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What do you think?

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by Absentminded, Dec 10, 2008.

  1. Absentminded

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    I have a project due really soon, and my choice topic is how the media effects women. So, my question is, what are your opinions on:

    Sex, or sexual innuendos in adverts to sell products?
    The image that models put out to women?
    What the media says about America's women?

    And lastly, what do you all think affects you the most within the media? Are there any role models that you have that don't portray everything that the media seems to put out as "in"? What about people that you think follow the media too much?

    Any responses would be gladly appreciated!
    Thanks!
    Kat
     
  2. MLCarr

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    Sex, or sexual innuendos in adverts to sell products?
    So, I saw a comercial today about some pillsbury baking product that used sex to sell it. What did it say to me? "You belong in the kitchen." Basically the man came home from work and she's sitting there waiting with some sort of food and a glass of wine, dressed in a miniskirt. Before dinner sex anyone? It was dumb. The sad thing is...sex sells.

    The image that models put out to women?
    It's not even what models put out anymore. Think about reality TV. Women should be manipulative, bitchy, and constatly in control. If you want physical image, magazines are horrible. The focus is to be tall and thin. Anyone who isn't seems to either have an eating disorder or be depressed and on medication. Wonderful life, let me tell you. Basically models need to be "average" not perfect, not too thin, not 5'10''. What's average? I have no idea, but I know that being stick thin and really tall are two things that are definately not normal.

    What the media says about America's women?
    I lived overseas for 2 years in Germany. I can tell you that I had to fight so many sterotypes of American women. Europeans strive to be us, but at the same time seem to hate us. American women are seen as this: strong-willed, independent, thin, tall, obnoxious, party-girls, manipulative, shallow and so many more. Now, anything that might seem good on that list, take it to an extreme. For example, "independent" can be used also as not dependent on men, self-supportive, and stuck-up. Basically, Europeans see American women as a whole in negative light, but under the skin they all wish they were like what we are portrayed as in film and other media. It's sad really.

    And lastly, what do you all think affects you the most within the media? Are there any role models that you have that don't portray everything that the media seems to put out as "in"? What about people that you think follow the media too much?
    "Gay is the new straight!" Thats a new big theme in the media. It's become a fad to be gay or bisexual, which to me is an insult. Also, trying to persue things in a 'christian' light has screwed up so many lives. I tend to say you can call me whatever you want, but do not ever call me a Christian. Why? Well because I don't want to be lumped with all those hipocratic people who use religion to persecute others. The media is the worst at this. The nightly news only talks about people killing eachother or the 'evil' war in Iraq. The magazines only discuss who cheated on who. What happened to civil liberty? They used to prop up President Rosevelt behind a podium and the media ignored it and waited until he was 'standing' to take pictures. The media needs to chill and stop the competition to 'uncover' the latest stories that are often untrue.

    Most recently Baylor University was reported on by "CNN, The Most Trusted Name in News" about their racist campus. We had three events reported on about the recent election of the first Black president. First it was that there was a brawl sparked by racial slurs that occurred outside of one of our dorms. Second was the accused burning of Barak Obama election signs. Third was a noose hanging from a tree. To set the record straight: The noose was a rope swing, a few students came forward and said that they were just out making their own rope swing from one of the trees. It was a mistake. The burning of election signs was actually the burning of old computer boxes, not too unusual to find on a weekend around campus! The brawl was actually just a shouting match, the police weren't even called. It stopped as soon as it began. Now, after hearing this, tell me if you trust CNN to give you your nightly news. Lets just say I no longer watch their new channel.
     
  3. xequar

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    Sex, or sexual innuendos in adverts to sell products?
    To me, it tells me that the product is not strong enough to stand on its own, so the marketers are resorting to a "cheap trick" to pimp their wares.

    The image that models put out to women?
    It's all about moving product and keeping corporate fat-cats making money. If the majority of women aspire to look like supermodels in dress and appearance and size, that will inspire them to buy more clothes and diet pills and other crap in their quest to look like models.

    What the media says about America's women?
    The media largely still seems to believe it's the 1950s, when women were meant to be seen and not heard. It's gotten somewhat better in recent years, but the media still largely relegates women to secondary roles and subscribes to the idea that women are somehow weaker and less able to be in prominent positions. The coverage of Hillary Clinton during the primaries is an example. The whole "crying" episode was utter b.s. and would have never been covered if one of the men had cried.

    And lastly, what do you all think affects you the most within the media? Are there any role models that you have that don't portray everything that the media seems to put out as "in"? What about people that you think follow the media too much?
    I was chatting with my grandma a couple weeks ago when a commercial for one of those kids' kitchen playsets came on the TV. We had been talking politics and serious topics anyway, and my grandma says, "You know, these commercials make me so angry. All they're doing is teaching little girls that they belong in the kitchen. They're teaching 'em right from birth how to be good little housewives and take care of the kids and cook and clean! I just realized it a few weeks ago, and I can't believe it took me that long!"

    I totally agree with her about that, and I've known that for years. Truth be told, it made me really happy to see just how genuinely angry that commercial made my grandmother because if she can get it and others her age can get it, then things will maybe finally start to change.

    My big thing is that I don't really have any media role models because I know not to trust the media. When you realize that the media is simply an extension of the corporatocracy that strives to run our lives for their profit, you learn to discern the messages they're putting out. The bottom line to the media is profit. They make profit by making women feel inferior because they can market beauty creams and clothes and all sorts of stuff more effectively at that point. They can make money by portraying women as belonging in the kitchen and getting them to buy playsets for their kids. Marketing is easier when there are solid demographics to market to, and gender is a pretty solid demographic.

    One of the challenges marketers are finding in this emerging modern age is that today's youth, who are more open with regards to sexual orientation, more fluid with regards to gender and gender roles, and more integrated with different races and sexualities and the like than any generation before, don't respond to targeted messages. Today's youth are the hardest people to market products to, and so the media is working to perpetuate various stereotypes in an attempt to preserve marketing demographics.