Gender Ads.Com: An incredibly thorough examination of gender issues in advertising/marketing

I frequently use this blog for acumulating info for current and future sections of Gender and Pop Culture (sort of like my own social bookmarking service).

Because my “real” social bookmark accounts (i.e. clipmarks.com and stumbleupon.com) resemble my blog, Defying Gravitas far more than the Women’s & Gender Studies/Feminist content of the course for which I am trying to ‘not forget’ information I’ve found )…

Back to my original reason for posting…

I found GenderAds.com through XY.com (a site devoted to the study of men, masculinities, and gender from a feminist perspective) and because the paragraph that precedes the quoted material (see below, under link to GenderAds.com), specifically references the National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA), I read through the site author’s work and it’s relevant to my course, quite comprehensive and well done (though hasn’t been updated for over a year).

Gender Ads.Com:
“Why This Project addresses the reasons behind the formation of the site. How to Read Ads is an overview of some of the major approaches to the analysis of advertising, including semiotic analyses. Constructions of Gender is a representation of some of the major associations of gender and advertising, and is a good place to begin your study of the topics. Side by Side also offers an introductory approach to the subject, and I have collected side by side comparisons of men and women from major spreads in magazines. Controversy features some of the criticisms of the project that have been provided by viewers and students. Ambiguity addresses the idea that advertising, because of its ambiguous visual and literary messages, is difficult to interpret. Gender Landscape is a study that involves the public displays of billboard advertising, and it makes the point that gender ads are not limited to the “private” screens of print media. The Hall of Shame feature presents some of the most troubling images from the archive, but, in reality, any number of images could be placed on that page. How to Reference is a brief description of how you can reference or link to this site for research purposes.”

1. BACKGROUND
What’s New?
Why This Project?
How To Read Ads
Constructions
Side By Side
Controversy
Ambiguity
Gender Landscape
Hall of Shame
How to Reference
Comments
Links to This Site

2. FEMALES IN ADS
Roles
Strippers
Normalized Women
Exotics, General
Exotics, WOC
Exotics, Surreal
Feminine As Difficult
As Dolls
As Naggers
Body As Tool
Nymphomania
As Stupid
Consumers
As Nature
Bodies Only
Politics
As Violent
Faux Power
Female Masculinity

3. MALES IN ADS
Males, General
Male Sex
Violence Ag. Males
Males As Culture
Phallic
Male Fantasies
Normalized Males
As Stupid
Male Heroes
Men, In Control
Male Objects

4. TOGETHER IN ADS
Competition
Marriage
Violence
Death
Lesbians
Gay Men
Dual Objectified
Hetero Relations
Sex and Ads
Sexual Violence

5. OBJECTIFICATION
Body Parts I
Body Parts II
No Subject
Sex Object
Dehumanized
As Literal Object
No Product Connection

6. VISUAL MEANS
The Gaze
Wetness
Reductionism
Landscapes
Captured/Controlled
Linguistic Violence
Fear
Legs as Framing
Written On
Contorted

7. SPECIAL FEATURES
Billboards
A&F
Rejected Ads
Video Games
Men’s Magazines
Man Show
TV Commercials
Progressive Ads
Mock Ads
UK Gender

8. OTHER TROPES
Kids and Ads
Ageism
Racism
Military Ads
Global Ads
Values Ads
Social Class Ads
Miscellaneous Ads

9. RESOURCES
Bibliography
Links
Taking Action
Educator Resources

Inserted from <http://www.genderads.com/>

Much ado about Nothing- the "nothing" is now a newsworthy topic in its own right?

Much ado about Nothing- the “nothing” is now a newsworthy topic in its own right?

Who hasn’t pointed out the lack of fame-producing credentials that are absent from Hilton’s celeb-cred-lacking resume…

Yet, the coverage continues…even when the coverage is on the fact that they are covering an individual whose newsworthy status is beyond the reporters’ comprehension (which, today, doesn’t exactly illuminate the state of Paris moreso than it does illuminate the absurdity of the reporters covering her “celebutante status”).

If anything Paris is a great lens into the US (dare I say it) populations great love of demonizing that which they oh, so desparately desire, yet simultaneously deplore, and -(somewhere…lest you be fooled by the “Sweet 16-ers” on MTV…lurks the reality-stinging stuff that no TV shows would dare be made of … P …that the voyeur will never be her/his subject…there is no “Paris” rung on the career ladder (or the full-o-shit American Dream either) yet, they still keep covering her…


With news outlets and the paparazzi dutifully assembled outside of the L.A. County Correctional Facility in Lynwood, California, the unintentional queen of all media Paris Hilton made her grand exit in front of a live, international television audience early Tuesday morning.If history so chooses to refer the socialite’s exodus as a circus, then Hilton is the undisputed ringmaster — leaving those of us in the media looking like clowns. Seriously.I’m pretty sure Hilton is the only inmate that has ever been released from prison with such a spectacle. Sashaying down the walkway as if it were a red carpet, Hilton gave high-fives to the gathered crowd and ran into the arms of her mother, who gave her what would have been a heartwarming hug if she had bothered to actually get out of the SUV she was riding in. No matter. The crowd ate it up. Photographers, both still and video, bum-rushed the vehicle to try and get a closer look.

Thank you Chomskyite, from Knowledge and Valor

Thanks to Chomskyite, for contributing to: Model Behavior: Analyzing the catwalk and cat-fights, as well as the racial, gender, and body issues

surrounding America’s Next Top Model

Chomskyite’s blog can be found by clicking the link below:

Knowledge and Valor: “Knowledge and Valor

The will to know the truth, and the strength to face it. A leftist view of the world, politics, culture and entertainment.”

The Latest from the 27 bloggers!

Tools for White Guys who are Working for Social Change

Tools for White Guys who are Working for Social Change: “Tools for White Guys who are Working for Social Change … and other people socialized in a society based on domination

Chris Crass outlines practical strategies for minimising everyday domination.

1. Practice noticing who’s in the room at meetings – how many gender privileged men (biological men), how many women, how many transgendered people, how many white people, how many people of color, is it majority heterosexual, are there out queers, what are people’s class backgrounds. Don’t assume to know people, but also work at being more aware – listening to what people say and talking with people one on one who you work with.

2a. Count how many times you speak and keep track of how long you speak.

2b. Count how many times other people speak and keep track of how long they speak.

3. Be conscious of how often you are actively listening to what other people are saying as opposed to just waiting your turn thinking about what you’ll say next. Keep a notebook so that you can write down your thoughts and then focus on what other people are saying. As a white guy who talks a lot, I’ve found it helpful to writing down my thoughts and wait to hear what others have to say (frequently others will be thinking something similar and then you can support their initiative).

4. Prac”

Defying Gravitas-Summer 07 Planning- Webkinz site and store locaters

Planning for Summer 2007 ideas
Webkinz
Secondlife (the secondlife jr site marketed as educational)
furby
the tamagachi thing
v-migo dog
Firefly
Verizon Cell Phone for Kids

Defying Gravitas- Jessie’s stream of (sub)consciousness: Logan’s Webkinz Introduction- Picassa’s Web Album

Nope, still a part of the big system of pop culture…no professional immunity here!

Defying Gravitas- Jessie’s stream of (sub)consciousness: Logan’s Webkinz Introduction- Pictures from Easter Morning —
Just click “The Logan” to continue (seeing more pictures, that is) )

Thank you to Peter from Sizefriendlytv.com

On Nicole’s Grey’s Anatomy Blog…

“Blog Post #3 – Is there any reason to analyze Grey’s Anatomy for gender issues?”

Peter said…

Interesting discussion here – and great words for our favorite – Miranda Bailey. She’s always in charge and with a big heart she only shows when “appropriate”.

Overall the show seems fair on gender. We monitor shows for cast compostion and find most episodes with a decent gender balance. From our point of view, it’s people of size who don’t get fair representation.

Miranda’s pretty much our only hero and she rarely gets a major role – we can only hope.

- peter from sizefriendlytv.com

Peter also has a blog entitled Size Friendly TV

Thank you for leaving a comment on Nicole’s blog!

What the snobs don’t understand

Talker from Salon.com’s “The Fix” section on arts and entertainment:

What reality can teach us: If you can get past the fact that the author of the pro-reality-TV story in the new Atlantic Monthly, Michael Hirschorn, is also an executive vice president at VH1, a channel with its fair share of reality programming, the piece does put forward an interesting thesis. Hirschorn calls reality TV “the liveliest genre on the set right now. It has engaged hot-button cultural issues — class, sex, race — that respectable television, including the august ‘CBS Evening News,’ rarely touches. And it has addressed a visceral need for a different kind of television at a time when the Web has made more traditionally produced video seem as stagey as Moliere.” (“The Case for Reality TV,” Atlantic Monthly)

The article can be found here (but keep the above information in mind when reading because the article is from The Atlantic Monthly, but was highlighted with the above information on Salon.com):

What the snobs don’t understand

The Case for Reality TV

by Michael Hirschorn

…..

his past January, I had the pleasure of serving as official spear-catcher for a CBS Evening News report on the increasing levels of humiliation on American Idol and other reality-TV shows, including some on my channel, VH1. The segment featured snippets of our shows I Love New York (a dating competition with an urban vibe) and Celebrity Fit Club (which tracks the efforts of overweight singers and actors to get back in shape, and, by extension, reignite their careers). “VH1, among other things, showcases faded celebrities who are fat,” said the CBS correspondent Richard Schlesinger.

New Fool

Latest commmenter is “New Fool“

Thank you for commenting on

The Popular Demonization of Britney Spears

at:

http://britneylikewoah.blogspot.com/
This site is a part of

Blogging in College: The Gender & Pop Culture Blog Experiment

-Jessie
(the professor) for class blogging on Gender & Pop Culture @ TCNJ