“[In the English language] there are 220 words for sexual promiscuous

women and only 20 for an equally promiscuous man” (Transforming a

Rape Culture, 125).

In this society, the equality which stands between men and women is almost non-

existent. It is widely believed that we live in a man’s world. Even something as common

to our culture as the English language stands guilty to the possession of a rape content.

With the “language of rape” surrounding our everyday lives and yet still being ignored as

an issue seeking attention, it is common for many people to overlook the equally

degrading images in which advertising agencies surround us with day in and day out.

“Advertising contributes to people’s attitudes about gender, sex, and violence,” states

Jean Kilbourne in her article, Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt. With advertising

agencies standing by the notion that “Sex Sells” it isn’t uncommon to find sex tied into a

number of advertisements seen everywhere on a daily basis.

“Sex in advertising is pornographic because it dehumanizes and objectifies

people, especially women …” (Kilbourne, 271). The objectification of women in our

society is more prevalent than many would like to believe. Women being portrayed as

passive, easy, innocent, needy, submissive and dependent beings creates an understanding

that women are less human than men. “Turning a human being into a thing, an object, is

almost always the first step toward justifying violence against that person” (Kilbourne,

278). When advertisers continuously use women as sex objects in order to sell their

products they begin to form the mindset that “all women, regardless of age, are really

temptresses in disguise, nymphets, sexually instable and seductive” (Kilbourne, 281). The

United States, of all the industrialized nations in the world, has the highest rate of sexual

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assault. Living in a culture with increasing violence against women, the objectification of

a woman through advertisements does not help the females’ strive of obtaining equality in

a male dominated world. When a community health class at the University of Illinois

(CHLH 199-B) was asked to share different synonyms for what they believed meant the

same thing as “sex” some of the responses included: bang, screw, fuck, hit it, tap it,

smash, tappin’ that ass, and hump. As you can see all of these words in some way, shape

or form relates the intimate activity, sex, as being some sort of violent act. Why do we

connect sex with such violent, disturbing illusions? Kilbourne writes, “Male violence is

subtly encouraged by ads that encourage men to be forceful and dominant, and to value

sexual intimacy more than emotional intimacy” (272). The traditional role taken on by

the male gender is a tough, assertive, powerful, experienced, and dominating character.

With men, being perceived as powerful and women being seen as passive and dependant

people begin to believe that these figures are the norm and something idealistic to follow.

The violent messages given off by certain advertisements begin to be overlooked and just

absorbed. Advertisers sell their products in the ways they do, one way being the

objectification of women, because it not only appeals to the male consumer but it also

appeals to the female consumer making her believe that the ideal women looks, acts, and

thinks in the ways a man would want her to. The irony in this idea is that an ideal woman,

which all other women are trying to be: a sexy yet innocent, thin yet nourished, beautiful

and perfect individual in all reality, does not exist. How is it possible for a human being

to possess all of these characteristics at the same time? The image of this “perfect

woman” is something that has been brainwashed into this society’s head and is something

that is nearly impossible to obtain. Advertising agencies contribute to the twisted thinking

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scattered throughout our culture by portraying the “uncommon/nonexistent woman” as

the “perfect woman” throughout their ads.

Advertising constructs sex, gender and power in a very specific way. Advertisers

typically use sex in the form of a woman, specifically her body, and if a man is not in the

image she is portrayed as passive, innocent, sexy, and aggressive, all at the same time. On

the contrary, when a man is in an image/shot with a woman she is portrayed as helpless,

easy, needy, and dependent. Regardless as to which image the woman is captured, she

most commonly is portrayed as more of an object than anything else. The men in the

media are rarely portrayed as powerless. As Ann Quindlen said, writing about “reversed

racism”: “Hatred by the powerful, the majority, has a different weight – and often very

different effects- than hatred by the powerless, the minority” (Kilbourne, 279). Drifting to

the idea of violence and hatred this idea still shows the overwhelming “power” men have

on women. Men, being represented as the majority are always something for women, the

minority, to worry about. Men are not the ones afraid to walk home alone at night. Men

are also not the ones being raped. In the world of media, men are not the ones being

portrayed as having a gun held to their head in a cartoon version advertisement for Bitch

skateboards which clearly targets young people (Kilbourne, 277). Men have the power

and this power blossoms as early as childhood. “Many boys grow up feeling that they are

unmanly if they are not always ‘ready for action’, capable of and interested in sex with

any women who is available” (Kilbourne, 285). Advertisements seen all over our

television, magazines, internet/virtual world, and even billboards emphasis this idea of

power and the people absorbing it are the ones with minds like a sponge, the youth. With

young boys, as early as the seventh grade, laughter and name calling to the over weight,

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not very popular girl is a moment of dominance and power. These children see their

words break down the self confidence of an innocent being and feel no sympathy for the

feelings of the individual they “hurt.” It isn’t very surprising to hear stories about boys

mistreating girls. How can you blame them when our society has companies like Senate

selling cloths with inside tags reading “Destroy All Girls” attached to the part of the label

with the washing instructions? What is a child to think when they read something of that

nature on the inner tag of their t-shirt? This goes to show the advertising world’s idea of

the more “powerful” sex, the man.

The advertisement industry is a multi-million dollar industry. If violence against

women, objectification of women including their body parts, and segregation of women

as the weaker sex is used as a marketing scheme, then how are these products selling and

why are we “buying” them? “Perhaps it is simply designed to get our attention, by

shocking us and by arousing unconscious anxiety. Or perhaps the intent is more subtle

and it is designed to play into the fantasies…” (Kilbourne, 276). Both solutions are

ultimately putting a concrete version of this inequality into our culture. We are exposed to

hundreds and thousands of advertisements on a daily basis (Kilbourne video), if the

majority of these advertisements somehow objectify women then we, as a society,

become “numb” to the actuality of this problem and think nothing of these womanizing

images. This isn’t to say that men are never objectified in advertisement because they too

are captured with a women concentrating on a certain body parts rather than the man

himself. These images might be funny to see at first glance but either way there is no

right in objectifying any human being. We, as consumers, buy these products because we

believe in the messages these products, in essence, send off. We become obsessed with

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turning our bodies into the body of the bikini model on the cover of Vogue magazine. We

strive to mimic the clear, beautiful skin that the girls on the Neutrogena commercials

have. Women work to become this “perfect woman” who in all actuality does not exist.

Computers are beginning to graphically combine a variety of body parts belonging to

different women and creating this image of a flawless woman to advertise their products

(Killing Us Softly). How are women possibly going to measure up to a virtual designed

woman? This idea is starting to get ridiculous. Buying into these ads, we are buying into

the idea that sex actually does sell. As long as we, as a nation, continue to feed into these

ideas imposed by sex in the media the advertising industry will continue to put out

whatever sex based ads they want. This country is a competitive, money based society. If

we are continuing to make their money by buying their products then why would they

stop putting out sex based ads? The truth is, they won’t.

Sex in the media is most commonly targeted at women. Not only do a majority of

advertisements objectify a specific body part belonging to a woman, but some also

portray women as being the tolerant victims of male violence (Kilbourne video). Our

society continues to grow believing this ideology that men are superior to women.

Advertisement industries contribute to people’s attitudes about gender, sex, and violence.

They surround us with different images, most of the time directed somehow at women,

and these images end up staying in our minds as idealistic ways of looking, acting and

thinking. There is no doubt in my mind that advertisement contributes to violence against

women. With women being portrayed in the advertising world as nothing more than a

pair of tits, or a piece of ass, how can any of us grow to believe otherwise?

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 Work Cited

“Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt” - Jean Kilbourne; Electronic Library

“Killing Us Softly” - Jean Kilbourne; Video

“The Language of Rape” – Helen Benedict; Transforming a Rape Culture

C.A.R.E class discussion held by Ross Wantland about sex in the media