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Linnette Chavez
Honors English 115
Professor Lawson
28 November 2016
Project 3: Research Paper
Word Count: 2030
Behind the Ads of a Thousand Words
Gender roles of the fashion community have not changed to represent the more accepting
gender roles between women or men that are currently displayed in America. In this society, a
womans role is to be caring, motherly, and most of all submissive to their counterpart. In
contrast, a mans role is to be dominant, powerful, and independent in the eyes of the public.
Although in the 21st century the gender roles are becoming more flexible, the modeling industry
has yet to acknowledge the change. Strict gender roles from the 1950s, a time when there were
specific roles given to either sex, are still prevalent in the modeling industry. Many agencies
have yet to reform their views on gender roles in the 21st century.
In the modeling world, the female models in particular, are given roles that are less
powerful, or submissive, to showcase what a female is seen as in this Patriarchal society of
America. Female models are expected to be role models to the female community. In ads for
marketing a business product, the female models are always posing with the item very
submissively. The ads showing female models as having a weak image portraying them being on
the ground, or tilting their neck, which is sign of weakness. The photos that are taken of the
models to represent a sense of defenselessness and the need to be dominated. Taking a second
look at ads, its clear that these types of marketing strategies either have women appearing fragile

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because it is a sign of femininity, or have them surrounded by men because they need to obey
men (Jabeen). For male models, their photos are of many designers name brands like Calvin
Klein and Michael Kors. Designers have their male models fit the ideals they want of what
society needs the average man to be like; tall, muscular, and most of all very powerful. These
standards are expected of male models to make the expectations high on social standards.
In the documentary, Codes of Gender, the researcher, Sut Jhally, discuss how in the ads
that the models generally get their picture taken from, the big names companies asking them to
pose their assigned roles. He brings a valid example, such as the Guess brand. The creator of
Guess, Paul Marciano, is a big advocate of the reinforcement of gender roles in the American
society and he thinks that women should be weak and men should have power over them. If you
take a closer look at Guess advertisements, you can see that their photos are in black and white,
you would essentially think Oh, they created that purposely to be different from their
competitors, but in fact, it was done purposely to have a 1950s look of black and white. In the
1950s, gender roles were at an all-time high in the United States of America, Guess creator Paul
Marciano, wanted the photo to have a double meaning to reinforce the gender roles from the
1950s. He even went through the trouble of having female models act submissive for their roles,
such as images of showing how defenseless they should be in Guess ads. Guesss male models
are seen with no shirts on to showcase their masculinity and with defined muscles that show how
powerful and dominant they are over womens bodies. The ads of the female models and male
models are not under their control, but they are under the brands control. All high-end brands,
such as Guess, Michel Kors, and Calvin Klein do this, but the main point is that the high upper
class believes that the gender roles should be reinforced. The photos of any models, for example
male models having their shirts off, brings this idea about what being a male is to the public. It

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makes them think that the photos of the male models show the ideal body type to have and
nothing less. Male bodies already have high standards placed on top of them to have the nicer
body. Women too have high standards that are expected for them to meet. They are much higher
and have more pressure with they own bodies, based off female models from advisements that
have hourglass figures. This makes women in the general society think that they would need to
have the perfect body to thrive (Codes of Gender).
Gender roles that a Patriarchy places upon us as human beings are there for a reason, to
tell each other apart from one another, like being a Girl or a Boy. Plus, the roles placed upon
us have a meaning behind their reasoning. From an article of the Fatherhood Organization, it
clearly states that biochemistry, physical appearance, brain size, and hormones are different
from one another based on gender. The importance of the roles is to maintain and hold in place
society are to keep the peace within the government. Images of the models within many of the
magazines or ads, are harmless, or as the saying goes Its just a picture. The fashion models are
doing their profession by posing for the picture to advertise the product they were hired for
(Mears). People do have a point when they say that models do their jobs of being a model, but
they are modeling for the picture with the item that is just an object, why would they need to act
defenseless with the item and not powerful like men in photos? In magazines, especially teenage
magazines, they would have a photo of woman holding the latest Cover Girl lip-stick with small
delicate hands that barely touch the lip-stick. The photo insinuates that women must have a
gentle touch similarity to the familiar expression a womans touch.
In the earlier years of the life of children, they learn from their environment what it
means to be a Girl or a Boy. The toys that each gender plays with growing up, are made in
mind with the traits of the gender of each child. For instance, Dads shows their sons that cars are

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good and Barbies are bad. For girls, its cars are bad and Barbies are good from their
mothers. Gender roles are important so that people can differentiate between each other. They
learn the traits of the gender they need to follow or else they will be the outcast in their
community. Many will put a front to act how society wants, even if its not who they are as a
person. In recent years, as each generation grows up, they dont really care for the fake bonds
they have with the people that are supposed to love them for themselves, but who they really are.
This mindset is being developed from the millennials who shock the world with how opened
minded that they are by changing from the old world traditional to the new traditional in the 21st
century. In todays economy, a young boy made headlines in articles from the New York Times
with Cover Girl. They made a change to fit the ideals that the New World is looking for, in this
case the boy is the new cover of Cover Girl and the first to wear make-up and pose for the photo,
which was supposed to be a female model not a male model. The photo was proof of standing
against the assigned gender roles in photos.
The issue of whether its questionable could be because a variety of people aren't aware
of the problem with such images, to them it might look as being an average advertisement, but
an image or picture has many words behind the meaning. It can lead to problems with many
social groups, such as the Women Movement or LGBT community, because the fashion models
participate in a role that is based on stereotypes instead of real and solid facts on the gender.
They are misleading people based on the advertisements. Sut Jhally, clearly states, that American
society doesnt like to consider the third gender, meaning anyone that doesnt fit to their
assigned gender roles of being Boy or Girl, would be retaught about the impotence of them
being their assigned gender. This idea of the third gender is being question based on the male
models that are found to be Homosexual in the Fashion industry that take on womens roles,

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same with female models, but reverse they take on males roles instead of their own roles. They
receive backlash from conservative, or single minded people that believe in the binary system.
Both the conservative and LGBT communities would argue about each others comments, such
as What so wrong for him to act like a woman? or Why is a guy acting like a woman? Thats
not what God made us for? Each side wouldnt be able to move forward based on this twogender system of being a Boy, or Girl. While each of the communities are making their own
changes with their sub-cultures, they want to be treated equal, but unless people make the
changes for good and allow the evolution of the gender roles be the meaning of the 21st century it
won't be possible. That being said women could act feminine or masculine and the same thing
applies to men. It is their own choice to act feminine or masculine, its their right to be whoever
they want to be (Codes of Gender).
Gender roles have changed from 1950s, with women and men establishing how they
identify themselves. In the 1950s, women were supposed to be very docile, but now women are
taking on powerful roles in the country that were meant for a man. Men who are supposed to be
powerful, are now stay at home dads managing house work. Gender roles shouldnt be place
upon either gender because they are a Girl or Boy because either gender can like something
from the side of the opposite gender. (Eccles) Although society has a binary gender system that
based upon whether you were biologically born a Girl or Boy, the standards of either roles
have changed over time with each generation that passes the ideas of Gender roles changes.
Why does gender play a huge role on who we are as person? Must we follow the roles that
society assign us with or should we chose the roles that we like to follow based of our own free
will?

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The roles havent changed yet in society because there is an array of people that still
following the typical gender role from the old world, for instance the 1950s. Plus, there is
statements made from certain type of people that state that the roles of men and women should
be followed. Unfortunately, the individuals that dont follow the roles should face the negative
consequences, in result people decides to take matter into their own hand to shame the
individuals who dont follow the rule of Patriarchy. Roles are important to maintain the balance
within the society because without the balance of the gender roles, there would be chaos. For
example, determining who would get which profession based off their traits. Keeping the gender
roles is necessary to maintain the order of being a Girl or Boy. Although on the other hand,
were in a society of free will, meaning people dont give a damn what Patriarchy wants from
them, but they follow what they believe in and care about. Now in the 21st century it doesnt
matter if a person was born a Girl or Boy, its what the person decides what gender they
identity with instead of what they told being born.

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Works Cited
Codes of Gender. Dir. Sut Jhally. Topdocumentaryfilms.com, 2009. Web.
Eccles, Jacquelynne S. "Gender roles and women's achievement-related decisions." Psychology
of women Quarterly 11.2 (1987): 135-172.
Fatherhood Organization. 21 Reasons Why Gender Matters. PDF
Jabeen, s., & Ilyas, a. (2012). Gender Role Modelling In Textbooks: case study of urdu textbooks
of sindh province. pakistan journal of women's studies, 19(1), 75-93.
Mears, Ashley. "Discipline of the Catwalk: Gender, Power and Uncertainty in Fashion
Modeling." Ethnography, 9.4 (2008): 429-456.