To start off Women’s History Month, I would like to explore one way that conceptions about gender are expressed in the media. As an anthropology major, I have to take one sociolinguistics course, and this semester I decided to take Language and Gender. We were assigned to watch a documentary entitled The Codes of Gender, and what I thought would be a boring piece of homework actually opened my eyes to some of the ways gender stereotypes about women are circulated through advertising.
The documentary centers around the ideas of renowned anthropologist Erving Goffman and his book Gender Advertisements. I’m not going to get into too much detail, but basically Goffman explains that when we really look at something that seems so natural to us, we start to see how unnatural it really is. Not only that, we start to see the very intentional messages ingrained in the object of observation. In Gender Advertisements, Goffman looks at advertising as an aspect of society that influences our perceptions about the nature of men and women—particularly in a way that makes women seem dependent, submissive, and weak.
- Feminine Touch
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This aspect of advertising focuses on how women are often seen as passive and powerless, letting the environment control them. When women are, say, holding something in an advertisement, it is not with a firm grip but rather with a delicate cradle. This can also be manifested in women tracing the outline of a product or faintly touching their own body. It is soft and gentle, implying that women on their own cannot do the heavy lifting and need someone to provide them protection from the outside world.
- Ritualization of Subordination
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Women are often pictured in positions that make them vulnerable to their environment. They are lying down, their neck is extended, or their body is positioned in a way that clearly makes them off balance. These arrangements imply not only general vulnerability but also sexual availability, portraying women in a submissive light. One aspect of this technique that really got to me was referred to as the “bashful knee bend.” I always tend to pop my leg when I am taking a photo, but this documentary helped me realize how that pose plays into this ritualization of subordination. Being off-balance in that way implies a certain degree of powerlessness and susceptibility to outside forces.
- Licensed Withdrawal
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This refers to the way in which women are often portrayed as not paying attention or not being able to be in control of their emotions. Female models will be pictured looking off to a distant point or looking past the other people in the picture. They might be shown laughing uncontrollably or making emotive facial expressions. The implication here is that women are oblivious, relying on the good will of others or relying on someone else (a man) to protect them. Furthermore, it implies that when women are paying attention, they are still made vulnerable by their excessive emotions.
- Infantilization
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This is probably the most problematic out of all of the techniques I have listed so far. Infantilization refers to how adult women are made to resemble young girls, the implication being that women never left girlhood behind. Again, this shows a certain level of vulnerability, but it really plays up this idea of dependency. What is so bad about this is that it is often tied with sexualization (think: the sexy school girl). In this way, not only is the idea of girlhood sexually fetishized, but also younger girls themselves are sexualized as a result of this connection. Side note: For a good commentary on the sexualization of young girls, I recommend watching Cuties on Netflix.
I realize that some of this may sound way blown out of proportion in the quick summary I gave of each of these advertising techniques. The idea isn’t that these are direct weapons to demean women, but that advertisers tend to play on preexisting notions of gender to sell their products. Thus, advertisers perpetuate problematic gender stereotypes, which creates a hyper-ritualization effect. I also acknowledge that there has been a big push in the advertisement industry over the last ten years to portray women, of all races, ethnicities, and body types, in a powerful way. I merely think it is important to be aware of the way that advertising reproduces our ideas about gender and the way we reproduce the ideas about gender that advertising puts forth. If we ever want to move toward a more gender-equal and gender-inclusive society, we first must acknowledge these problematic images.