Many people are scared to say the F-word, much less
associate themselves with it. It can be
considered offensive and hateful, among other things. However, we shouldn’t be afraid of the
f-word—everyone should give the f-word a chance, or at least tolerate. So, here it goes... Feminism.
Feminism is not a dirty word. Feminism is not an offensive word. Feminism does not equal hate; feminism is
trying to eradicate hate. Feminism does
not equal women over everything; feminism is striving to equal women AND men in
everything, together.
A Brief History of Feminism
Throughout history, feminism has gone through a few waves,
each with different goals than the last.
We have first-wave feminism in the early 20th century focused
on women’s suffrage, second-wave feminism from the 1960’s to the early 1990’s focused
on reproductive issues and sexual freedom, and the ongoing third wave feminism
focused on reclaiming beauty defined by women’s standards and the
representation of women in the many facets of life.
So, where are we today?
It is easy to see how the world has changed since the first
or even second waves of feminism. We
experienced a technological boom, making technology a vital and intricate part
of our societies. Communication, as a
result, is happening at faster speeds than ever before, making it easy and
accessible for nearly everyone to interact with the world. Thus, media and advertising were created, and
have influenced everyone’s lives, in even the slightest of ways.
However, media and advertising are a double-edged sword;
while they allow for better business, growth, and easy ways to make information
about products or services known, the media has often enforced bad stereotypes
and even helped uphold these negative views.
One group that has suffered from their portrayal by the media and
advertising is women. Feminists have
recognized this and are working towards making their criticisms of media and
advertising known, as well as encouraging others to join their efforts. Therefore, I have focused my online community
on feminists in regards to advertising who are working to end the use of gender
stereotypes and the disproportionate sexualization of women as marketing tools
in the advertising world.
Focusing on a community
The feminist community has a large online presence, with no
real center. Even by narrowing it down
to advertising, this community doesn’t rely on one online source for a
center. Blogs are the most commonly used
by the feminist community, whether they’re large blogs, such as Jezebel or
Feministing, or smaller Tumblrs, such as Ad-Busting. For the purpose of this analysis, I chose to
focus on one larger blog: Jezebel.
Jezebel is a large blog with many contributors who write
about varied topics, such as celebrity gossip, current events and news, media
and advertising, and any other interesting happenings in the world. However, the way that Jezebel writes about or
reflects on their topics has a more critical angle—more often than not it is a
feminist angle.
Badvertising
As varied as the entries on Jezebel are, I came across a tag
on an article—“badvertising”—which was just what I was looking for. More often than not, Jezebel contributors are
critiquing advertisements and offering their reflections as to how they reflect
on women or minorities. A typical
Jezebel article would start out with a simple explanation of what the
advertisement was and where it was found:
It then continues to point out why the advertisement is
offensive, wrong, etc.:
And finishes with a critique of the company/agency itself
and its promotion of unequal standards (when compared to men), stereotypes, and
gender roles.
As you can see, articles of this kind often find ways to
critique the advertisements in a contained, not necessarily angry manner, but a
very critical way. Clever words or
sentences are often used, as well as the occasional name-calling/questioning of
other people’s morals.
This last bit prompted an examination—why do these articles
often contain name-calling and a question of character? In it’s essence, name-calling is a fairly
simple and blunt way to say to someone that they’re not “okay” with you. Think back to when children would name-call
on playgrounds—what they were basically trying to make the other person feel
was not necessarily exclusion, but call to their attention what they’re doing
wrong. Now, name-calling as a child has
a different meaning. We often think of
bullies when we consider children, but the language on Jezebel, as well as
other similar websites, have, in a way, reclaimed the name-calling practice and
are using it towards the people they feel have done something morally
wrong.
Communication between members
Underneath the articles is the comments
section. As Jezebel uses somewhat
controversial language and often times examines controversial subjects, the
comments section is moderated and comments are submitted for review before they
are allowed to be displayed.
However, this does not mean that the conversation isn’t
allowed to flow freely. In fact, this is
the part of the community where it does most of its interacting with other
users easily.
The comments often include witty remarks or further critique
of the advertisement/agency/company.
Often times, people will reply to the article with their own
personal experiences, and many times other users will add onto this:
Other times, the comments will be a further review of the
topic—and may even disagree with the author:
It’s important to note that, while some comments are
disagreeing with the original author or maybe even agreeing with the
advertisement being critiqued, these are still allowed. Dissenting opinions are not turned away or
discouraged at Jezebel. Rather, it
allows for further analysis of the issues at hand and, when done tastefully,
can influence the opinions of other members participating in the
conversation.
Secondary Audience
While I am focusing my analysis on the Jezebel community (and even further focusing it on Advertising), a secondary audience exists. Jezebel is a community that relies on social sharing to spread their articles--and in turn, spread awareness on their community's goals. Often times, people who aren't even part of the community speak on a topic themselves, and it may not even be on the website. However, this just shows that the Feminist cause on advertising is impacting everyone's lives, not just the self-proclaimed feminists and other people who identify with the group.
For example, in a series of disturbingly sexual advertisements, Carl's Jr. has attracted a lot of attention. These advertisements often use famous models and "sexy" women, such as Kate Upton. While this video was featured on a Jezebel article (which included a good discussion in the comments), the discussion continued on the actual Youtube video page. While they weren't all wholesome comments that furthered the feminist cause, some of them realized just how degrading these commercials are:
The fact that people are actually recognizing this proves that the secondary audience, although it may not necessarily identify with the community, exists and is somewhat active.
****
When people think of feminism, most likely they think of women using their stilettos to climb over the bodies of mutilated men, holding hands with their butch counterparts on their quest to ensure the downfall of men. This is, amazingly, untrue. Feminism is promoting equality for everyone--not just for females.
Feminism targets advertising because of the unfair disadvantages that advertising imposes on female bodies. Advertising upholds many false stereotypes that have harmed and continue to harm women by being viewed as a sex symbol, a housewife, or an inexperienced car shopper based on the fact that the woman has a vagina.
Jezebel is just a part of a vast online community targeting advertisements, as well as many other feminist issues, to continue to strive toward equality. Hopefully someday, this community will cease to exist--not because of a lack of success, but because it succeeded in making women--and men--equals.
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