WST200 Midterm Assignment

Part I:

Source One: http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/print/2007/4/absolut-pregnant-man.jpg

In Absolut Vodka's "In an Absolut World" advertisements, the company asserts their power by claiming to be able to make a person's dreamworld. In this specific advertisement, they are portraying the ideal world for a woman. Although gender roles have evolved over the years, stereotypes still exist. Women have the expectation to be the care-givers because they are biologically built to carry children and are assumed to have that motherly instinct. On the other hand, men have the expectation to be the bread winners and thus the head of the household. In this world, the men have the upper hand. In the dream world this company creates, the gendered roles switch. Men are the care-givers and the women are the bread winners. The power shifts in favor of women. The woman in the image is significantly happier than the man who has a rather stern look on his face. We assume the man feels a burden with the heavy weight of child breaing while the woman is happier with her choice to wear whatever she wishes and drink whatever she wishes. This can be seen as a spin on the nuclear family. There is a mother, father, and child in what we assume a white upper middle class suburban neighborhood based on their appearances. The woman labors at the workplace while the man presumably labors at domestic chores. Are the terms "mother" and "father" the same although the roles have switched? Do men finally feel what women have felt for centuries? Perhaps, in an Absolut world.

Source Two: http://adsoftheworld.com/files/images/absolutperfect.preview.jpg

Another one of Absolut Vodka's advertisements in their "In an Absolut World" series is this image. The woman seems to have ordered the "perfect" male who is strong, smart, romantic, talented and professional. It seems to portray the iamge that women aren't capable of being independent and seek the company of a man who can be what she perhaps lacks. The image does not show how women can be strong on their own. The power is still in men's hands because they are the ones who women are searching for. On the other hand, the image also treats men as commodities that can be ordered and delivered to the front door.

Source Three: http://www.highsnobiety.com/uploads/RTEmagicC_nascover.jpg.jpg

Controversy was stirred up when the image of Nas' shirtless back appeared on the cover of his album. The lash markings on his back are in reference to slavery and the mistreatment of slaves by their owners. This is part of labor history in the United States. Many slaves wer transported from Africa to the Americas as commodities, not even thought of as humans, yet rather as mere objects. The power was not in the slaves' hands, but the hands of the owners who were the cause of the lash markings. This image is a bold statement of the history of African Americans in the United States, how this history has laid foundation for our country, and where we have come thus far.

Source Four: http://www.rebeccawilsonlundin.com/TWTPortfolio/Benetton.jpg

The powers between light and dark are linked in this image by Benetton. The image shows a balanced power between black and white under the forces of the law. The cuffs on the hands of these men assert the equality between the two. The uniformed clothing of the two men gives a sense of one-ness despite the pre-existing color binaries. Overall, this print advertisement asserts the equality in humanity despite the binaries created thus far.

"The Social Construction of Gender" (WL 24-27)

In the article "The Social Construction of Gender" (WL 24-47), Lorber presents to us the notion that gender is so intertwined in everything we do that we sometimes don't even catch ourselves in the act of "gendering". Gendering is deeply-rooted into our lives, not through genes, but through social interaction. Yes, I admit that I participate in gendering, whether I'm aware of it at the time or not. The occasional baby shower shopping or even birthday gift shopping are just a few of the examples of my personal experiences with gendering. Usually, I'd be on the look out for items that have certain gender qualities to it (like blue for boys, pink for girls).

I kind of can't help that I'm so prone to gendering. I think it's become sort of automatic for most people. It's what we've been taught and what we've grown up with. I know many have had the experience of being told that they are not acting like their gender. For me, my mom would often tell me "That's unladylike, stop it" when I was doing something she perceived as "tomboyish". In the Lorber piece, she refers to gender as a "social instution". This social institution is quite oppressive in itself. Lorber writes:

"In social interaction throughout their lives, individuals learn what is expected, see what is expected, act and react in expected ways, and thus simultaneously construct and maintain the gender order." (pg. 25)

What is the keyword throughout this particular idea? Expected. Expectations can somewhat be overbearing. As a woman, some classic expectations include acting feminine, dressing in feminine ways, and being submissive counterparts to men. I can feel the expectations bearing down on me. There's pressure coming not only from society, but there's pressure coming from myself too. Not being able to keep to the expectations somewhat makes me feel awkward at times, like I'm doing something wrong. After reading that particular quote from Lorber's piece, I thought this poem I read in English class:

Barbie Doll
by Marge Piercy

This girlchild was born as usual
and presented dolls that did pee-pee
and miniature GE stoves and irons
and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy.
Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said:
You have a great big nose and fat legs.

She was healthy, tested intelligent,
possessed strong arms and back,
abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.
She went to and fro apologizing.
Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs.

She was advised to play coy,
exhorted to come on hearty,
exercise, diet, smile and wheedle.
Her good nature wore out
like a fan belt.
So she cut off her nose and her legs
and offered them up.

In the casket displayed on satin she lay
with the undertaker's cosmetics painted on,
a turned-up putty nose,
dressed in a pink and white nightie.
Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said.
Consummation at last.
To every woman a happy ending.

The poem reminds me of some of the ideas that Lorber presents in "The Social Construction of Gender". The poem's beginnings show how the little girl is taught gender. She is presented with all these effeminate things like stoves and irons at a young age. Additionally, she's advised to act in certain ways (coy, hearty). Socially, her interactions mold her into the young woman she is, feminine in her ways, but the poem kind of brings out the question-- is it all too much? She's become, as the title of the poem states, like a barbie doll, and eventually the poem ends in a sort of grave way. Yes, gender roles are changing, but does this social construction of gender still exert too much expectation?