Social life is saturated with messages about which sex is dominant and about how men and women ought to behave. In particular, all forms of the mass media, from television soap operas to the lyrics of popular songs, tend to emphasize fairly traditional gender stereotypes.

Perhaps the most insidious of these media presentations is the one commonly offered in advertising. Women are typically portrayed either as sex objects, in an attempt to market various products to men, or as domesticated housewives, in order to market home-maintenance products to women.

Market research has shown that one of the most effective ways for advertisers to reach a male audience is to associate a product, however remotely, with a seductive smiling female. The sexuality of women is thus exploited by having glamourous models stroking new automobiles, cradling bottles of whiskey, or being sent into raptures by the odour of a particular after-shave.

Advertising directed at women, on the other hand, shows females delighted beyond measure at the discovery of a new instant soup, or thrilled into ecstasy by the blinding whiteness of their wash or toilet bowl. In fact, the vast majority of television adds that use women models are for kitchen or bathroom products.

When men and women appear together in adds, the men are always shown as taller than the women. The women never hold the advertised product in a firm grasp, and are rarely seen giving the men instructions.
The eyes of the men in adds focus on the product or on important people, but the eyes of the women focus on the men, whom they gaze at or cling to in apparent admiration. In fact, what is remarkable about advertising is how little its gender stereotypes have changed over the past quarter century. Men are the voice of authority on 80 percent of television commercials, including those directed at women.

At the core of the inequality of men and women is the difference in their earnings. Unequal earnings are a constant reminder of the broader social inequality of the sexes. "He who pays the piper calls the tune."

Dear Phoenix 94,

OLO is 'On line opinion.' So what's yours?

Foxy what's with the off topic moving target? That's not your normal style.

I disagree with your interpretation of some things and think that you are taking a very one dimensional view of the issue, the adds you describe exist but so to do the ones where the woman is in control and the male is a bumbling buffon.

Pay differences exist but depending on who you believe they may have more to do with career choices than a gender based division of power.

Your points about power are a very one sided portrayal of the issue which ignores completely other indicators which might paint a different picture - deaths in the workplace, expected lifespan, suicide rates etc.

Both women and men have suffered from roles and gender stereotypes imposed on them by society. Things that probably have had some relevance in the past but have much less now.

We need to work together to open up opportunities for both genders to undertake roles traditionally the domain of the other, not to ignore the issues facing one gender as we focus on the percieved benefits available to that gender.

R0bert

Dear Robert,

I'm not having a good day ...I've just been told at work - that I'm
not going to receive the promotion that I was promised a year ago for the job that I've been 'unofficially' doing all year. They want me to continue doing the job, but they aren't prepared to recognise it -
'officially.' (As in more money - and correct title). I love my job, but ...

Dear Robert,

I forgot to add:

Men only call themselves 'feminists' in the hope of getting a more intelligent root.
Kathy Lette.

Hey Foxy. Sorry to hear you got done over. Time to start looking around for something else?