Hanadee Abu-Zayed

Melissa Dempsey

English 1200, sec 070

Project II

8 April 2013

                                            Blood, Bruises, and Broken Bones in Advertisements

               Violence against women has been rooted from the media, where women and sex are devalued in advertising. The first step is viewing women as objects, making it easier to violate them and eventually leads to violence and/or rape. What I mean by an “object” is that they are expected to strive for perfection, have no say in anything, act a certain way and be submissive to men. Whether you are flipping through a magazine, surfing the web, watching television or listening to a song there is an extremely high chance it will deal with sexualized violence. This portrayal of women as sex objects and victims of violence in the media influences the way women are viewed and treated in society, where exploitation and mistreatment is acceptable.

            Rape can be used as a way men show aggression to show that they are greater and more important than women. There are many examples of advertisements that give an idea of rape, such as the infamous and extremely offensive Dolce and Gabbana advertisement, which is featured below. Five men are surrounding one woman, as one of them is holding her down forcefully. This scene is supposed to appear as a violent gang rape and as you look at the advertisement, you have no idea what exactly is being promoted. “It's a given that fashion magazines — like other forms of mass media — often aim to shock. Because they like the attention. Because they like the ad dollars. Because they like the rebellious reputation that shocking us squares confers” (Sauers). Advertisements, like this one, negatively influence the men in our society causing them to form hyper-masculinity, which is a form of gender beliefs that includes the need to be tough, aggressive and have dangerous attitudes towards women. The masculinity shown in advertisements where the man has total control over the girl reinforces cultural discrimination between the sexes. Men who also do not have much power, socially or economically, take advantage of this roughness and physical violence as ways to obtain power and respect.

            Even celebrities promote sexualized violence through music, such as “Paparazzi” by Lady Gaga. In the beginning of her video, she is getting sexual with a man, and as he is kissing her, he suddenly attacks her and pushes her off the roof. Of course, she has injuries and is disabled throughout the video, but she is put in a provocative outfit, and as the video goes on, injured and dead women appear but still looking glamorous, showing skin or put in a sexual position. This video is a perfect example of sexualized violence that the media puts out for everyone to see. Instead of releasing a message that will help prevent violence with women, Lady Gaga shows that things like these can happen but at least we will still look hot and glamorous! Not a very great message, right? This is only one example from hundreds of others! Instead of the media representing positive relationships between a man and woman, they influence society into thinking men are superior where they have the ability to gain control of the women in a sexual and violent way.