Women in Development is a complex and confusing concept. As mentioned by Caroline Moser in her article "Third World Policy Approaches to Women in Development", this approach was shaped by the Women's Decade in 1976-85 (p.62). Three decades later, we are still struggling to define the woman's role and her contribution to the development process. I have to confess, I am fairly confused with the extremes that portray woman's image today, from an obedient household servant to the aggressively sexy lady on the cover page of a magazine.
This topic is not new and yet it continuously yields media attention and raises serious question marks from the regular audience such as me and many more people concerned about women’s image in the public eyes. The advertising is a powerful tool in a consumerist society. It is appealing, bold, and yet superficial. It is meant to sell everything to anyone, to brainwash and create a perception of what and who is worth nowadays. This is what we see and learn every day from commercials, advertisers and aired promotions.
In my search for materials to support this argument, I came across an amazing video titled - Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising's Image of Women with Jean Kilbourne (available below). Kilbourne raises awareness about this social issue and points to a number of other concerns such as i) the tragedy of the ideal, ii) objectivation of women in the advertisement, and iii) public health issues.
The tragedy of the ideal. From an early age, girls’ perception about their own body is based on the ideal as advertised by commercials. It must be slim, fit, well-shaped and flawless. When the ideal fails to be reached one’s self-esteem is diminished which may result in serious damages to the personality and long-lasting frustrations. The public sees the perfect beauty designed by technology, but in reality, it turns out to be a fake. Without an appropriate awareness raising for both men and women, the entire society will continue to promote and support the gender stereotypes.
Objectivation of women in the advertisement. Although widely spread, many do not understand what the issue of sexist publicity is all about and how an advertisement can be sexist at all. The answer is not hidden too far. Almost all tabloids and magazines use the female body for commercial purposes. Women’s image is not associated with her personality, it is just a thing used to represent another thing. It is sad to notice that in time this approach creates a wrong perception that women can be treated like an object, which triggers a new social issue – violence against women. Inevitably, this trend of objectivating and thus dehumanizing women promotes a wrong system of beliefs and values and sets the core stones for a distorted society.
Public health issues. It is strange enough to admit that misrepresented image of women promoted as an ideal can artificially produce a health issue achieving public concern rates, known as anorexia. It is outrageous that young women will starve to death just to keep the doll body size and to look exactly as their idols. It is our fault that we accept and live with the idea of perfection. Most importantly, we consciously deny the individualism and the inner beauty appreciating more the material values and the image promoted by others.
I am truly concerned that the women’s image in the 21st century is so much distorted and is more than ever set as a canvass for sexist commercials. I want to believe that public concern about this issue is high enough to speak up and to augment an anti-movement to address this problem at its core.
Hi Eleonora,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for posting this, I find this topic very interesting and very relevant. Recently, many actors, artists and influential figures have began to publicly reject the stereotype of what it means to be a female and the continued objectification of women in media and in everyday life.
I was scrolling through my Facebook page the other night and I found this video about Alicia Keys who has chosen to 'ditch' her everyday use of makeup for an all natural look. She performed at the 2016 VMA's wearing no makeup, which of course went viral and consequently spurred this 'No Makeup Movement' that has been making its way across the internet. Below I have attached a link to an article discussing why she choose to make this decision and why it was necessary for her to do. I have also posted a link to a YouTube video the decision made by Keys including some direct quotes from an interview she participated in. Once you click on the link to the video you will find more interviews with Keys talking about her new and old music which include some subtle and not so subtle feminist undertones, and more discussion about why she has chosen to go make-up free.
After reading your post Eleonora I immediately thought of this video and the 'No Makeup Movement' because it is essentially challenging the idea of how women 'should' be viewed in the public eye, and challenging what you mentioned as 'the tragedy of the ideal'. Through the use of advertising, as the video 'Killing Us Softly' so clearly shows, women continue to be objectified which subsequently reenforces harmful gender roles and instigates violence against women since their bodies are portrayed as objects void of any type of personality.
The life of Hollywood actors and popular music artists are highly publicized and many become viewed as role models to many young child and young adults, especially in the West. One movement will not change the way women are portrayed in advertising any time soon, but the statement Keys made by going makeup free is at the very least calling attention to an issue that has long plagued women in Hollywood and women all over the world.
https://variety.com/2018/music/features/alicia-keys-feminism-no-makeup-metoo-1202748028/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzTW8zZO0ho
Thank you Eleonora for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteThe first point I want to comment on is the perception about the ideal woman’s body. I agree with what you mentioned already but talking about the soft power of media, especially advertising, is really important. It is shocking how advertising can condition people to behave and think in a certain way. A funny yet critical instance to start with is that in the Middle-east the ideal body of a woman used to be that curvy one in the past. I was able to notice this in Arab movies from around the 60s or even before. Suddenly, the ideal body changed from curvy to slim. I believe this is attributed partially to the import of Western ideas in general, whereas a slim and blond woman in the Middle-east has become the dream of every Mid-eastern man. Just recently, these same men started to admire the curvy women again. This again has been recently introduced in Arab movies and series. So you see!!!
The other point I want to highlight is that almost everybody now knows that women who appear in advertisements are the outcome of many plastic surgeries, harsh diets and Photoshop. Talking about men specifically, they know this is superficial and artificial, yet they like it. It is dangerous as men and women tend to believe a fake “truth” that they know it is fake. Men admire these examples in the media and women work hard to look like them no matter what. This, I think, reveals the power of media, as people behind the scenes decide to pass certain “truths” to a certain audience, and they succeed in it everytime.