Meske 1

Shannon E. Meske
ENGL115
Professor Lawson
10 Decmber 2014
Word Count: 613
Exercise #1: Research Question and Summarization
For this assignment I was be discussing the dehumanization of women in advertisements.
In order to take on this subject I will be asking myself the following questions: A. How does the
dehumanization of women in advertisements directly affect the body image of women and young
girls? B. What are the direct societal consequences of dehumanizing women in
advertisements? In order to address these questions I will be referring to several articles: All of
which are scholarly, or peer-reviewed.
The first of these articles entitled Sexual objectification of Women: Advances to Theory
and Research, by Erika Carr, will discuss the topic as whole and create an introduction for
readers who may or may not know much on the topic itself. The second article, From women to
objects: Appearance focus, target gender, and perceptions of warmth, morality and competence,
will specify even more about how objectifying women affects everyday perceptions of women
(by both men and women), in a negative way.
The next three articles: Gender roles in advertising: measuring and comparing gender
stereotyping on public and private TV channels in Germany, Sex Roles, and The Menstrual
Mark: Menstruation as Social Stigma, will allow me to discuss how these negative
advertisements affect the way our youth grow to perceive women and their place in society.
Specifically how young girls will form habits of self-objectifications, and young boys learn what

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to expect in the way their future partner looks. Although this study takes place in germany, the
issue is not specific to a country. The issue is a world-wide epidemic that has been going on for
years.
On the opposite side of the argument, is the marketing point of view. With more and
more advertisements of women being used as objects, body parts being cropped out, close ups on
cleavage, and re-touched models, there is no argument that women are in fact being
dehumanized. However, companies will argue that these advertisements are nothing more than a
marketing strategy, a way to give the people what they want. The old saying goes that sexs
sells. From their point of view, they are merely selling a product, and the bottom line is, it is
working. Big-name corporations will in no way accept the blame of these societal consequences
that follow these advertisements. To them, using women as objects is a clever way to get men to
buy a burger or a beer, and the paralleled violence and dehumanization of women that follows
these ads, is merely a coincidence.
Some flaws with my research may be that there are many different angles that I can
elaborate on during this paper. It can be very easy to accidentally go too broad with a topic
such as this. I will be focusing on elaborating on just my research question as much as possible.
As for my counter-argument, it is also something that can be broadened to far. The important
thing to remember is to stay specific and to make my point without veering off-track.
What I would like for my audience to know is the direct consequences of these
advertisements and how it directly affects everyone. No one person is untouched by this
epidemic as it not only is a women's issue, its a mans issue as well. The way we perceive
women is a direct result of the world around us. It is important to become aware of these
influences and begin to form our own opinions on them. Many may argue that this issue is

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overblown and one that needs no attention. I argue, however, that this issue is one that will
continue to affect our future generations if something is not done right now to change it.

Works Cited
Carr, Erika R., and Dawn M. Szymanski. "Sexual Objectification and Substance Abuse in Young
Adult Women." The Counseling Psychologist 39.1 (2011): 39-66. http://tcp.sagepub.com. Web.
10 Nov. 2014.

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Fredrickson, B. L., & Roberts, T. (1997). Objectification Theory: Toward understanding
womens lived experiences and mental health risks. Psychology of Women
Quarterly, 21, 173-206.
Harper, Brit, and Marika Tiggemann. "The Effect of Thin Ideal Media Images on Womens SelfObjectification, Mood, and Body Image." Sex Roles 58 (2008): 649-657. Print.
Heflick, Nathan A., Jamie L. Goldenberg, Douglas P. Cooper, and Elisa Puvia. "From women to
objects: Appearance focus, target gender, and perceptions of warmth, morality and competence."
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 47 (2011): 572-581. Print.
Johnston-Robledo, Ingrid, and Joan C. Chrisler. "The Menstrual Mark: Menstruation as Social
Stigma." Sex Roles (2011): 9-18. Print.
Knoll, Silke, and Martin Eisend. "Gender roles in advertising Measuring and comparing gender
stereotyping on public and private TV channels in Germany."International Journal of
Advertising 30.5 (2011): 867-888. www.warc.com. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.
Vaes, Jeroen, Paola Paladino, and Elisa Puvia. "Are sexualized women complete human beings?
Why men and women dehumanize sexually objectified women."European Journal of Social
Psychology 41 (2011): 774-785. Wiley Online Library. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.
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