Advertising and sexualization

Last week in Children and the Media, we had a brief discussion about sexualization of ads. Some people were commenting that ads objectify women. I certainly agree, and I'm sure that research would confirm that. Sometimes ads featuring women can go overboard to the point that you question, "what is this really advertising?" or "what was the point of that?" As consumers we are taught to pursue a specific lifestyle that is enticed through advertising. However, another part of the discussion was that men in advertising are displayed as 'cool' and not sexualized. This got me thinking about multiple things. For one, yes, they are.

Any gender can be sexualized to sell anything, in my opinion. One student in class commented that men are displayed in sexual ways in perfume ads. I sometimes read Vogue if I like whoever is on the cover, and I notice that a lot too. Perfume and cologne ads are always sexual. Anyways, I got to thinking about what if men were displayed in sexual ways to the extent that women are in OTHER ads? Would we notice or be offended? I think so. There is something more aggressive about the male sexual image for some reason. We are offended by assertive male sexuality because it comes off too strong, or too perverted. I don't think women come off that same way if they pose in a sexual manner. Do you agree or disagree? Let me know, maybe you can help me refocus my thoughts.

Anyways, I chose to insert this image just to show that men can be objectified in advertisements as well. I found this Marc Jacobs fragrance ad simply by searching Google. It shocks me, and I think that if a woman were to pose in this way, it would come across classless or tacky. So what is it that makes certain sexual poses gendered in some way? How do some poses become masculine or feminine? I think this pose becomes particularly masculine because he's posing in a "look at me" in a proud, confident, somewhat arrogant kind of a way. I think that womens 'sexual' ads aren't as STRONG or assertive but rather are kind of like innocently "oh, are you looking at me?" That's just the impression I get.

"Same Love"

I'm way behind on this, seeing that there are 29 million views on this music video. I came across this song while I was at work and I was really impressed. Part of me questioned how genuine the message was, or if it was too cliché, but after watching interviews where the artist commented on this song, I was even more impressed and connected to the message. I talked to my friends about how I felt about it, and got their opinions too, but I wanted to write about this because it got me thinking about gender and sexuality. Of course, there are political implications to this song and message, but I'll leave that for another discussion.

The song starts with the artist's own stereotypes of what it meant to be gay. If you can draw and keep your room clean, you're gay. But if you're good at sports (little league), you might not be. He remembers the "preconceived ideas" of what it meant to like the same sex. I don't think this is too different than how the majority of people view sexuality. I've experienced this first hand, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Admittedly, I've held my own stereotypes and sometimes I still catch myself stereotyping someone's actions based on sexuality. It's such a silly idea, really. If I dress a certain way or speak a certain way, sometimes people will ask me if I'm gay. Or if I dress differently or speak differently or try different things, people will say, "there's no way you're gay." It's funny that we think we can correctly label someone's sexuality simply based on what they do or how they look. I purposely like to play with this just to get people thinking.

How do you feel about sexuality stereotypes? When was the last time you judged someone's sexuality based on the image you perceived, and what did you do when you acknowledged it?

My sisters

(Written 3/26/13)
Tonight in a class with Adrienne Viramontes, we talked about some of her research which related to her Mexican family. Naturally, I tried to find some sort to relation to my life (so that I could understand better). I grew up in very multicultural situations. My father is full-blooded Native American (Canadian?), but him and my mother split when I was young. My mother then married my step-dad, who is Mexican. With that being said, I myself am not Mexican, but I grew up in a very "Mexican" home. This has really shaped how I feel about race and ethnic identities, as well as gender issues and identities.

Now with all of that contextual knowledge, I will get into how I related this to gender issues. Viramontes commented that in Mexican families, being male gives a tremendous amount of male privilege and entitlement. I started to think about my family. When I was growing up in my home, I lived this. My sisters went through a tremendous amount of pressure and expectations. My stepfather often commented that they need to learn how to cook and how to clean. They won't get a man if they don't learn these things. They need to not 'speak up' or talk back, but rather be submissive to men, especially him. I don't speak about these things to speak poorly of him, but rather just to portray a context. I don't think any of it was malicious, but just part of his culture. With all of those things said, nothing was expected of me. I didn't have to clean and I never cooked. I never had any house chores other than taking out the trash (somehow this was a masculine chore).

Interestingly, my older sister Carly took this role quite seriously. She cooked many of our family dinners and cleaned willingly. She got to be quite good at these things. Carly is now married with four kids. My other sister, Elayna, rejected those ideas. She talked back a lot and refused to cook. She always found a clever way to snap back at my stepfather's ideas. She didn't care about having a man or building a family. Now, Elayna still doesn't take any kind of housekeeping role and doesn't plan to have kids. I find these things interesting. I think our family situations have powerful effects on our social construction. Those same circumstances also shape how we view gender and gender roles. I grew up thinking, I'm a male so I don't have to clean. I'm a male so I don't have to prepare for marriage or home life. I can't speak for my sisters, but I think Carly based her actions on how she viewed her gender.

My question is, to whomever is reading, how did your family upbringing shape how you view your gender? How has it affected where you are now in life?

On Mitchell's chapter

I grew up in a family of females, raised by a single mother with three sisters. Most of my friends growing up were females, because I was used to interacting with females at home. I learned about male identity and masculine expression through public schooling, but it was never really a part of my life. I was never into 'boy things' like sports and fishing, and I still wouldn't be able to explain how football works. As I read Elizabeth's Mitchell's chapter on her home experiences, I was reminded of my own childhood experiences.

Our stories are much different, of course. She's a female, I'm not. Not only that, but her family influenced her to serve and live a 'traditional' female life. As she left home, she broke away from that and explored her own feminine identity. In this sense, I find a commonality. Although I wasn't raised as a female nor was I pressured to enjoy feminine things, it came naturally as my surroundings were all females. I still found enjoyment in 'boy things' like video games, but I always felt more connected to females. My high school friends were mostly girls, except for the few male friends I had through choir and other activities.

When I came to college, a lot of this changed. I still had some girl friends, but not as many. I met more males and had more male friends, and now as I think about it, I notice that lately I have been expressing more masculine characteristics. Mitchell talks about her "search for a feminist self". This is somewhat political, and still outside something that I could experience, but I still see it as an identity search and an identity exploration. She feels a need to over-express herself and over-do certain actions to regain power or prove her ability and competence. This is something that I relate to, as another gender. I can relate this to Foucalt's ideas on power. Although I am male (which should allow me to 'hold' more power), I make extra efforts sometimes to prove masculinity through my expression.

Clearly, our unique upbringings and socialization experiences are different for everyone. The person that we become, I believe, is crafted through our interactions with others and how we feel about ourselves among others. This has been true for me. With that being said, I have to wonder, how do we encourage children to explore gender at a younger age? Is that too confusing for a child? Is it right?

This semester, for the first time, I am living with an international roommate. There are many experiences and situations of cultural confusion worth mentioning, but one gendered conversation sticks out. We were sitting in the kitchen eating a meal together, and as we finished eating, he told me not to worry about cleaning my dishes or the table. I thought this meant he was volunteering to take care of it himself, but that's not quite what happened. He told me, "In China, men do not clean. The women clean the house and wash dishes." This gender role isn't TOO abnormal even in Western society, but it still came across bluntly. As he invited his female friend over, I watched as she silently started to clean our mess. I felt incredibly guilty sitting there and continuing the conversation with him. I wanted so badly to get up and help, and I'm still not sure why I didn't. I warned him to be careful about expecting women to carry out those duties for him, and that many women here would be offended by his comment. I might be overreacting, and there might even be women here that agree with him, but it still was uncomfortable for me.

I would also like to elaborate on how his statement served as a 'speech act' to me (John Searle). By telling me to not worry and leave the work to the female, I sense that my roommate was attempting to bond with me and display that we are superior together as males. I also think that his statement was an attempt to spark discussion about international cultural differences with gender. He was implying that 'in China', gender roles are handled differently in some way. I think I will remember this brief conversation any time someone imposes that housewife stereotype as a duty rather than a preference. I am also wondering, is this age-old housewife stereotype still existent in today's American society? Has it changed at all and are we really any different than China?