RR "Two Ways A Women Can Get Hurt"

       In the text, "Two Ways A Women Can Get Hurt: Advertising and Violence," Jean Kilbourne discusses how using sex in advertising is objectifying towards women. She believes that this kind of mass media advertising will cause not only self esteem and body image problems with women, but also teaches men that taking physical and sexual power over a women is acceptable. She claims that "sex in advertising is pornographic because it dehumanizes and objectifies people, especially women (576)". She talks about the psychological effects sexual advertising has on society and how it is creating more violence and attributes to the lack of respect that women receive in work, school, and everyday aspect of life.
      Kilbourne further discusses how advertising is controlling how we let ourselves be treated in relationships, and in turn, how men will treat us. She says that male violence is encouraged as in ads of Old Spice and Fetish. This is teaching men to value "sexual intimacy  more then emotional intimacy (577)" and "ridicules men who are not in control of their women (578)" this type of behavior is the typical "bad boy" image that young girls find attractive, when in reality it general lead to an unhealthy relationship. In a time where divorce is more common then a lasting marriage, and a society where assault and rape cases have been blamed on the victim, you can clearly see the correlation between the advertising and what it can lead to.
     I find the section of the text that talks about very young girls being held responsible for their sexually aggressiveness very disturbing. I don't know if you can blame the media for a court making a terrible ruling, but I do agree that featuring pre-adolescents in sexually charged advertisements does not help.
     In my own experience with this, I have grown up with the idea that I had to be thin and pretty to get ahead in our society, or to be truly loved by a man. I don't just blame the media for leading me on to believe these terrible notions, but I can personally connect with the self abuse and demeaning ideas that advertising can lead to in a young persons mind. My problem with her written is that she only sees the ads as one sided (women being the victim) and she only mentions the rare, some of which are disgusting, ads. I believe a lot of sexual based ads can empower women due to their femininity and strength. The idea of sex in advertising is a powerful tool, and although I do believe what she discusses is extremely important and relevant, I unfortunately don't think its something we can change in mass media.