Consumable Women

One of the most surprising results of our research was that women are targeted to be objects of consumption.  More specifically, cosmetics are marketed as “nourishing” replacements for food while food itself is used to beautify the body and skin. 

  

Food is also frequently advertised in a sexual manner with women in the advertisements, yet the ads are targeted towards a female audience.  The advertisers want women to recognize hunger by personifying it with their own bodies.

Instead of consuming food in a healthy manner, women subconsciously think that certain foods and body products will make them more sexually appealing, a good thing for advertisers trying to sell products but bad for the self esteem of women as they try to nourish only the outside of their body rather than the inside.

Welcome

This is the personal response blog of Laura Jessmore.  I am a student at the University of Michigan, taking a class in communications studies.  The Communications Department educates students about the proper use and presentation of media using programs such as Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Dreamweaver as well as scholarly research and APA citation methods.  The departmental website can be found here for more information about classes and student expectations.

Working together with three other students, I am researching the harmful effects that stereotypical media and advertisements have on women.  Although women are stereotypically represented in all cultures, I am focusing on their representation in Western cultures: the United States, Canada, and Western Europe.  My group's research question is:

What role do gender stereotypes play in advertising and how do they affect portrayals of women in Western society?

Using scholarly journal articles available through the University of Michigan's library system, my group members and I have gathered examples of such stereotypical representations.  We hope that presenting this information will help both women and men to realize the unrealistic expectations placed upon the female population.