RR #2 Kilbourne

      The essay “Two Ways a Women Can Get Hurt”: Advertising and Violence by Jean Kilbourne puts in perspective the misconceptions society has about girls and women. The way advertising is used to sell a product or service to consumers can influence a society’s image of the way women are suppose to be. Women sell their bodies by posing naked for watch companies, perfume bottles, and other products just so consumers will buy them. The way media and advertising portray women to be sex objects has caused many women to turn themselves into what ever media wants  women to look like and act like. Women are dehumanized and evaluated by the advertising we are used to seeing on television and billboards. 

Women, compared to men, are thought of to be more weak and less powerful because of their kindness and nurturing characteristics. This makes women more subjected to violence. According to Kilbourne, “battery is the single greatest cause of injury to women in America, more common than automobile accidents, muggings, and stranger rapes combined, and more than one-third of women slain in this country die at the hands of husbands or boyfriends”(584-5). Women are vulnerable to violence because of the way men think of them as objects. If both men and women were equal, there would be no thought of men dominating women. As an extreme example, the way  how dogs have no power over their master, women don’t have any power over abusive men. From examples from Kilbourne, advertising is promoting violence by  using dead looking female bodies, rape situations, and other violent acts to sell something. Women don’t want to be looked down upon and treated like objects. However, advertising continues to degrade the value that women have to offer by making them powerless and vulnerable.

Men also are supposed to act and be a certain way. Advertising portrays men as masculine and powerful and to never take no for an answer from women. Mentioned in the texts by Kilbourne, the coolest men are those who have complete control over their girlfriend and if they are not in control, they are “pussy-whipped”(578).  If a man doesn’t have control of his wife of girlfriend, he might appear to be weak because women are viewed as more weak then men.  Women look up to men who show their power because women feel safe when they have a bodyguard like figure around. Men usually call all the decisions in a relationship because women don’t have as much authority as men do. Compared to women, men are not pressured as much by the media and advertising to look and act a certain way. Moreover, men are competing against their male peers to act more masculine or powerful.  

Many couples today don’t let media and advertising affect their relationship. Men and women switch roles that society expects men should do or women should do. For example, the wife might be the one who makes all the money where as the husband stays home and watches the kids. Gender roles have been switching more recently because consumers are becoming more aware of the harmful advertising that businesses are putting out there. However, the younger generation is up to date on current trends the media puts out which puts them highly at risk for looking and acting a particular way.