Velo, Paulene Joy M.

GEN 002 Understanding the Self

AM 27

Advertising and media promotes gender role stereotyping and sexual objection

Gender role stereotyping is a generalized view or preconception about attributes or

characteristics, or the roles that are or ought to be possessed by, or performed by women and
men. Example of wrongful gender stereotyping are the failure to criminalize marital rape based
on societal perception of women as the sexual property of men, and the failure to effectively
investigate, prosecute and sentence sexual violence against women based on, e.g., the stereotype
that women should protect themselves from sexual violence by dressing and behaving modestly.
The Filipino values – “women nurture, and their advantages are in housework,” compared with
“men provide, and their place is in the labor market,” – lead to discrimination against those
women who do want a career.

Sexual objection is the act of treating a person as a mere object of sexual desire. Objectification
is most commonly examined at the level of a society, but can also refer to the behavior of
individuals and is a type of dehumanization. Ariel Levy contends that Western women who
exploit their sexuality by, for example, wearing revealing clothing and engaging in lewd
behavior, engage in female self-objectification, meaning they objectify themselves. While some
women see such behavior as a form of empowerment, Levy contends that it has led to greater
emphasis on a physical criterion or sexualization for women's perceived self-worth

We are now living in the 21st century which we can access everything easily, our beliefs,
practices, morals and values changes day by day through the web. Media is the tool to deliver
information and one of it is through Advertising. Advertisers frequently use gender roles to
promote products. On one hand, using gender roles in advertising can improve brand evaluations
and sales (Windels 2016 Windels, Kasey (2016), On the other hand, such representations of men
and women can create or reinforce gender stereotypes, causing a disadvantage for women or
promoting idealized standards (e.g., beauty ideals) that are impossible for consumers to achieve
(Pounders 2018 Pounders, Kathryn (2018). The media influence a wide array of their users’
perceptions, attitudes, values, and behavior. Hence, gender roles in advertising (as a part of
media) not only influence brand-related attitudes and behavior of consumers but can also
contribute to non-brand-related and social effects.

Of the many influences on how we view men and women, media are the most pervasive and one
of the most powerful. Woven throughout our daily lives, media insinuate their messages into our
consciousness at every turn. All forms of media communicate images of the sexes, many of
which perpetuate unrealistic, stereotypical, and limiting perceptions. Three themes describe how
media represent gender. First, women are underrepresented which falsely implies that men are
the cultural standard and women are unimportant or invisible. Second, men and women are
portrayed in stereotypical ways that reflect and sustain socially endorsed views of gender. Third,
depictions of relationships between men and women emphasize traditional roles and normalize
violence against women. In general, media continue to present both women and men in
stereotyped ways that limit our perceptions of human possibilities. Typically men are portrayed
as active, adventurous, powerful, sexually aggressive and largely uninvolved in human
relationships. Just as' consistent with cultural views of gender are depictions of women as sex
objects who are usually young, thin beautiful, passive, dependent, and often incompetent and
dumb. Female characters devote their primary energies to improving their appearances and
taking care of homes and people. Because media pervade our lives, the ways they misrepresent
genders may distort how we see ourselves and what we perceive as normal and desirable for men
and women.

Advertisers support media, and they exert a powerful influence on what is presented. To
understand the prevalence of traditional gender roles in programming, magazine copy, and other
media, we need only ask what is in the best interests of advertisers. They want to sponsor shows
that create or expand markets for their products. Media images of women as sex objects, devoted
homemakers, and mothers buttress the very roles in which the majority of consuming takes
place. To live up to these images, women have to buy cosmetics and other personal care
products, diet aids, food, household cleaners, utensils and appliances, clothes and toys for
children, and so on In short, it is in advertisers interests to support programming and copy that
feature women in traditional roles. In a recent analysis, Lana Rakow (1992) demonstrated that
much advertising is oppressive to women and is very difficult to resist, even when one is a
committed feminist. Women's role in the home and men's role outside of it are reinforced by
newspapers and news programming. Both emphasize men's independent activities and, in fact,
define news almost entirely as stories about and by men ("Study Reports Sex Bias," 1989).
Stories about men focus on work and/or their achievements (Luebke, 1989), reiterating the
cultural message that men are supposed to do, perform. Meanwhile the few stories about women
almost invariably focus on their roles as wives, mothers, and homemakers ("Study Reports Sex
Bias," 1989). Even stories about women who are in the news because of achievements and
professional activities typically dwell on marriage, family life, and other aspects of women's
traditional role (Foreit etal., 1980).

There’s a misconception that gender-positive advertising translates to brands prioritizing women

at the cost of men that it asks to give women the platform and get men off the stage. This isn’t
the case. Gender equality is defined as the realization of equal rights, responsibilities, and
opportunities between men and women. Gender-positive advertising is simply the public
expression of those equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities. It’s the promotion of gender-
inclusive messaging, which gives the interests, needs and priorities of both genders equal
consideration. It’s going against age-old gender stereotypes embedded in families, societies and
cultures to give women and men an equal share of the platform. In a manner of speaking, it’s
bringing women out of the kitchen and unburdening men from toxic masculinity. In the past two
years alone, several countries achieved 87 legal changes towards gender equality. In January
2018, Iceland became the first country to require proof of equal pay from companies. The United
Kingdom, Denmark and Finland are also taking similar measures. In South East Asia, Vietnam is
creating an enabling environment for women in the workplace through its Labour Code Reform.
The Philippines, on the other hand, has ratified an expanded parental leave bill, which
encourages a more equal distribution of childcare and economic opportunities among Filipino
families. The female wealth market is also expected to rise to USD18 trillion. They control a
majority of global household spending and a projected consumer spending of around USD40
trillion in 2018, with the female demographic making a huge number of purchase decisions—
particularly when it comes to fast-moving consumer goods. Consumers, in general, are also
increasingly looking for companies that affect a positive change in society. There is a strong
demand for businesses to deliver a progressive, gender-positive message from all around. For
example, popular consumer brands have seen more branded impact and engagement with their
non-stereotypical and progressive ads, 1 such as #SharetheLoad and Real Beauty campaigns.
Brands that deliver progressive ads have been associated with higher purchase intent for all
consumers, especially for women. These data and examples tell us that diversity and gender
positivity in advertising is no longer just a moral imperative. It isn’t just a business imperative.
It’s the new business priority.