fully express that there is an issue when it comes to identifying a women’s potential; what she is known to be capable of based on already existing roles. The list goes on and let’s not forget that women have long seen the portrayal of being a sex symbol…to the extent in which it has ultimately given men the freedom to view women as an object.

I would like to dissect the issues of films that portrayed women a certain way that at first when watching the movies, I didn’t capture the wrongness until now, now that I’ve taken this course. Now I have a better understanding and can see where women are falsely being represented. I say these films have false presentations of women because this cannot just speak for each women living on this planet it would be absurd. As it was brought up during class discussion, I will connect quotes from the readings and use a media outlet to better showcase my ideas such as Tumblr and Facebook.

Sources

Hooks, B. (2004). The will to change: Men, masculinity, and love. Washington Square Pr.

Hooks, B. (2003). The oppositional gaze: black female spectators. The feminism and visual cultural reader, 94-105.

Are We There Yet (2005) Film

The Devil Wears Prada (2006) Film

Dangers of Advertising

 In the capitalist society we live in, it is no doubt that our big companies are profit driven. Because of that, they focus specifically on things that generate the most money and have uncovered it to be one main thing: sex. Since we also live in a patriarchal society, then of course, the sex that sells is women. As we all know, the sexualization of women is a very dangerous thing. Ads are everywhere, constantly haunting women with the thought that what is portrayed in the ad is what their body should look like. The mental torture that comes with it is what should be the main focus. The ads subconsciously make women feel like they are sex objects and subjects of the male gaze. They are haunted with thoughts and how they must look a certain way and how their assets might not be big enough or how their waist isn't thin enough. Then followed by thoughts of how they have to look a certain way to garner the attention of a male because that is what defines their worth: how much attention they get from males. How do they garner this attention? By being the media's definition of sexy and perfect.
  The over-sexualization to cater to the male gaze is so blanant and obvious. “The determining male gaze projects its phantasy on to the female figure which is styled accordingly” (Mulvey, 837) Whether it is the subliminal message portrayed in the following image:

Kate Upton on the cover of GQ magazine.
Is that really just a popsicle or could that easily be imagined as something else?

or the message so blatantly stated here:

Because the picture on the left is my face when I haven't had enough KitKats

the thought of sex is always there. The first image might be her eating a popsicle, but is that really what people would amount the image to? This image is one of the many ads that add onto this culture of sex=money, but also relies on our conditioning from this culture to really decipher the image to see what the intention was. A child would see it as just a popsicle, but those that have been so exposed to this culture already knows the sexual messages attached to it. The image after it is similar too. People that have never been exposed to sex culture would wonder why that woman is making a funny face; the rest of us know that there is something going on in the picture that has been cropped out. This ad may not be a legitimate ad published from KitKat, but the sentiment is still there. If it has gotten to a point where it has become so easy to make sexual puns like this, and have this pass off as a legitimate ad, then we know our culture has really gone too far.

 Images like the one above just completely objectifies women making them become something for visual pleasure. Body parts are cropped out and only one area is in focus, making the body part an object for the male gaze. 

  "It is important to consider how media representation might impact not only on very vulnerable young women but on all women. More, it is important also to thing what such representations say about our society and its attitudes towards women and how the media might be actively engaged in reproducing and legitimating ideas about femininity that neither comply with the reality of their experience and potential nor combat the ongoing inequities, abuses, and self-violations which are the familiar everyday business of women’s lives." (Wykes, 220) There are so many pictures of women but in an inhumane way, this type of exposure is not the type women need. If anything, this adds onto the problems women already have to combat, and even fuels it. The objectification of women further pads the thought that women are not equal to men; that women are only there to cater to and satisfy men. Not to mention, this adds onto rape culture as well. Women are dressed sexily and are associated with such sexual acts which must mean that any woman dressed in that manner wants to have sex, regardless of whether or not she says no. 

   Not to mention, some of these ads are damaging men as well. "Males cannot love themselves in patriarchal culture if their very self-definition relies on submission to patriarchal rules." (Hooks, 123) The myth that size matters, that your size equates the level of your manliness makes it hard for many males to be okay with their own self image. This culture that has been created by the system of patriarchy is suppressing men as well. We are all conditioned to think that size matters and that women are there for the male's pleasure. When will it all stop? Will we ever be able to put a stop to this? 

Readings:

Wykes, Gunther The Media and Body Image
Hooks, Bell. The Will to Change: Understanding Patriarchy. 17-33. Print.
Mulvey, Laura. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema." Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory                         Readings. Eds. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen. New York: Oxford UP, 1999: 833-44.

Images:

http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/gallery/kate-upton-gq-cover-photo-shoot

http://www.gq.com.au/grooming/gear/tom+ford+comes+out+with+unapologetically+sexy+ad+nsfw+,42341

http://blog.karenhurleydesign.com/post/34516286357/kitkat

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3243665/Can-bikini-clad-women-make-MEN-feel-bad-female-objectification-ads-creates-low-self-esteem-guys.html

Final Project Proposal

For my final project, I have two ideas that I am currently thinking about before finalizing my decision depending on which one would be better executed and substantial. My first idea revolves around the fetishism of Asian women. The idea behind this is not only the fact that women are constantly harassed, sexualized and objectified, but Asian women have even more different things said to them. There are stereotypes about Asian women that completes the male fantasy, which causes them to say they want to have sex with an Asian woman because they have “never had sex with one of them before”, as if we were a novelty, as if all Asian women are the same. This type of fetishism makes me frustrated and mad. This topic combats the idea of stereotypes and the objectification/sexualization/harassment of women.

I’d really like to read Yell-Oh girls to have more ideas on how I could make this better, but so far I am only relying on the experiences of my friends’ and I. These experiences may actually be enough because I want to show the public what we go through and explain that this is not the case. There needs to be awareness that fetishism of an ethnicity is a real thing and it is wrong.

The way I am thinking of executing it is through a spoken word poetry piece. I’d talk about what guys typically say to us. It will be something explaining that what men say to us is what we ought to be but we really are other things. I plan to record myself speaking, whether it is a video or voice recording, I am not to sure. If it is a voice recording, I plan to have an illustrative video that goes with it. I plan to upload this on YouTube and share this with my friends. Hopefully it will be good enough to make an impact and let people realize that this is going on.

My other idea is the gender stereotypes in terms of gaming, specifically League of Legends because that is the game I play and its community is well known for its toxicity towards everyone and especially females. There are stereotypes about this as well. “Girls can be popular streaming League because they show their boobs. They don’t even have to be good at this game”. If a female is good at the game, then it has to be because a male has been helping them.

I’d like to prove that this is not always the case. Women should not be subject to these types of stereotypes and assumptions. The way that I plan to combat this is through a video. Whether it will be something like spoken word or just a rant, I’m not sure. I am thinking about having a male speak the piece first, explaining typical moods and sayings that gamers say, but are sometimes exclusive to guys. After that, I will start speaking and state that girls feel this way too and go into what we are and what we are not. This video would be uploaded to YouTube and possibly posted onto the Facebook groups that are for people that play this game.

When we look around, we always see ads. If you ask me, it all probably started as Propaganda. From there, when women were needed to help men to substitute for their positions, propaganda was used to encourage women to help the men. Here are some of the most famous propaganda used. Sexist Propaganda

However, after the World War was over, people no longer needed women’s help, so unfortunately, it turned into something of more an object. From the first reading we did in class, John Berger’s Ways of Seeing, women was always taught to change and appeal their appearance to men. The gazes of women’s were meant to appeal to men, to make men notice them. This objective then carried on today, where we have ads that are solely for the purpose of appealing to men and demeaning women. We start from this Hardee's Ad about food in the 1940s to a Kitchenware ad in 2009! 

in connection with 

Shoe Ads in the 1960s:

The ads of these women tell of all the stereotypical traits that everyone describes today. All these ads to sell shoes or a women's gaze or even worse - a man's behavior towards women. These ads have so much influence on every one because that's what the media has led us to believe. From Kilbourne's reading, she states that "The aspect of advertising most need of analysis and change is the portrayal of women. Scientific studies and the most casual viewing yield the same conclusion. Women are shown almost exclusively as house wives or sex objects.” (122,Kilbourne) In order to become somewhat of an accepted women, you have to be a housewife which only objectifies women to make sure that they are someTHING only men can admire. These advertisements show nothing of a women in control of her life, but rather a male who has the authority over her life. 

Unfortunately, the world of advertisement has become so harsh that it has become an influence for the younger generation too. Kilbourne, in another reading has stated that we accept boys for how they look, but boys expect a specific appeal of beauty about girls. (124, Kilbourne) Take a look at these ads with young children. 

vs the most recent one 

These ads are there to provide a more mature appeal of these children to the public, yet already sabotaging their thoughts. 

I can continue to rant on and on about sexism, because it has become the popular culture now for women to appeal themselves to others, to appeal themselves and try to make themselves as beautiful as possible. The media's portrayal of beauty is solely based on these sexist ads. However, there's another issue that comes to mind when it comes to popular culture - racism. 

No matter how many times we say we're trying to fix racism, it still does exist, not only in America, but in the world. 

BUT, BEFORE I SAY ANYTHING, let's take a look at this first. 

10 Most Racist Moments in TV

and the most famous recent one Jessie Walters

and the Bounceback

Most of the advertisements today and whatever goes on TV, you see that the racism is clear. The first known racist association that started was the start of KKK. The racism against non-white are taught to kids from a young age. Children learn that if your'e white, you get more priviledges! So, the idea of wanting to be white, of NEEDING to be white was "learned" by all the non-whites. 

But do you see the connections and similarities between all these ads? All these ads attach a product that lures the inner desires of a person and attaching it to a "social cause or problem". Alternative styles are definitely needed for improvement in the sexist, racist comments that everyone goes through. The history begins with the male gaze, but what would it be like if the male gaze never existed? Where did the idea of male gaze start from? Maybe we can share the idea of a gathering instead selling women. "If you want to achieve your dreams together, let's grab dinner at Outback Steakhouse!" Sounds like a fun idea! Maybe the idea of dramas and tv shows can change the way people portray women and race. But instead of using body parts to show of, why not use portrayal of clothes on models that just seems like a normal hangout, not a I'm ready for hookup "normal" hangout. We can possibly start by portraying only individuals, instead of the part that appeals to everyone. Maybe we can break stereotypes that already exist. Instead of showing surprise when a women can't open a ketchup bottle, we can show how strong a women can be, show all the potential that a person was born with. Like my mother and father always says "Everyone has eyes, nose, lips, so why is one inferior than the other? We're basically all the same."