Erazo Trujillo 1

Katherinne Erazo
Professor Beadle
English 115
28 October 2016
Women in Media
Media is an important platform for companies, artist, and others to advertise their
clothing, music, etc.. In media people of different genders are often used to advertise products,
however different genders, mainly men and women, are portrayed differently. This is seen in an
ad for Dolce & Gabbana. Through comparing how men and women are seen in media (ads), a
woman and her body are greatly utilized and degraded to sell a brand and its products, in
comparison to that of man and his body. In this particular ad its presents this idea through
showing how the woman in the ad is being portrayed as powerless and is sexualized to draw
attention to her and to what she is wearing. The idea that is presented of women in the media is
then exercise in society as people treat and act upon women on what they see on media.
The Dolce & Gabbana ad features five people, four males and one female. In the image
woman is being pinned down while wearing wearing a skin tight black bodysuit and the typical
seductive red lips. She is being pinned down by a man who is partially dressed while being
surrounded by another three, one of which is also partially dressed, standing down looking at
them. The woman being under the man and being looked down upon shows/ give the idea that is
being seen and portrayed as powerless. Like many other ads in the media her body is sexualized
to represented the brand, Dolce & Gabbana, or whatever the brand is trying to promote or sale.

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The ad further suggest/ promotes the idea of violence against women as none of the surrounding
men are doing anything to help her.
One of the ideas that is presented in the Dolce & Gabbana ad is the idea that women are
powerless. In the article Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender, Judith Lorber
mentions that As part of a stratification system, gender ranks men above women of the same
race and class. Women and men could be different but equal (28). Although, the Dolce &
Gabbana ad does not present the issue of race is does show how men are viewed as being above
women. It further suggest that men are dominant and women are submissive such as in the case
of the ad. The women in the ad shows no struggle from being pinned down by the man, showing
how she is powerless over the man and his actions, and to the other three men surrounding her. It
also suggest her as powerless as the men surrounding her are built showing strength, and her as
just a skinny feminine woman. The idea of women being powerless is then presented again in the
article Sexist ads in Ms. by Tacie Dejanikus that seeks to point out sexism in ads. Dejanikus
mentions We all know the powerful but often subtle impact of ads. Much of the advertising in
the June and earlier issues of Ms.uses images and messages that have kept women oppressed for
centuries. Women as sex objects, women as crazy, women as less than men (Dejanikus). At the
face of the media women are always seen as less of, powerless. The Dolce & Gabbana ad, like
many ads in Ms. magazine, exercise the idea of women being powerless, as being less than men.
It isnt directly stated that women are seen and treated as powerless but as Dejanikus mentions it
makes a subtle impact. That subtle impact is society viewing women as powerless and men
always being above women.

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Another of the ideas that is presented in the Dolce & Gabbana ad is the idea that women
are often sexualized. In Aaron Devors article Becoming Members of Society: The Social
Meanings of Gender, Devor mentions ... femininity must be expressed through modes of dress,
movement, speech, and action which communicate weakness, dependency, ineffectualness,
availability for sexual or emotional service, and sensitivity to the needs of others (Devor 40-41).
Devor established the idea that women are primarily seen as objects/ tools to satisfy the needs of
others. Sexualizing the body of the woman in the Dolce & Gabbana ad is an example of her
availability for sexual service in which case is using the sexualization of her body to promote the
brand. She is also shown to communicate weakness as a way to show her femininity in the ad,
that then connects to the idea of women being powerless. In the article Taking It Off: Are
Models In Magazine Ads Wearing Less? by Lawrence C. Soley and Leonard N. Reid, again
presents the idea of women being sexualized and degraded in the media. Soley and Reid write
Forty-five ads from 1984 general interests magazines and 44 from 1964 magazines depicted
both male and female models together. In both time periods, female models were shown wearing
less than males, although the difference in proportions were not significantly different (Soley
and Reid 963). Soley and Reid come to the conclusion that the based on studies the sexualization
of women is greater than that of men. In the Dolce & Gabbana although it does not show nudity
of either the men or the woman, what she is wearing is more sexually appealing and
provocative than what the men are wearing.
Although many articles present the idea of woman being powerless and degrade them,
its not the intentions of the companies and brands to do so as they inspect their ads to avoid such
issues. These issue are avoided as Courtney Dillon, a sales representative in Ms.'s advertising

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department, said that the ad came very late and didn't go through the usual process before it was
sent to the printer. It would have been rejected if Ms. had discussed the ad first, she said
(Dejanikus). Many blame the media for being sexist and portraying women in ways that they
shouldnt, but media sets regulations that seek to not promote women as less, sexualize them, or
degrade them. However Soley and Reid mention that These advertising portrayals, offered by
the news media as evidence that readers and viewers are seeing more and more eroticism and
nudity in advertising, strongly suggest that(960) and that Advertisements appearing in 1984
issue of magazine will contain more nudity than ads appearing in 1964 issues of the same
magazine (961). This suggests that media regulations are far from achieve their goal of not
promoting nudity of women amongst other things. Rather than media advancing in decreasing
nudity in ads and other media, its increasing. So how does media really set regulations to prevent
such issues from continuing to occur?
The idea of women being powerless and often devalued is much seen in the media, such
as in the ad for Dolce & Gabbana. Media plays a significant rule in the the lives of many people,
as some of what people learn and see comes from the media.With media portraying women in
such ways makes it justifiable to people of society to see and act upon women in the same ways
they see them being portrayed in the media. This then creates wrong ideals on the ways women
should be treated and seen as. Media should set more limitations and being to turn away from old
ideals and portray women in the correct ways.

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Works Cited
Devor, Aaron. Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meanings of Gender. Composing
Gender, edited by Rachel Groner and John F. OHara, Bedford, 2014,pp. 35-43.
Lorber, Judith.Night to His Day:The Social Construction of Gender.Composing Gender,
edited by Rachel Groner and John F. OHara, Bedford,2014,pp.19-33.
Soley, Lawrence C. and Leonard N. Reid. Taking It Off: Are Models In Magazine Ads
Wearing Less? Journalism Quarterly.Vol. 65 Issue 4,1988, pp. 960-966.
Communication & Mass Media Complete.
Dejanikus, Tacie. Sexist ads in Ms.. Off Our Backs. Vol.10, Issue 7, July 1980, pp.10.
GenderWatch