Steven Lubar's Spheres Summary

Shadelle Goodson Annotated Bib Date Plumber, Hannah Gender in Mesoamerica: Interpreting Gender Roles in Classic Maya Society (2011): Print The author, who is a part of the Maya research team, used iconography to assist with their study of past gender roles in Mesoamerica.

Advertising is displayed all around the world for everyone to see and it sometimes gives a bad message to the viewers. Advertisements tell us that there is only one dominant way to be feminine and only one dominant way to be masculine and if you do not conform to these gender codes that is not considered normal. Unfortunately, I have caught myself following these gender codes that are shown in advertising, it has affected me with the way I see people and myself. By using a sociological perspective I have started to look into the advertisements that I see and understand how women are portrayed as helpless and weak while men are portrayed as powerful and dominant. I also looked into how advertising supports hegemonic masculinity, which is the idea of masculinity being dominant.

Introduction In this paper I am going to analyze how the media affects the gender stereotypes that the documentary Miss Representation addressed. I believe that, the media perpetuates harmful stereotypes to both men and women. In this paper I will argue that Audre Lorde would agree with my thesis but she would also believe that the minority needs to be looked at more as well. In this paper I will argue that Rebecca Walker would agree with my thesis.

Gender roles have existed throughout history, and still play a massive role in our society. They dictate how each gender; male, female and androgyny, should behave, and what is appropriate for them and what isn’t. An article “Examining Media’s Socialization of Gender Roles”, exhibits how gender roles are displayed in commercials. Predominately, the commercial “Know Your Gear”, shows what products are masculine and what aren’t. In the text it states, “Ladies have their own stuff’, while he grabs and lifts a white flowered basket filled with brightly colored primarily pink, products, he sternly warns, ‘see this is not for you”.

Gender Stereotype in Advertisements In my presentation, I will be addressing gender stereotype and how women were and are still being presented in printed advertisements in the past 80 years. The three advertisements will explore the gender roles attributed to women in advertisement and how the message shifted from a more explicit, socially acceptable and firmly established view of female roles to a more implicit conception of women in today’s society. The first advertisement, Hardee’s, dates back to the 1940s. The main aim of the ad is to convince men to opt for Hardee’s fast food as an escapade from home-made food prepared by their wives.

Media plays a critical part in making social norms since the different types of media, for example, TV, advertisements and films are displayed in the current culture of man in the society. Gender roles exist exclusively because of the society has chosen to accept them a whole. On the other hand, they are perpetuated by the media. For example, the conspicuous audience must understand what the media is trying to present to them and thus they should not actively participate in the culture of oppression. For example, the conspicuous audience must understand what the media is trying to present to them and thus they should not actively participate in the culture of oppression.

1. Introduction Gender was at the epicenter of social relations in the Victorian era, as there were clearly differentiated gender roles by which their society functioned on. These roles were largely based on the ideology of “separate spheres” with men inhabiting mainly the public working sphere and women inhabiting the private domestic one. Women were valued primarily as housewives, as “an Angel in the House, contentedly submissive to men, but strong in her inner purity and religiosity” (Showalter, 14): very simply, she was to be that of an obedient domestic helpmate of men, untainted by any form of immorality. Men, on the other hand, while enjoying the freedom of ready access to both spheres, were seen as the providers and protectors as the

The 1930’s was primarily encompassed of the Great Depression. The stock market crash of 1929 led to a downward spiral of the economy, and many families were forced into unwanted unemployment. While men faced the harsh reality of being out of work, woman transitioned themselves to accept the responsibility of being the primary “bread-winners” of the family. While women were becoming dominant in the work force, their profound role in society was overshadowed by many outdated Victorian Era gender biases. Many companies continued to utilize and portray the wide array of gender assumptions through various advertisements.

Ads in media went through a transitional state during the 1980s. Formerly before 1980s ads would stereotype women as serving their husbands at home where a woman belongs according to that era. Ads would portray women with cleaning objects,cooking, babies showing a woman’s duties. In addition, their body language would show them gazing off in a distance away from the focus of the photo and woman bodies would be shown kneeling or beneath where a man would be standing, showing that the male figure if one in the image is present is more dominant than his female counterpart. In this ad published in the 1960s by Van Heusen, it shows a man laying in bed with his arms crossed behind his head smiling in approval.

In the past years, advertisers have formulated more strategies to promote and sell their products. These strategies include the use of women in their advertisements. Today, the exposure of women in most ads is that of thin, flawless images of models to show audiences the definition of beauty and heroism through appearances (Wolf, 2002). In order to encourage and persuade its audience to imitate what they see in films, television, and magazines, today’s mass media use images of models and actors who are artificially manipulated and developed by using computer technology to create an ideally perfect, flawless role models, that nevertheless look real and natural (Mazur, 1986).