Kilbourne Blog Post

Blog 10/21/12 Kilbourne

                The article “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt” Advertising and Violence by Jean Kilbourne is about the dangers of sex in advertising. She writes about the role these advertisements play in women’s lives. Advertisements for almost any product have used sexually explicit ads that are degrading to women in order to promote their product. Unfortunately these ads have a lot of unintended consequences, for instance they promote objectification, and violence toward women.

                Kilbourne uses many examples to explain how depicting women as sex objects is dangerous. She states that these ads promote violence towards women because they objectify them, making it easier for men to abuse women. She says that “Turning a human being into a thing, an object, is almost always the first step toward justifying violence against that person. It is very difficult, perhaps impossible, to be violent to someone we think of as an equal, someone we have empathy with, but it is very easy to abuse a thing” (585). Kilbourne makes a good point that even though the ads themselves don’t directly cause violence, they justify it, and embed it into society. These ads give the message to men that it is ok to harm women, and it gives the message to women that they are less than men and to expect to be abused.

                Kilbourne acknowledges that men are often objectified as well, and it isn’t ok, but it also isn’t as dangerous. The reasons for this are when men are objectified there never in any danger, and it holds little bearings with reality. When women are objectified it is more frightening because it is often true. The connection these ads have with reality are uneven between men and women, women are almost always the ones depicted in a way that is dangerous and far too close to reality.

                I personally agree with Kilbourne completely, women are unjustly treated as being inferior to men in every aspect of society. Even though I believe that society today has made great strides in the way that women are being treated. Unfortunately we still have a long way to go, women’s rights are still an issue today and are constantly being addressed in current politics. Recently the Lilly Ledbetter act was passed which makes it illegal for an employer to pay a woman less than her male coworkers for the same job. An issue that is often spoken about in the news today is issues regarding a woman’s right to choose what she is allowed to do with her body in the regards of healthcare, contraceptives, and abortions. There are controversial issues today regarding a woman’s rights, but there has never been political issues regarding a man’s rights as it relates to healthcare, and I don’t ever expect to see such a debate. I believe that these issues do relate to what Kilbourne is saying because it is primarily male politicians trying to make these decisions for women. These politicians objectify women, much like ads depict them. It’s unfortunate to see how society treats women at this point in history and believe that everyone should do their part to make a difference.