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Jessica Dominguez Cotzajay

Professor Corri Ditch
English 113A-8AM
6 November 2014
Women Portrayed As Being Subservient
During the 1950s and 1960s, the Mad Men era occurred. During this era, men were
seen as dominant, empowered figures; and women were seen as just a useful object (Business
Insider). At this time, advertisements were released imposing a sexist perspective towards
women-mocking, stereotyping, sexualizing, etc. A common theme among these advertisements,
in the Mad Men era, was the portrayal of women being subservient to the husband. When
seeing an advertisement during this time, one could directly notice how the women was being
portrayed as subservient. Although time has passed since the Mad Men era, advertisements
now a days tend to not directly show women as being subservient. Instead, if one were to look
closely at the image, then it would be noticeable how the women is portrayed as being
subservient (for example, women being used as an entertainment for men). Advertising is one
of the most universal and pervasive channels of communication. Many of the common images
that are used are of highly sexist, stereotypical images of women (Mayne, 1). The
advertisements now a days are portraying women to be either overly sexualized or the
stereotypical housewife. These advertisements have affected women by lowering the standard of
their value. Women are being objectified by media by portraying them as being subservient to
men.

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An example of an image that portrayed a sexist attitude towards women was the Van
Heusen Ties advertisement. In 1951, the Van Heusen Company released an advertisement for
mens ties. In the image, it illustrated a man smiling with his arms against his head resting on
the bed. Beside the man, it showed a women kneeling next to the bed and serving him breakfast
on a tray. At the top of the image, it showed the words, Show her its a mans world. This
was surprising to see because it was demonstrating how the male figure was having dominance
over the women. Then at the bottom right corner it continued stating, brand new mantalking, power-packed patterns that tell her its a mans worldand make her so happy it is.
The advertisement was to promote the tie as being the significant, dominant power for men to
have. Although the man is portrayed as being arrogant and dominant, it is the women that is
more focused on. She is kneeling like a servant attending to the needs of a man. This directly
showed women being subservient. If this image were to be released today, there would be a
debate of how this image is portraying women in an insignificant manner. Although
advertisements today do not directly show women as being subservient, the advertisements have
evolved in the form of discreetly showing women as tending to the needs of a man.
The media has reshaped how women are being portrayed. As Pat Mitchell stated in Miss
Representation, Media is the message and the messenger. With media being one of the most
powerful sources of information to attain, people can easily have many different perspectives.
As the image that I represented, it portrayed the women as being subservient. This image can
conclude that women can be easily submissive to men; and that men can get a pleasure from the
women for meeting his needs. But why do people not notice these portrayals of women right
away? According to the article of Iris Mayne, The Inescapable Images: Gender and Advertising,
we [society] are so used to advertising we hardly consider what we see. Being used with what

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the media has implanted in the minds of people, one doesnt notice right away the messages that
these advertisements promote. Although these images are not as common today, women can be
portrayed as being subservient by overly sexualizing them to be used as entertainment. In other
words, women are being seen as entertainment as a form of being subservient. The messages
may be hidden within the advertisements, but it has affected how women perceives themselves
and how others view them. In Aaron Devors article, Becoming Members of Society: The Social
Means of Gender, a women is to dress, move, speak and act in a way that men will find
attractive. Society has constructed how the ideal, perfect women should be. She should rely
more on her beauty to attract attention from others. With these characteristics being established,
media has relied on these portrayals of women to be established in advertisements. These
images being shown on screen can lead a women to have a lower self-esteem. It leads women to
believe that they need to meet up to these expectations in order to be noticed.
Why are women mostly used in advertisements? The dominant female images in
advertising are of women either as alluring objects of sexual gratification or as successful
housewife [stereotypical] and mother who tends to be a beautiful happy family and has time to
be soft and gentle to her husband(qtd in Mayne). There is no in between when it comes to
women being portrayed in advertisements. They are either seen in the communal roles
(stereotypical women) or overly sexualized. In the article by Martina Infanger, Community
Sells: The Impact of Perceivers Sexism on the Evaluation of Womens Portrayals in
Advertisement, women are perceived in advertisements as gentle, shy, helpless, dreamy,
submissive, dependent, and subservient to men. The media takes advantages of these
characteristics to put in advertisements.

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How does this lead back to women being seen as subservient? Most of the time the focus
is not even on the product itself, but rather of the women promoting the object. Women in
advertisements are being used as an attention grabber. When being portrayed as the housewife,
it is evident that women are being perceived as objects that are only used to serve others. Like
the Van Heusen advertisement, it portrayed the women as a servant to her husband. When the
women is sexualized in advertisements, it may not seem as being subservient; but it is. When
men see women being sexualized on screen, it is serving their pleasures of how they want to see
women (the male gaze). Society has lowered the values of women by portraying them in these
ways.
Women feel pressured into following these socially constructed ideal women. In Gail
Dines article, Visible or Invisible: Growing Up Female In Porn Culture, she describes that in
order for a women to have power or to get attention, she needs to hyper sexualize herself to reach
that goal. Women are pressured into relying on their looks rather than knowledge to reach for
that goal in life. Although, there are women who like the idea of being sexualized because it
gives them the freedom to express themselves and to have that power they want. A women can
say that it is their body and that they can do whatever they want to it. But not all women would
agree because they all see themselves differently.
Women have not been given as much of respect as they should be given. The media has
reshaped how women are being portrayed as. Although advertisements today are not like the
Mad Men era directly displaying women as being subservient, the message can be hidden
within the advertisements. Whether the women is stereotyped or sexualized in advertisements,
in some format they are being subservient to others. Advertisements have taken the advantage of
women; but women are portrayed in an insignificant manner and have lowered values.

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Works Cited
Devor, Aaron H. Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender. Holly
Devor, 1989.
Dines, Gail. Visible or Invisible: Growing Up Female In Porn Culture. Beacon Press, 2010.
Edwards, Harrison Jacobs and Jim. businessinsider.com. 8 May 2014. Article.
Martina Infanger, Janine Bosak, and Sabine Sczensny. "Communality Sells: The Impact of
Perceievers'Sexism on the Evaluation of Women's Portrayals in Advertisements."
European Journal of Social Psychology (2011): 219-226. Scholarly Article.
Mayne, Iris. "The Inescapable Images: Gender and Advertising." Equal Opportunities
International 2000: 56-61. Scholarly Journal.
"Miss Representation." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5pM1fW6hNs. 2011.
O'Hara, Rachael Groner and John F. Composing Gender. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2014.