The Destruction Of Women In Jean Kiilbourne's Society

Society categorizes us based on the little things like what kid of job we have, what kind of car we drive, how much money we make, how much we know, etcetera. We are grouped together and broken down into a level of class we might not exactly want to be in. Advertising can open up a whole new series of events due to the fact that everybody has their own way of interpreting things, so one might be mislead by the information that is given. In Jean Kilbourne’s essay, she talks about how women are vulnerable to violence through advertising because of their sexuality and femininity. Women make it easy to get the idea that they are attractive, and due to the sexual nature of the female, it makes men feel that they can take advantage of women because

She works as a waitress, housecleaner, and retail sales, where she is only getting paid less than minimum wage and being scheduled inhumane hours, having no time or money to spend on herself. She soon then comes to realize that living in poverty is not as easy as it looks, and they are just barely making enough to get by. As humans, we try desperately to fit in with everybody else and make our own identity, but because society views a group of people based on how they are portrayed through advertisements and how they act, we are known by our social status, instead of our true selves. One never develops a real sense of identity because they might feel like they are not being treated fairly, and they the have to go with their class’s

The woman then disappoints the man, and then the man might treat her like Tylenol and “fire its [ass] and switch to Aleve” because men were brought up that women are not real people and they can be bought and then the woman is that man’s property (Ehrenreich 270). Men are allowed to treat women the way that advertisement prevails them, but if a woman treats a man that way, then it is wrong. Men should protect their woman, because that is the way that they should be treated, not like some slave that is only there for your entertainment. Women should not be treated like they don’t have a voice and can’t make anything of themselves. Men are like the upper class in society because they have the money to buy whatever they want, where women are the lower class they are objectified and beaten down and dehumanized, basically making women feel like they are not really a person anymore.