Response to "Center of Attention"

“Men are foregrounded in commercials. The gender composition and imagery in commercials reinforce the idea that sport is a man’s world. Women almost never appear in commercials unless they are in the company of men. Though women are mostly absent from sports commentary, when they do appear, it is most often in stereotypical roles as sexy, masculinity-validating props, often cheering the men on.” (479)

(Messner, Michael A. “Center of Attention: The Gender of Sports Media.” Rereading America. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2004. 477-87.)

Its no surprise that sports is stereotypically associated with males. Every little boy is exposed to some type of sport at a young age and are introduced into the world of balls, bats, courts, fields etc. Boys play sports and girls do ballet. It is a stereotype in American since the beginning of time practically. Therefore, everything associated with sports is directed towards the male population including commercials and logos. Almost always you will hear or see a male sportscaster delivering the latest stats of a player. Rarely will you hear the voice of a woman delivering the same message. During a football or baseball game will you rarely see a commercial for any female product. Some think this is sexist and discriminatory. However, advertisers are just going to promote their product to the targeted audience watching that program at that time. Beer companies are known for advertising their drink during a sports game. Sports are a way for most men to relax and drown out the rest of the world. They don’t want to be interrupted from their “zone” by a commercial for birth control pills. Coming from a female perspective, I don’t think its sexist or discriminatory that there is rarely a female sportscaster. I just see it as a common thing and just as another fact of life.

Response to "From Beauty Rediscovers Male Body"

“We live in an empire ruled not by kings or even presidents, but by images. The tight buns, the perfect skin, the firm breasts, the long, muscled legs, the bulgeless, sagless bodies are everywhere. Beautiful women, everywhere, telling the rest of us how to stand, how to swing our hair, how slim we must be. Actually, all of this flawless beauty is the product of illusion, generated with body doubles, computers, artful retouching.” (Bordo)

(Bordo, Susan. “Beauty (Re)discovers the Male Body.” Ways of Reading. Eds. David
Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005. 151-68.)

Bordo hit the nail on the head with this quote. Society doesn’t care about what is going on in the world. It is too involved with images and fitting in with everyone else. Everyday we are consumed with advertising and subliminal messages in magazine ads, billboards, and TV shows on how we should look and act. Society displays a perfect image of a woman with the perfect body, skin, hair, clothes etc. Everyday we are faced with these images that subconsciously take a toll on us. We are brainwashed with these images that we eventually try to imitate them. Usually this just leads to women trying to copy a certain style or get the hottest haircut. Sometimes unfortunately it can lead to negative consequences. Some women take it to the extreme and can hurt themselves. Eating disorders develop in women who take the idea of being skinny and looking like models very seriously. What women do not understand is that even the models have some work done on their photographs. There is no such thing as a “perfect” model or body. Women are constantly striving toward this unattainable goal and can spend their entire lives trying to obtain it.