The More You Subtract, the More You Add

This article has everything to do with gender.  First, the fact that the advertisements that are being marketed to young girls are very gendered; this is how a girl is suppose to look and act like, this is how a male is suppose to look and act like.  Then these stereotypes are created and intensified to sell any and all products to young girls by feeding on their insecurities.  Advertisements are reflecting and reinforcing our culture that tells girls that they need to be “feminine” which includes being nice, getting attention from boys, and valuing romantic relationships with boys above all else.  Since our culture has put certain traits and features that girls should obtain marketing is using that to feed into this desirable market which are new consumers with disposable incomes and developing brand loyalty. Beauty and thinness is represented as the most valuable commodity a women could posses.  We glorify the model, actresses and singers who have it and advertise that their body and looks is completely obtainable with the right products.  These images are not only affecting women but men as well who are seeing these women and therefore judging real women in their lives.  Young girls are particularly vulnerable to the messages being feed to them because of the peer pressure they are beginning to face.  Not only are girls becoming self-conscious of their looks, young boys are being shamed for being too weak or too sensitive. Likewise, young girls are shamed if they are too loud, boisterous or too big.  Ads take shame and spin it to tell girls exactly how society wants them to act, be seen but not heard, be innocent but sexual, be accomplished yet childlike.  Not only are advertisements to blame, but the women that surround young girls are showing that it is normal to be obsessed with their weight.  Advertisements are “cutting girls down to size” with the waif and fragile like appearance while men are made to seem dominant and powerful in appearance.  As we as a society allow advertisements to continue to feed on the insecurities of young girls we are allowing them to cause dangerous and traumatic problems within girls.