Final Project-Gender Stereotyping

We live in a culture that has a long history of striving for equal rights among all individuals. But what kind of advancements have we made through advertisements?

For my final paper, I want to discuss some of the gender stereotypes that are present within advertisements.

Commercials and advertisements are a vast source of gender stereotyping because they are adapted to the specific recipient and are a “reflection of the recipient.” However, are advertisements today still reinforcing gender stereotypes that women and men have fought for so long to suppress? When you look at ads, you will notice that they may reinforce gender-specific roles such as that women should be in the kitchen or that they always seek to look beautiful and perfect or that they only serve as sexual pleasures for men. On the other side, men are portrayed as seeking power and muscle and only have the desire to drink, watch sports and seek sexual pleasure from women.

One interesting aspect that I want to include in my paper is the differences in the way men and women look at advertisements. I found a study that discussed the differences in which men and women view ads. For example, what part of the image will women and men look at first? What will women and men look at for a longer period? What kinds of ads are more appealing to each gender? Some of the results they found were pretty interesting.

My biggest issue is probably limiting down the topic to 10 pages. This is a large issue that can be discussed in a variety of ways. I want to discuss the major issues in detail and not just skip over some important points. I was thinking that I might limit the topic to maybe just television advertisements instead of advertisements in general.