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Media Tactics and Female Stereotypes

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I. Superiority and Inferiority Definition - Three common tactics used to establish superiority and inferiority are size, attention and positioning. For example, the man may take up more physical space in an ad than the woman. In addition, the ad may draw attention to the man and push the woman into the background. Also, a woman might be seen in front of a man, but looking up towards him. This example successfully demonstrates the use of superiority and inferiority by the distinct body language and positions of the man verses the woman. The man is of course standing over the woman, literally depicting women as being beneath men. He is standing upright in a powerful athletic stance, while tightly griping the bottle and martini glasses showing off his power and seriousness. The woman is just lying on the floor beneath him in a position of pure submissiveness and powerlessness. Her extremely revealing bikini top and sunglasses indicate she is relaxing or taking the sun, which can also be portrayed as careless and un-alert. The way she is lifting her glasses seems very unnatural. Almost too perfect, her fingers are very skinny and delicate looking. Since she is lifting up her glasses to look at him you can conclude he is interrupting her. This implies she is on his schedule doing what he wants to do with no choice or thought for herself. This Gucci ad easily demonstrates the key aspects of superiority and inferiority. The first thing brought to my attention was the woman again, positioned beneath the man, looking up at him while he is paying her no attention. When you look at the photo the first thing that pops is his mans eyes. His face and body is taking up a significantly larger portion of the photo then the female. He is a physically fit man with an angry seductive look on his face. Her facial expression is eager as if he is her one and only desire. The tilting of her head keeps her off balance and at the mercy of him and her surroundings signifying submission. There is no clothing shown in the photograph and with the two models being so close in proximity it is automatically viewed as a sexual photo. Sex and desire should be and is a mutual infatuation. This advertisement shows the exact opposite. She is clearly more infatuated with him, it almost looks like she is begging for him but he has zero emotion. This validates the ideas that men are authoritative and detached while women are passive and emotional. II Dismemberment Definition Women's bodies are often dismembered from her face and treated as separate parts, perpetuating the concept that a woman's body is not connected to her mind and emotions. This ad is extremely offensive. It has complete focus and emphasizes on this woman’s behind and her back. No other body part is pictured, specifically referring to her face. She is faced

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