Sex, Stereotypes and Beauty:
The ABCs and D of Commercial Images of Women
This presentation was developed by the NOW Foundation

[A]

• Advertising promotes a standard of beauty that doesn’t come naturally (nor cheaply) to most women.
• Commercial images of women are hazardous to your health and wellbeing
• Ads promise that long shiny hair, smooth glowing skin, pearly white teeth, and plump full lips are all within your reach.
• Your every body part can be improved with the right products:
• Creams will beautify your feet
• Lenses will change your eye color
• Implants will enlarge your breasts
• You can even “rejuvenate” your vagina!

But is it really possible to buy the perfect face or the perfect body?

Even models aren’t perfect. Makeup, lighting and airbrushing create the fantasies we admire, as you can see in a revealing video from Dove soap’s campaign for real beauty.

Because the mainstream beauty standard is so pervasive, so unreachable and so unnatural, advertisers know their products will never be obsolete. And women will always feel inadequate.

“Thin is in” has been the official fashion mantra for many decades

We are bombarded with images of incredibly tall models with incredibly flat stomachs, visible hip bones, and long slender legs. For some advertisers, women can never be too skinny.

How can the average woman live up to this ideal without risky dieting, extreme exercise or liposuction?

Advertisers often present women as sexual exhibitionists, performing for the benefit of the male gaze. These images make women think of themselves as always on display.

Women’s bodies are used to sell countless products to men:

Shower gel
A night out at the club is marketed using visual “come-ons” from sexy models.
Advertisers rely on naked women to add allure to all kinds of products, often including phallic images such as cigars and swords.

The beauty and fashion industries love to push “edgy” themes like drug abuse
Women are objectified when they’re turned into the product itself, just another “thing” to be bought and consumed.

Even images in mainstream publications border on the pornographic. Women ate dehumanized when offered up as isolated body parts, oiled up and ready for men’s consumption. One men’s perfume maker depicts women with phallic symbols between their legs and mouths like a blow-up doll.

Women who appear to be in danger or distress are common themes in fashion ads. Violence is glamorized when victimized women are presented as gorgeous and sexy.

One Dolche and Gabbana ad, which depicted a gang rape about to occur, was removed from the market after public outcry.

[B]

• Boys to Men
• How do boys and men learn to see women?
• As a series of body parts?
• As a reward, a symbol of success and luxury?
• It’s not unusual to see ads picturing women in positions that are submissive to men, women portrayed as accessories, as passive possessions of men, Or as men’s saucy servers.

Women and men are frequently portrayed in sexually suggestive situations, where the woman appears ready and willing to please. The male fantasy of multiple women is played out in many ads.

Male objectification of women is accepted, even expected. A woman’s value is measured by her ability to attract male attention. Male bonding through the practice of belittling women is often put to use in ads aimed at men.
The stylish and accomplished man is entitled to a sexy and bikini-clad woman waiting for him at home.
Even the nerdy guy can get some action if he knows what to do (supply alcohol or mojito gum…)

What images do men see of themselves?

Look through men’s fashion magazines and you’ll find symbols not only of physical beauty but of strength, dignity, individuality, and other admirable traits not often linked to women.

• Men and boys are typically presented as proud, in control, and fully clothed!
• Images of men depict them as bold, adventurous and in motion.
• Men are styled and framed to imply power and status.
• Athletic prowess and age convey authority.
• There’s room for both polished and scruffy in a man’s world.

[C]

• Celebrity Obsession
  The media’s obsession with female celebrities looks and personal lives sends a message to all women…a woman’s life is public property, especially her sexuality and reproductive status.
  Who’s too skinny? Who’s too fat? Who’s had plastic surgery? Who looks pregnant?
  Celebrity magazines are littered with ads for diet products, often hawked by the stars themselves.
  Stars like Tyra Banks, known for their looks and swimsuit bodies, are pressured to stay thin. They can’t let the paparazzi catch them looking like they eat!
• Breast obsession:
  US Magazine devoted a four-page spread to celebrity cleavage. Female pop stars are now routinely marketed as sexual commodities, starting at ages barely past puberty. Monitoring their subsequent scandals and downfalls is part of the process. What do the average woman and Paris Hilton have in common? Women are supposed to be sexy, but if they flaunt their sexuality or have too much fun, they’re labeled sluts. Anna Nicole Smith spent her life trying to fulfill our society’s elusive beauty standards and sexual ideals, dying young like her ideal, Marilyn Monroe.

Are male and female actors portrayed differently?

• One magazine, two actors:
  The man (Robert Downey) is fully clothed, active, joyous.
  The woman (Christina Ricci) is half-naked, passive, vulnerable.

[D]

Media messages and images can contribute to:

• Low self-esteem
• Body Image issues
• Eating disorders
• Compulsive exercise
• Cosmetic surgery risks
• Accusations of being a slut of a tease
• Blame for being targeted with sexual assault
• Dehumanization of women and girls

Many women rarely see themselves reflected in our popular culture. We need to see more:

• Women of color and different ethnicities
• Women of different sizes, shapes, ages
• Women with disabilities
• Active strong women and girls
• Smart, successful, in-control women
• Anyone who does not fit the “ideal” description of wat a girl/woman should be
• Men in non-traditional roles

Some advertisers are incorporating diverse, positive, refreshing images into their campaigns:

• Advertising’s concept of beauty is expanding to include large, weighty women.
• Successful women are portrayed more often.
• The sexes are being presented in nontraditional roles: Women as adventurous, men as nurturing.

BUT IT’S STILL NOT ENOUGH!

• Ending the tyranny of beauty standards and sex stereotypes would change women’s lives.
• Freedom from beauty standards can mean:
• Confidence, pride, celebration of all kinds of shapes, sizes, skin tones, ages…
• Less stress; jumping off the beauty treadmill can be relaxing.
• Less money spent on beauty products, diet gimmicks, spray tans, surgery…
• More time to focus on school, work, hobbies, athletics, politics, community, personal fulfillment, spirituality….
• More time to build for the future, develop skills that will last.

What we all need to do:

• Talk back to advertisers that objectify girls/women
• Talk back to media executives
• Talk back to retain outlets
• Stand up for ourselves and other women
• Share this message with other women/girls AND men/boys
• Participate in NOW Foundation’s Love Your Body campaign.

You MUST see the wonderful advertising images that go with this powerful text at
http://loveyourbody.nowfoundation.org/presentations/SexStereotypesBeauty/flash.html