“In Spite of Women: Esquire Magazine and the Construction of the Male
Consumer”
Much of society’s perception of women today, according to Kenon Breazeale in the piece, “In Spite of Women: Esquire Magazine and the Construction of the Male Consumer”, is based upon the attempts to construct women as consumers. Breazeale claims that much of society’s one-dimensional view of women has everything to do with how consumerism has been viewed primarily as a feminine attribute. Using an in-depth analysis of the early years of Esquire Magazine, Breazeale uses an academic, stoic tone in an effort to remain impartial, although it is rather apparent that she feels strongly against the magazine and all it stood for during this time period. Breazeale effectively
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Breazeale describes the magazine’s way of appealing to men by degrading women and femininity, making them out to be nothing but shoppers - and poor shoppers, at that. Breazeale writes, “Esquire gave advice to counter the looming rhetorical prop of a woman who is doing things all wrong” (72). Women were described as the shoppers who were not buying the right food, clothes, home decoration, and even alcohol; Esquire did their best to portray women as lavish spenders who were not smart enough to purchase the right items. Women were accused of overvaluing appearance for their own comfort when it came to their home decoration, and women apparently just do not like good food and that is why they do not cook as well as men, according to Pine in 1939 (73). The most frequent insult of feminine incompetency were their drinking habits. Breazeale writes, “If left to their own devices, it is darkly hinted, women prefer ‘fluffy, multi-colored abominations”, or worse, do not like to drink at all” (73). Breazeale’s description of Esquire Magazine writing primarily of women in a degrading way in order to speak to their male audience positively correlates with the main argument of her piece and easily convinces readers that this inaccurate portrayal of women as poor shoppers still effects how society views women …show more content…
Breazeale explains, “It had to be unequivocally clear that women were the natural objects of its readership’s desire” (75). In the eyes of Esquire Magazine’s audience, it was just as bad to be a woman as it was to be a homosexual person, so Esquire’s founders had to ensure that their would be no doubt in their readers’ minds that this magazine was created for straight males only. Esquire’s use of erotic imagery of women promoted women as nothing but objects; while half of the magazine insulted women on their tastes, the other half portrayed them in inappropriate, sexual ways solely for men to look at. Esquire Magazine even used inappropriate cartoons and voyeurism as a way to assert the male dominance. Esquire would run articles of women naked in the restroom surprised by construction workers, burglars, or firefighters, or there was an accidental loss of clothes on the street; whatever the situation, all featured a woman in surprise and a male initiating a look that the female does not necessarily want (78). Esquire’s point, according to Breazeale, is that men can look at women however they want and whenever they want, and that they are simply an object of the male gaze. This idea contributes to Breazeale’s main argument because in modern times (when this article was written), women being fantasized
Before men’s magazines become a part of popular culture this realm was dedicated to the female consumer, but in 1933 Esquire set out to change that stereotype. Kenon Breazeale’s purpose in writing ‘In Spire of Women’ is to make people understand that men’s magazines, specifically Esquire promote a sexualized image of women solely for a man’s satisfaction. In doing so Brezeale argues that Esquire contributed to the growth of the male consumer by making women an object of the male fetish that serves as only an annoyance to society. Breazeale is able to argue that Esquire is a rejection to the power of femininity by explaining how Esquire adapts to a consumer-based culture where it emphasizes the difference between masculinity and femininity
When I first started skimming over Karen Horney, (2017), "The Distrust between the Sexes" the first thing that caught my eye was the fact that Horney used quotation marks on a specific word or phrase. As a reader, this immediately draws my eyes to those specific words or phrases. This also lets her audience know that those specific words or phrases are important to the telling of her story. One example of quotation marks Horney, (2017), uses is "you never really loved me" (p.502). This is a very powerful statement, so I can see why it is in quotation marks because most of have probably used this phrase towards the opposite sex. Wither it was in an argument or at the end of a relationship when our emotions are running we all have probably used the phrase "you never really loved me".
This essay has compared and contrasted two magazines aimed at the female readership, and they are called Bitch Magazine and Cosmopolitan, with regards to their front pages, content and articles, their ideals of beauty, and feminism. Cosmopolitan is a magazine that gives harmful ideas to women about their sexuality, their health and happiness, and how it is supposedly dependent upon whether or not they fit into the unrealistic beauty standards that this magazine possesses. In divergence, Bitch Magazine teaches women to love themselves and to support each other no matter what. Bitch encourages women to understand that they are absolutely perfect just the way they are and that there is no need to change or suppress their given identities.
In the past few years, advertisement has changed significantly, and with it bringing many changes to our current society. Susan Bordo, a modern feminist philosopher, discussed in her article “Beauty (Re)discovers the Male Body” how current society has changed starting with Calvin Klein’s advertising campaign that showed men wearing nothing but underwear. Bordo argues how men are becoming the subject of the gaze, just as women were for centuries. This argument of the gaze is especially pronounced in John McTiernan’s film The Thomas Crown Affair, which focuses on two main characters, a man named Thomas Crown, who is a billionaire Manhattan financier, and a woman named Catherine Banning, and insurance investigator who is investigating Crown’s robbery of the 100-million-dollar painting, the “San Giorgio Maggiore Soleil Couchant”. The film addresses Bordo’s modern feminine and masculine gaze to target a wide range of adult audience.
Betty Friedan is the author of the famous book, which credited the beginning of a second –wave feminism in the United States. Friedan’s book begins with describing “the problem that has no name” to women who had everything, but were unhappy, depress and felt like they had nothing. Women are expected to be happy by buying things, a new refrigerator, house, best-selling coffee, having the right make-up, clothes and shoes, this is what the Feminine Mystique symbolized. Something that women wanted but can never have. Furthermore, society in present day is full of advertisements everywhere we go in TV, books and on the radio. The young generation as well as adults get trap in a fantasy world full of perfection. Women always want to have a thin waist, the most expensive make-up and purses, it’s all based on stereotypes. In her book, Friedan mentions that the average age of marriage was decreasing compared to increasing birthrate of women. Moreover, Friedan has been nit-pick at for focusing on the middle-class women and for prejudice against
Society has evolved significantly from its initial gender stereotype of the black and white images of the hard-working husband and the loving, domestic housewife. According to Raewyn Connell in his book Gender (2009) he says that men are or at least should be the ‘producers or breadwinners’ and that women should be the ‘consumers’. However, it was around the middle of the 20thcentury during the onset of the feminist movement when the idea of the perfect woman was featured by glamorous magazines and television. Yet, there has been much controversy about the ways in which the mass media represents women and how they have been affected by these images. In the patriarchal society of the period, there was a decrease in strong women being emotionally and mentally stable, intellectual and sexually attractive. Building on that premise, this paper will examine and analyse the different stereotypical roles the female characters of Desperate Housewives portray, how they are viewed by the audience, and what impact these gender constructions have on society.
This phenomenon suggests that all women are required to remain loyal wives and stay at home mothers who aspire to achieve perfection. In “Mirrors of Masculinity: Representation and Identity in Advertising Images,” Jonathon E. Schroeder and Detlev Zwick claim that “highly abstract connections are made between the models, a lifestyle, and the brand” resulting in a need to associate these products with a specific way of living (25). Instead of simply displaying these luxurious bracelets and handbags, the ad creates an elegant environment through the incorporation of sophisticated items. The women are dressed elegantly in dresses and blouses, adding a conservative element to the ad. The ad presents a rather stereotypical image of the very successful heads-of-household type mothers who have brunch with other elite women in an exclusive circle. Everything from the merchandise they sport to the champagne glasses down to the neatly manicured fingernails provides insight into the class of women presented in this ad. The body language of the women strips the image of the reality element and instead appears to be staged or frozen in time. This directly contributes to the concept of the gendered American dream that urges women to put up a picture-perfect image for the world to see. Instead of embracing individual struggle and realities, the American dream encourages women to live out a fabricated
American culture is filled with stereotypes that puts out false message about gender roles. These derogatory roles puts images out about the cultural views held about certain positions dominated by men. What was originally created for encouraging consumerism is now being used to promoted mass media productions. The negative connotations produced by mass media portrays nega...
First, Kilbourne’s research should be praised tremendously for bringing to light the unhealthy impression of true beauty in today’s culture. Kilbourne challenges the audience to reconsider their viewpoints on advertising that is sublime with sexual language. The evolution of advertising and product placement has drastically changed the real meaning of being a woman. According to the movie, every American is exposed to hundreds and thousands of advertisements each day. Furthermore, the picture of an “ideal women” in magazines, commercials, and billboards are a product of numerous computer retouching and cosmetics. Media creates a false and unrealistic sense of how women should be viewing themselves. Instead of being praised for their femininity and prowess, women are turned into objects. This can be detrimental to a society filled with girls that are brainwashed to strive to achieve this unrealistic look of beauty.
Betty Friedan’s book, The Feminine Mystique, explains the mind set of society in the 1960s. She writes that the women of the ‘60s were identified only as creatures looking for “sex, babies, and home” (Friedan 36). She goes on to say “The only passion, the only pursuit, the only goal a woman [was] permitted [was] the pursuit of a man” (Friedan 36). This mind set, this “feminine mystique,” is clearly shown throughout the show Mad Men. The side effect of the feminine mystique hurt all the women of this time. Matthew Weiner shows how this conception of the “ideal woman” hurt all of his lead women. The consequences are shown in the two women who bought into the idea, Betty and Joan, and the one who re...
In Karen Horney's "The Distrust Between the Sexes," she attempts to explain the problems in the relationships between men and women. She writes that to understand the problem you must first understand that problems stem from a common background. A large amount of suspiciousness is due to people's intensity of emotions.
Gentlemen Quarterly, like many other magazines, implements the gender binary onto its readers through its advertisements and articles. They market solely toward male and female people, dividing into “...suits and dresses” and “action movies and chick flicks” (Wade, p. 5) and dictating specifically what is feminine and what is masculine. Men’s fashion trends are centralized on suits and hair grooming, all of which fall under the masculine category. On the other hand, the female section doesn’t seem to dictate fashion but rather advice and celebrity news, which contrasts it’s sole purpose as a clothing magazine. In this sense, GQ obeys the “gender rules” of what it means to “appear and behave as a man or a woman” (Wade, p. 61) but there are few
Gender stereotypes and biasses exist in media. In most situations, women are associated with more negative stereotypes and their portrayals can “undermine their presence by being “hyper-attractive” or “hyper-sexual” and/or passive” (Smith, 2008). In The Wolf of Wall Street women are objectified. They are treated
Stephen Morton in his Gayatri Spivak promotes Simone de Beauvoir’s saying, therefore he point outs,
Knobloch-Westerwick, Silvia, and Gregory J. Hoplamazian. “Gendering the Self: Selective Magazine Reading and Reinforcement of Gender Conformity.” Communication Research 39, no. 3 (June 2012): 358–384. doi:10.1177/0093650211425040.