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Oscar De Jesus
Professor Ditch
Eng 114A
6 November 2014
Advertising Affects Gender Performance
While social media has grown in American society, sexuality has integrated itself into the
realm of commercial advertising, and the culture of Western societys mainstream media has
developed into a web of sexual, unrealistic trends. From the image I have selected to generate
this argument, the picture displays what appears to be a face with two different appearances of
eyes: one male and one female. However, for the entire image, there appears to be a red and
black smudges all over the face almost as if it were smudged red lipstick and black eye shadow.
Most importantly, the photos caption call us ugly to sell us shit indicates a powerful message
about media and advertising. Due to the amount of influence that our media has on a great deal
of our population, some men and women might push themselves to live up to the models we see
in the media today. While a portion of consumers are put under pressure to conform, a failure to
do so might result in psychological effects like eating disorders, developing low self-esteem, and
even erratic, violent behavior. Moreover, the new style of advertising is an impractical method
that has an effect on a significant amount of advertising viewers.
A common issue that has been growing over the years in young women is eating
disorders. Why this happens is questionable, but a possible culprit can be advertising in social
media. Common advertising portrays the characteristics of female beauty. As a result, it has
become an expectation to like women with these attributes: hourglass body, slender, symmetrical
face. So, beauty becomes the only value among women, which can lead to changes of social

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norms within a community. But what happens when women are unable to fit into the social
norm? Eating disorders might result from the level of womans self-acceptance. Anorexia is a
serious medical condition within a portion of the female population. According to a study
performed by Ohmler, Jacobi and Taylor, a large number of women were interested in the
improvement of physical figures program. Unfortunately, the procedure must have pushed some
women away due to the loss of corresponding patients (Ohlmer, Jacobi, Taylor). The sudden loss
of patients in their study could have resulted from a feeling of insecurity. Shockingly enough, the
number of women that were interested in the weight management program, 1494 patients, is
shocking alone. Gender expectations are influenced through media advertising. Some women
take flawless women in a cheeseburger commercial to an extreme level of insecurity. In an
article by Ruth Hubbard, she indicates how young girls unknowingly conform to characters that
are praised by society; they attempt to become these figures. One isnt born a woman, one
becomes a woman (Hubbard 22).
Among males, a notable majority of them desire to become masculine. Social norms
indicate that males must possess one critical trait in order to be considered a man: masculine
body type. Commonly, this is what society looks for in males due to the exposure of masculine
advertising. Some males take extreme measures to fit into the demand of a masculine body
figure. In fact, it is a false assumption for anorexia nervosa to be exclusively for females.
Manorexia has been on the rise for young males. According to Tom Wooldridge and Pauline
Lytle, approximately 25% of the clinical population is male (Wooldridge and Lytle 1).
These authors might be trying to imply that some young males might attempt to become
masculine through anorexia. For some males it could be a critical process to lose every single
ounce of fat in order to be considered masculine. Manorexia is not a result of psychological

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disturbance, but it is a possible outcome for an easy path to masculinity. Through a perspective
of gender performance, it is an overlooked issue that can propose some critical information on
eating disorders within the male population.
Self-esteem among some women coexists with a single characteristic: beauty. For some
woman, beauty might mean everything to them. It is the only form of acceptance within a
community or being able to fit into the social norm. As mentioned earlier, some women see to it
that becoming a woman is a process of acquiring beauty. Women, who are unable to fit in, suffer
the consequence of being an outcast or considered not beautiful. While self-esteem is affected,
drastic results will follow the lack of self-acceptance. A low self-esteem can push women to take
measures such as resorting to anorexia as a solution. Emily Pisetsky states that eating disorders
are serious mental illnesses and can have poor long-term outcomes (Pietsky 1). The measures
taken to deal with forlornness lay amid dark consequences. In this case, anorexia can develop
into a lethal issue in some women. These developments include psychological issues or even
suicide. The study by Pietsky analyzes the rate of suicide in women with eating disorders.
Conclusively, the mortality rate is connected to eating disorders (Pietsky). The culprit who is still
at large remains among our advertised media today. The unrealistic, sexual models that are paid
to emit the idea that beauty consists of dramatically high expectations. A single commercial can
have drastic mental consequences on a single individual of either sex.
Young males find comfort by fitting into the social norm of masculinity. The commercial
advertisements of male actors with a masculine body and unrealistic performance of dominance
impacts a majority of young males. From this form of media, some males desire to become
masculine, but are unable to achieve their unrealistic standards. As a result, young males tend to
force each other into the social norm through impractical methods of friendships. This links back

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to a possible cause of manorexia but digs deeper into the cause: bullying. Jackson Katz believes
it to be a box of characteristics that define the typical man. Some young males attempt to close
other males into this box by using extreme tones of language or bullying (Katz). A few
ramifications of refusing the pressure can lead to a low self-esteem. Like women, males will turn
to alternatives for becoming masculine or losing weight. In this case, anorexia, which is alien to
the male population, is a shocking form of weight loss found in men. This eating disorder is at
risk of developing into a larger issue. Collectively, this process occurs from the medias ideals of
what males should be like, which leads to another issue with the medias display of violence and
dominance.
Mostly noticeable in males, violent behavior among men has been linked to the amount
of violence we see on televised broadcasts (Katz). Along side masculinity, dominance is praised
in Western media as well. These traits have been marked as key characteristics for male actors.
Milk commercials can turn into a man beating up a gang of men while holding a cup of milk.
Violence becomes a matter of playing the game monkey-see monkey-do. Paul Haridakis argues
that violence as a form of imitation can lead to a number of adverse effects, such as
imitationSeeing violence as acceptableand distorted perceptions of actual crime and
violence (Haridakis 227). A negative feed of influence regarding violence leads to a significant
change in behavior among men. The statistical analysis by Kats in Miss Representation II
displays a shocking truth; males are responsible for a majority of crimes (Katz). Media has made
a significant impact on the way men should perform in society. Almost every commercial,
advertisement or television show will display the main male character to be masculine and
dominate through violence. Young males grow up and experience these characters as if they are
commonly accepted figures. Furthermore, it results into the integration of this trait among

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children and males. On a different perspective, there are groups who abide by a lifestyle of living
against the norm: gender nonconformists.
Gender non-conformity is going against the social norm by living a lifestyle of free will.
Some people may assume that these people arent accepted in society. Although this is a
common mindset among Americans, groups like LGBTQ embrace their choice to go against the
stereotypical masculine male or skinny female. However, what some individuals might be
unaware about is the correlation between sexual orientation and mental health. Several recent
reviews conclude that homosexual and bisexual men and women report poorer psychological
well-being than heterosexual men and women (Reiger and Savin-Williams 611). After
thorough research, the two authors concluded that even gender non-conformists might also suffer
the same consequences of those who conform to the social norm. Conformity towards gender
performance doesnt always lead to psychological or mental issues, but even an opposing
population will suffer the same consequence. So, living against the expected gender performance
will not necessarily guarantee any form of safety from social harassment or, to an extent, mental
trauma.
The influence that social media has on men and women are overlooked due to the
gargantuan reputation the media holds. It would be impossible to completely impose a limitation
to a widely accepted source of entertainment, so the solution is complex but worth a shot: be
more aware of what we are watching, censor excessively violent programs and raise the
awareness of the correlation between the media and psychological issues. The fault cant be
entirely directed at the media because we subtly undergo the influence and stand by as it
happens. Moreover, we must treat this as a large-scale problem that we must approach carefully
in order to remedy the solution in a rational, nationwide form.

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Works Cited
Haridakis, Paul M. "Men, Women, And Televised Violence: Predicting Viewer Aggression In
Male And Female Television Viewers." Communication Quarterly 54.2 (2006): 227-255.
Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 Nov. 2014.
Hubbard, Ruth. Rethinking Womens Biology. The Politics of Womens Biology. Rutgers The
State University. Rutgers University Press, 1990. Print
Newsom, Jennifer S and Jackson Katz. Miss Representation. Sausalito, Calif.: Roco Films
Educational, 2011.
Ohlmer, Ricarda, Corinna Jacobi, and Craig Barr Taylor. "Preventing Symptom Progression In
Women At Risk For AN: Results Of A Pilot Study." European Eating Disorders Review
21.4 (2013): 323-329. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.
Pisetsky, Emily M. "Suicide Attempts In Women With Eating Disorders." Journal Of Abnormal
Psychology 122.4 (2013): 1042-1056. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 Nov. 2014.
Rieger, Gerulf, and Savin-Williams, Rich. "Gender Nonconformity, Sexual Orientation, And
Psychological Well-Being." Archives Of Sexual Behavior 41.3 (2012): 611-621.
Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.
Wooldridge, Tom, and Lytle, Paline."An Overview Of Anorexia Nervosa In Males." Eating
Disorders 20.5 (2012): 368-378. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.