1.

Killing Us Softly 4 follows Jean Kilbourne speaking to an audience about the harmful
effects that the media has on society concerning the consequences advertisements have
on gender stereotypes. Mainly focusing on females, Kilbourne unravels the hidden
significances in media that are to blame for many social issues that we as a society face
such as having a negative self-image and abuse, submission and objectification of
women. Having a negative self-image is very common among individuals these days as
every way you look; unattainable beauty is staring back at us on billboards, magazine
covers, advertisements on bus shelters. Kilbourne goes into great detail about the
dangerous use of Photoshop and she illustrates how lethal it can be by showing the Dove
Evolution commercial, where they take an average looking girl and make her into
something that shes not by lengthening her neck, making her shoulders less broad, and
completely arranging her face. Media puts pressure onto females to be a level of beauty
that no one is, if you are not flawless, then you need to fix yourself. The display of abuse,
submission, and objectification of women is also heavily used in the media. Kilbourne
exhibited many different advertisements that depict women being taken advantage of, or
compared to a common household item, such as the Michelob Beer advertisement where
the women shown literally was the beer itself. She has become dehumanized and as
Kilbourne states, violence is the inevitable. This is also shows men that they have the
right to treat women as objects.
Tough Guise focuses on the male struggle with media and how they are depicted in said
media. Society puts pressure on men to be the tough guy that is shown in movies, TV,
advertisements and music videos. If you do not act or look like Rambo with bulging

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muscles and a violent persona, then you get called a sissy, a wuss, a mommas boy or
other slanderous names. Jackson Katz explains that over the past 50 years, the image of
men have changed to be more physical and aggressive because of the portrayal of men in
the media like Superman, Batman, and GI Joes. There biceps increased from 12 inches to
26 inches now. Little boys who play with these toys or who look up to these figures on
the small or big screens want to be just like them, fight crime like them and to look like
them, muscles and all. Most of the proportions on those toys are not realistic and are
unattainable but since these figures are everywhere, the child does not realize that.
Violence is also a problem that connects with body image. If one does not look like a GI
Joe or the Terminator then the way they can get respect, as Katz said, is by carrying a
concealed weapon or just becoming more violent in nature. The reason why young men
will respect that is because thats what the media tells us to do. You have to be tough,
strong or good-looking to get respect.
To sum it up, women are shown as the weaker and more submissive sex that and men are
shown as the dominant and tougher sex. Both need to achieve an unachievable standard
of beauty and if either one cannot fulfill their role, then they are shamed by the media and
by society.

2. As Jean Kilbourne stated in Killing Us Softly 4, individuals are exposed to 3000 brands a
day on average and with the evidence from Tough Guise and the Killing Us Softly series,
the advertisements that are shown depict stereotypical gender roles that are a negative
influence on the behaviours of males and females. For females, media says that you must
live up to an unattainable standard of beauty, that beauty is the most important issue in
your life, apart from having a male counterpart, and be a submissive, yet a sexual partner.

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For males, they must be masculine, rough, dominant, and being fit is a must in order to
live a happy life. One of the values that the media also glamourizes is violence and sexual
assault. For example, one ad for Belvedere Vodka displays a man forcefully grasping a
woman by the neck while smiling as she looks to be struggling as a caption reads
Belvedere always goes down smoothly. This is promoting rape culture and they are
backing up the point that males should be rough and dominant. In numerous different
advertisements, the body language for both men and women display specific gender
roles. One ad in specific, a Dolce and Gabbana ad, shows four men and a woman. The
woman is pinned down and is a vulnerable position while the four men are displaying
dominant stance by having their shoulders back and looking down upon her like she is
beneath them on a social level. These types of media are toxic to both men and women
and should be banned.
3. Alternative masculinity is expressed to us through todays Pop Culture by having the
status of bands and single person boys viewed in a different light than ever before. As
shown in the video Tough Guise country singer Garth Brooks songs can be mostly
recognized for its soft and sensual text. This is a dramatic turn to be made for the
masculine culture in todays society which would consider anything other than what is
described as the norm to be less manly or for girls. Canadian singer Justin Bieber is a
prime example of how masculinity is viewed in todays society and how it has changed
over time. Biebers lyrics can be described as emotional and soft compared to what was
produced by male singers prior to the acceptance of individuality in pop culture and not
just acting how it is expected of you because of your gender. His physical image also
represents the alternative masculinity in pop culture today because Bieber lacks the

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tough guy look, and has trouble leading the lifestyle as well. It seems this lifestyle is
not suited for him, no matter how hard he tries. How popular he has become among
young women around the world and the amount of advertising we see him involved in
proves to us that alternative masculinity is prominent on todays pop culture.
Alternative masculinity is expressed in todays pop culture society by having many male
advocates for womens rights, which is something that would be unheard of in the past
due to the way society viewed women. Country singer Tim McGraw, for example has
committed to ending violence against women, as well as actor David Schwimmer who
has committed himself to the victims of rapes and sexual assaults (who are predominantly
women victims). The image portrayed by these 2 men are examples of the way society
has changed for the better and shows us that men are helping deal with issues regarding
women even though it may not directly affect them, they realize how crucial the
protection of women is in order to have a well-constructed, balanced society.
I believe that todays culture is beginning to broaden its horizon by allowing the
stereotypical image of a man in Hollywood to not be pin-pointed to a specific look,
personality or image in general. Society has become more accepting, and this is
something we see today with more and more people becoming accepting of the gay
culture and lifestyle.
4. I have a close friend who is gay and has recently come out to everyone around him,
including family and close friends. Though he faced many issues with coming out, he had
found that because of his choice in activity, clothes he found himself being judged based
solely on these things. Growing up he was constantly told that they things he wanted to
do was for girls, and was pressured mostly by his family to act in a different way then

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he wanted to. The way he dressed, as well as the activities that he decided to participate
in were constantly being judged and set to high expectations of acting the way one is
expected to act in society.

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