By Marilena Kagkaraki,
Our society has to suffer and struggle with stereotypes and inequalities day after day. Unfortunately, people are unaware of how these inequalities affect our everyday life. For example, feminism has become a synonym of manhating instead of focusing on the true meaning of equal rights and the existent male privilege, when women still have to fight for rights and opportunities. Despite the only recent victories for women to be more included and to have more control over their lives, there are still some aspects -such as in media representation- that women fall under the stereotypes of a patriarchal society. The media industry is an example to think about how women are expected to look and act like. Let us have a look at three specific examples of how various media represent women.
Example 1: Perfume commercials and the myth of the female desire
If you really pay attention to the perfume commercials, you will notice a narrative being unfold. Have a look at the advertisements for Carolina’s Herreras “Good girl”, Yves Saint Laurent’s “Black Opium” and Lancome’s “Midnight Rose”. A girl gets ready with perfect clothes and makeup to go on a night out in a big city, New York, Tokyo and Paris respectively. The goal is to go out and lure the interest of the male gaze. The female protagonists in the ads are wearing the perfume which is the reason that makes them more attractive and desired by men. We see the women walking confidently inspiring an air of female energy and strength and men being mesmerized by their presence as well as the perfume implying that this is the main reason that happens. We see subtle things that intensify the stereotype of women acting only as to fulfil the male desire in all of the aforementioned ads. For instance, in the “Good Girl” ad, the bottle has the shape of a high heel. At the same time, the opening shot of the ad is the model walking in heels and there is a close camera shot of her shoes. A high heel is one of the basic signifiers representing femininity and desire. Even the name “Good Girl” and the motto “it’s so good to be bad”, as illustrated in the ad, is again inspired by the myth that women who go through this effort are essentially “bad”. In other words, they are not the women-next-door who dress humbly so that they do not “provoke”. It is all part of the narrative and the myth that femininity and female beauty are for men to enjoy and women cannot have both and enjoy themselves, meaning being attractive and “good”. Associations between scent, sex and romance have led to objectification and stereotyping of women, particularly celebrities – treating them as the products on sale.(soniscope)
On the other hand, men also deal with the stereotype to be seen as too masculine and strong in respective perfume ads. This is why all these images are what the media want to make people believe they have to be. However, in the latest ads of Lancome “Idole” and Yves Saint Laurent “Libre” we see women presented as unstoppable, free and following their own path, which is a different narrative and closer to what a modern woman would want to really be seen as. Maybe these changes in the narrative could be seen as signs of progress for equality, since media do influence how society reflects life.
Example 2: Gaslighting women
Gaslighting refers to when someone is manipulated to feel they are being irrational.
These tactics are gendered in that they rely on the association of femininity with irrationality (SAGE journals). We often observe this tactic in abusive relationships as well. Nonetheless, in the media this phenomenon is about articles of women in the industry who are being presented as idols -meaning the best in what they are doing- and then gradually their image is being torn down. After a while, the headlines read “hysterical”, “too sensitive” etc. We have seen this story with a lot of women celebrities, such as Taylor Swift, Jameela Jamil, Jennifer Lawrence, Meghan Markle and more. When these women start raising their voices about being treated poorly the press immediately opts for a headline of “lashing out”. A lot of the times, the media have people turn against them and in a sense despise them, without an actual reason, but only because they want to presented them as “annoying”. For instance, when Taylor Swift spoke about inequalities within her record labels and rights to her music, the support was not on her side but instead she was treated as “What is she talking about, she is rich already”. Or when Meghan Markle spoke about how the British media often treated her in a racist way and seen as “not royal” again she was treated as a “lunatic, she has everything she is in the palace”. They were all made to be seen as irrational when speaking common sense, with evidence from the media themselves, fake articles and headlines. This is a very subliminal phenomenon, often not talked about when referring to sexism and stereotypes, because of people not being fully aware of it.
Example 3: The “dumb blonde”
Lastly, this is one of the biggest stereotypes made and produced by the media. This story goes way back to 1775, when there was a famous and beautiful woman called Rosalie Duthe. She was often called to a lot of parties and social occasions, as well as being wanted by a lot of painters to be their model. Her characteristic though, was that she was taking quite some time to answer questions and for the first time a blonde started being associated as “dumb”. Cut to modern times, Hollywood and America have made that stereotype prominent. The movies “Gentlemen prefer blondes” or “Bombshell” with Jean Harlow and Marilyn Monroe as the main “blondes” encouraged this narrative and the associations in people’s minds are unavoidable. Thus, TV and cinema to this day still use this stereotype to portray looks and define what is considered “beautiful”. They emphasise the beauty aspect of a person and especially blonde women, without giving any thought about other character traits. In other words, a “dumb blonde”, is what the media considers would “sell” more on TV and is what people really want to see. That is, the emphasis will be on how “dumb” but pretty a girl looks, whilst forgetting that, statistically speaking, women can be blonde, beautiful and smart and really have it all. But no, women and especially blondes cannot do that, because the stereotype is present making it easier and more convenient for people to feel better about themselves when they see that: she does have the looks, but oh she is “dumb”.
In any case, those three examples are just some parts of how sexism for both men and women still plays a massive role in our daily lives and the media are still producing them day to day. The key to start battling the phenomena is to start believing in people and characters, not men or women and accept, but mostly comprehend that people often can be versatile.
References
- “Good girl” commercial, Carolina Herrera, Available here.
- “Black opium” commercial, Yves Saint Laurent, Available here.
- “Tresor midnight Rose” commercial, Lancome, Available here.
- “Idole” commercial, Lancome, Available here.
- “Libre” commercial, Yves Saint Laurent, Available here.
- The woman of the perfume ads, Isis magazine, Available here.
- The essence of femininity: The subversive potential of the music video aesthetic in perfume advertisement, Available here.
- Taylor Swift asked for help and she was gaslighted,medium, Available here.
- The sociology of gaslighting, SAGE journals, Available here.
- The dumb blonde: Where did that stereotype even come from?, Refinery 29, Available here.
