Post 2: The Power of Images

As a young woman in this society, I can’t help but to consume media and advertisements everyday. Especially because I study journalism and media studies, it is apart of my life and is very important to me. Any time I look through a magazine or watch television, I am constantly being shown images on how I’m suppose to look. Women learn from a very early age that we have to strive to look like a particular image and if we don’t we’re not acceptable.

As Kilbourne states in Cutting Girls Down, advertisers are aware of their role and do not hesitate to take advantage of the insecurities and anxieties of young people, usually in the guise of offering solutions. She states, “All young people are vulnerable to these messages”.  Advertisements are everywhere and that is why they have such an impact on society. Young girls are seeing these images and at some point it causes them to want to be like the images they see, resulting them to not feel satisfied about their reality. Kilbourne states, “The culture, both reflected and reinforced by advertising urges girls to adopt a false self, to bury alive their real selves, to become “feminine,” which means to be nice and kind and sweet, to compete with other girls for the attention of boys, and to value romantic relationships with boys above all else”. Diesel’s ad for jeans showed an image of young girl exposing herself. When you see ads like this one below, you tell yourself what is the point of this message. The ad is supposed to be illustrating jeans however; it does by using nudity and the exposure of young girl to do so. These images definitely have serious effects on women causing them to suffer some serious psychological issues from the subtle and pervasive effects of advertising essentially aimed at them.

Today it seems like advertisements use the exploitation of women to get sells. Whether it’s altering the image of women or exploiting their bodies sexually, women are displayed as mere beauties, powerless and sexual objects in media. The advertisers surround us with the image of “ideal female beauty”. From these ads we learn how important it is for a woman to be beautiful and exactly what it takes or else they will not be desirable. Advertiser’s ideal of female beauty is to be absolutely flawless. Never having any lines or wrinkles or any scars or blemishes. In order to be beautiful, women have to be young and skinny with the perfect amount of curves and they also have to know their “role” as a woman. Many of the images we see, show women being dominated by men and this makes young girls believe that this is how things should go. 

According to Bell Hooks’ article, Understanding Patriarchy, patriarchy is a political-social system that males are inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed weak, especially females, and endowed with the right to dominate and rule over the weak and to maintain that dominance through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence. This teaching has definitely been portrayed in media and there are tons of images illustrating a female catering to a man or a female in an inferior position. However, there are a few images that promote strong women instead of showing a woman viewed as weak or inferior. Girl Scouts had an ad that represented young women and their ability to succeed. This ad is very important for young woman to see and I wish that there were more of these positive advertisements. When there are so many images of women in inferior positions, ones that promote education and ambition can really make a difference to a young girl. 

There are also many advertisements that show pure racism. According to Negative Images of African Americans in the Media, images of African Americans in television, music, and film are often less than stellar. Black men are often portrayed as drug pushers, pimps, thugs, and dead beat dads, while black women are portrayed as poor, lazy, and promiscuous. Minorities are rarely even shown in advertisements. As a result of such treatment, the media have crushed youths' prospects for future employment and advancement because they are not seeing any role models that they can relate to. The media has focused on the negative aspects of the minority community and displays them in stereotypical viewpoints or as inferior. As an African American woman, I wouldn’t want my child to seeing an ad like the one below because it’s just ridiculous and I wouldn’t want my child to think that because they are black that they are inferior to anyone.