The Objectification of Women

Jean Kilbourne does her homework! The ads compiled in her article “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurts”; Advertising and Violence are in your face and undeniably offensive. The women labeled as bitches, the grabbing and groping by men, and worst yet, the children and pre-adolescent looking women. Kilbourne does not only compile all these ads together for shock value but for a connection to national statistics of rapes and the sexual harassment of women across the country. Kilbourne ties the statistics or personal narratives in different ways.
A Smirnoff Vodka ad pictures “a wolf hiding in a flock of sheep, a hideous grin on his face.” The first thought to mind is “beware a wolf in sheep’s clothing”. The ad blatantly is stating you can be a wolf in sheep’s clothing if you are drinking their product. But who would want to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing while drinking vodka? Kilbourne then hits the reader with statistics of sexual assault cases that involved alcohol by the perpetrator, victim, or both. It cannot be ignored what this ad was explicitly telling it’s consumers.
I don’t want to focus mainly on Kilbournes facts on the objectification of women, but I’d like to explore objectification of men too. In the article Kilbourne speaks of males commonly portrayed as bumbling idiots or as sexual objects as well. I think this point is valid but quite as concrete as her points for female objectification. True, men are objectified in the media as well, but what is the tie to male sexual assaults or harassment? I don’t mean minimize the problem, I just think the objectification of males is minimal compared to the objectification of women. There is indeed a difference.