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Guadalupe Jaimes
Professor Ditch
English 113A
05 November 2014
The 21st Centurys Dilemma
Since the beginning of The Trojan War in the 12th century, men have been described as
muscular and demanding. Women were the caretakers of both their children and spouses. Society
imposes the same characteristics on men and women still to this day. The socially constructed
roles of men and women are portrayed by an influential source, the American media.
Advertisements in the American media, such as commercials, magazines, and video games, have
a huge impact on prescribing gender roles. Commercial advertisements, are more impacting and
powerful because they act out a scenario which portrays gender roles, instead of just having an
image with few words as an advertisement. For instance, a DiGiorno Pizza commercial shown on
TV portrays men as very dominant and aggressive by the way the man speaks to his wife,
whereas, women are submissive and dominated by a male figure as demonstrated by the
womans actions in this commercial. In accordance, the American media in todays society and
the way it prescribes each genders role, can be detrimental for its viewers. Todays society has
proven that weve moved away from the traditional prescribed gender roles, but the American
media influences us greatly that it will lead us back to the old traditional gender roles making the
way we live, troublesome.
Advertisements in the mid-20th century were known for the sexist ads that made women
seem as submissive towards the opposite gender. Jess Zimmerman, a graduate with a BA in
History and an MA in American History, explains the 1930s Kelloggs Cereal ad which depicts

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domesticity as a womens primary and only duty. So the harder the wife works, the cuter she
looks! (Kelloggs Company). This picture ad encouraged women to be housewives and do all
the cleaning by having the man in the ad stating that they will look cuter if they do. The
advertisements image demonstrates a man in a suit seemingly coming home late from work,
speaking in a tired tone. A woman is shown wearing a dress, heals, and apron, along with a
cleaning supply, portraying a womens housewife prescribed gender role. In the DiGiorno Pizza
commercial, a woman is performing a womens traditional gender role when she is carrying out
the groceries and making the pizza for her husband. The negative outcome that the commercials
audience gets is that it limits women from having an actual career because advertisements like
these teach them that their prescribed role is to only be a housewife. A womans gender role has
been prescribed, by the media, as being the caretaker of the household for many years now, and
has, evidently, not changed in todays society.
In 1972, an important event happened that affected women in a very positive way. The Equal
Rights Movement was passed to diminish the sex discrimination between men and women. The
equal rights granted to women give them the same amount of power as men. In the DiGiorno
Pizza commercial ad, a man is shown as aggressive towards his wife when he demands her to
make him a pizza, demonstrating the power he has over her. The mans wife simply did what she
was told without a word or complaint. Aaron Devor, a professor who focuses on gender studies,
and author of Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meanings of Gender, states the
meaning of masculinity, Persons who display success and high status in their social group, who
exhibit a manly air of toughness, confidence, and self-reliance and the aura of aggression,
violence, and daring,. . . (qtd. E. Pleck 139). Devor mentions the characteristics of what it is to
be a man, some of which is demonstrated by the husband in the DiGiorno Pizza commercial.

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Unfortunately, this commercial misinterprets aggression as a good trait by the jokingly, yet
serious tone, the man stated his demands in. The viewers, specifically men, may think its not
bad to mistreat a woman since the guy in the commercial did it. Women should not feel
dominated or vulnerable by their partners. Equal rights were established since 1972, so why are
we still learning about the inequality of dominance between genders in todays society? The
American media and its ads like these are forgetting the whole purpose of the equal rights which
will eventually lead society to the very beginning again.
Young boys and girls are affected by the medias way of prescribing gender as they become
older, which can potentially become a problem in their lives. As CEO of a center named
Rheedlen Center, designed to help kids fight the prescribed gender role norm that the American
media portrays, Geoffrey Canada describes how he believes the media is affecting kids. Canada
states in a video interview, So many of our children are manipulated to smoke early, to drink
early, to be aggressive, and a lot of that comes from the media inputs into our children
(Canada). Media has a powerful influence on kids in todays society due to the availability of
devices that give them access to all sorts of negative advertisements. Unfortunately, unhealthy
relationships may be the outcome of girls and boys in their future if they follow the medias
prescribed gender role norm. The dominance that is shown in the commercial is no joke when
people in an actual relationship get hurt. Professors of Psychology and PhDs, Mario Mikulincer
and Gail S. Goodman state, from this perspective, violence against women is primarily a
societal problem and not a problem of individual behavior or pathology (Mikulincer and
Goodman 103). The previous quote states how todays society doesnt react by their own
decisions, instead they act according to the societys expectations of them. A vicious cycle is
created where media influences society, society follows its orders, resulting in a bad situation

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because the media portrays negative things like men being aggressive to their partners. If men
and women continue to follow the medias and societys prescribed gender role, women will be
treated badly and they will live in a relationship full of dominance just like the old days when
relationship abuse didnt seem important.
Some women may say, the American media doesnt influence societys actions instead they
voluntarily choose and want to be housewives and caretakers of their households. They feel it
should be every womens job to attend their husbands in a subservient manner. In the New York
Magazine a women named Kelly Makino is interviewed by the creator of the article, Lisa Miller.
Women, she believes, are conditioned to be more patient with children, to be better
multitaskers. . . .A couple of times a month, Kelly suggests that they go to bed early and she
soothes his work-stiffened muscles with a therapeutic massage. I love him so much, I just want
to spoil him she says (Miller and Makino). Women do not blame the media for their choice of
being housewives, they blame their maternal instincts and devotion to make their husbands
happy. However, the American media does, in fact, influence their decision of being stay at
home wives. Makino even mentions herself that girls play with dolls from childhood, so
women are raised from the get-go to raise children successfully. (Miller and Makino). The
media gives dolls the role of domesticity when they are shown in advertisements. Ads try and
catch the young female viewers attention by including domestic toys along with the doll. For
example, in the International Journal of Historical Archaeology, by Marlys Pearson and Paul R.
Mullins, they state, today, Barbie grocery shops, cleans house, cares for her young siblings, and
assumes careers which fill nurturing and prospective roles like those championed in traditional
domestic ideology (Pearson and Mullings 225). The America media advertises Barbie in a

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powerful way so that young girls can desire to have and be like them. Evidently, the media
influences society in many ways possible, to people of all ages.
To conclude, the American media uses its influential power on society that depicts the
gender roles of men and women. In todays society, people try their best to fit in along with
crowd and will do anything to accomplish it. Nonconformity frightens many and leads them to
involuntary actions. The American media is looked upon as a primary source to guide the
nonconformists into their socially prescribed gender roles. Soon enough, todays society will be
influenced completely by the American media that we will revert back to the pasts traditional
roles of men and women.

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Works Cited
Devor, Aaron. Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meanings of Gender. Composing
Gender. Boston, Mass: Bedford/St. Martins, 2008. 35-43. Print.
Holiday, Bunny. DiGiorno. Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 20 April 2011. Web. 11 Oct.
2014.
Kids and the Media. Films on Demand. Films Media Group, 2000. Web. 28. Oct. 2014.
Mikulincer, Mario, and Gail S. Goodman. Dynamics of Romantic Love: Attachment, Caregiving,
and Sex. Guilford Press, 2006. Print.
Miller, Lisa. The Retro Wife: Feminists who say theyre having it all by choosing to stay
home. New York Magazine. New York Media LLC, 17 March 2013. Web. 04 November
2014.
Pearson, Marlys, and Paul R. Mullins. Domesticating Barbie: An Archaeology of Barbie
Material Culture and Domestic Ideology. International Journal of Historical
Archaeology 3.4 (1999): 225-259. Print.
Zimmerman, Jess. Odd Ads: Kelloggs PEP Cereal, 1930s. History By Zim. WordPress the
Aesthete Theme, 27 July 2013. Web. 03 November 2014.