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Photo of Mariah Carey as a model for Victoria's Secret.

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How does advertisement help to uphold a patriarchy?

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How does advertisement help to uphold a patriarchy?

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Advertisement, I believe, is a prominent method of being able to force individuals to view and believe certain ideologies, mainly ones that indulge in gender socialization. Deliberately selecting Mariah Carey, not only a renowned artist, but also a woman who meets societies physical expectations of women forces many to believe that someone like Carey is the "ideal" woman to be a model. Carey is a prominently famed artist in today's society, not to mention, also tall, has long hair, and skinny. Young girls, like most children, do not worry much about their physical appearance, but as Judith Ortiz Cofer mentions in The Story of My Body, "... I didn't consciously think about my height or size until other people made an issue of it" (151). Now, when a girl walks past this fairly large poster and sees someone like Carey, it may be difficult to not compare themselves to her and notice distinct differences, and mark them as flaws. Cofer mentions that she did not worry about her physical appearance until others noted it, which serves as a prime example to accentuate that the "ideal" woman does not exist. If this "ideal" figure existed, it would solely be present without the interference of society or anyone else beyond the individual in question. Evidently, these comparisons are only existent because of others' and society's expectations.

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Photo of Athenea Perez, Miss Universe participant from Spain, portrayed on TV.

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How does media support the stature of society's expectations?

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How does media support the stature of society's expectations?

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Media has an immense power to influence society, especially today in age. A notable way that media expresses it's expectations, namely physically, is through well-known broadcasted programs. The Miss Universe competition is one of these well-known broadcasts, a beauty competition to essentially pick one female as the major role model for all women. Although this competition is supposed to be comprised of philanthropists, public figures, and entrepreneurs, it is not a coincidence that they all have the "body of a model". To many, it appears that this competition has become much more of a physical beauty contest than anything else, submitting to society's desire of only seeing physically "attractive" women compete and win. This is not to say that this competition should be canceled, or that these women should not compete, because as Allan G. Johnson explains, “we wouldn’t exist as social beings if it weren’t for our participation in one social system or another"(36). Rather it is to keep the competition going, keep competing, but in attempt to make it a more genuine competition as a major role model for women all around the world. Johnson explains that, "...by participating in patriarchy  we are of patriarchy and it is of us. Both exist through the other and neither can exist without the other”(37). This is to say that as much as the patriarchy and social expectations can influence individuals, individuals can equally influence the system and social expectations. So, individuals can actually take advantage of the media and try to change the system and omit the social expectations of individuals to limit, or get rid of, gender socialization.

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Photo of seasoning brand using a male chef as emblem/logo.

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What influence does advertisement have on gender socialization and provoke double standards?

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What influence does advertisement have on gender socialization and provoke double standards?

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Knowing that gender socialization is essentially attempting to train an individual to behave under social norms and reach social expectations of their perceived gender, brands are able to advertise the social norms that they want individuals to meet. It is understandable that brands want to advertise what they believe the best is of whatever it is they are promoting. It is understood that this brand believes a male chef is the best, or would cook the best and want to influence others to believe this and expand this idea through gender socialization. Even then, this may provoke a notable double standard. Often, it is understood that according to social norms women are the ones who cook for the family, mainly the man. If this were actually true, one would believe that women must be the better cook. Yet, when one thinks of a chef, more than likely, a male chef comes to mind. Here, it is evident that the idea of gender and cooking possesses a prominent double standard, in which women are the ones who cook but somehow men are better at cooking. Not only do these social norms have double standard, they are also incompetent and absurd.

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Photo of fabric conditioner with image of mother and child.

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How is gender socialization supported by advertisement?

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How is gender socialization supported by advertisement?

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As stated, through advertisement, companies attempt to influence gender socialization by promoting in a manner that follow social norms and stereotypes. In particular, in a stereotypical sense, these brands may try to target the audience they would expect to target. A decently common social norm and stereotype is that women are often the ones who clean and do laundry, as well as the parental figure who is closer to the child. In this case, the fabric softener appears to stereotypically be targeting woman as there is an image of a mother with her child, not to mention that the container is also purple, which is usually indicative of a more feminine tone. Essentially, it appears that this advertisement is attempting to target women in hopes of expanding gender socialization, in getting woman to be the ones to take care of children and do laundry.

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Photo of paper towels with a man as emblem/logo.

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What affect do present social norms/stereotypes have on advertisement and gender socialization?

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What affect do present social norms/stereotypes have on advertisement and gender socialization?

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Additionally, companies will also use current social norms and stereotypes to promote their own products. For example, there is the common stereotype of a man having to be "tough", "strong", and "brawny". Although these targeted individuals of gender socialization are often women, everyone is targeted, as everyone is a part of the societal structure that is essentially the support for this patriarchy. Furthermore, Johnson explains that, "patriarchal culture, for example, places a high value on control and maleness"(37) and this paper towel company takes advantage of this fact to promote that their paper towels are tougher and stronger and can handle a tougher mess. Even then, these stereotypes are present in our patriarchal society but can be proven to be false and inaccurate. For example, a man may be tough, or they may not be, they are a man nonetheless. Ultimately, these social norms "by themselves, these are just abstractions"(Johnson 37). It is worth mentioning that even though this brand is taking an alternative approach and using social expectations to promote their product, they also instill gender socialization like the other brands mentioned. In example, they lead men to believe that they have to be tough and brawny, and if they aren't, than they aren't "manly" enough. And, in fact, they even provide a physical appearance for men to compare themselves to. Here, the "brawny" man is pictured to be broad-shouldered with a sharp, defined jawline and capable to growing a full beard.