Hello!! It is time for the 5th blog post. I will be sharing about feminism and giving an example of how a media text leads to debate among the public.
Feminism
Feminism is about treating both genders equally. Women should be given equal rights and opportunities to succeed. In addition, both men and women should be viewed as the same, which means whatever men are capable of, women also have the ability to achieve.
In the above advertisement, there is a quote “you know you’re not the first, but do you really care?” (Scoop Whoop, 2019). In addition, the advertisement made use of a sexy lady and included a car brand logo. Why are females mostly used on advertisement to sell products? This advertisement is trying to use the lady to sell their cars however there is a second hidden message to it. The advertisement is also trying to convey to men whom are the target audience, asking them would they mind if would they mind if the woman have lost their virginity.
Hence, my group decided to go against the advertisement by creating a subvertisement poster. Instead of a sexy lady, we use a handsome man image as the main focus of the poster. There is also a popsicle ice-cream which we purposely created it in the form of a popsicle to mimic the shape of the man’s genital. In the poster, there is a quote “Who cares if someone licks this?” This quote is trying to convey, what if a female licks the ‘ice- cream’?
Example of a media text that contributed to societal debate
An example is a sexism comment from John Humphrys that causes an uproar among the BBC listeners. As evident from Aurora (2019) article, John Humphrys stated that women are better than men at taking care of children which makes the society better. His point of view was to support his opinion that advertisement that promote gender stereotyping should not be ban. He felt that women are better at being caregivers based on his personal life experiences and thus taking is for granted that women are meant to take care of children (Aurora, 2019). Many listeners disagree with John Humphrys and was angry for such sexism point of view.
If you are interested to hear how John Humphrys share his opinions, click on this link: http://players.brightcove.net/2540076170001/B1Hli6KCG_default/index.html?videoId=6072724610001#t=3s
From the comments of the listeners, it can be inferred that it is not the first time John Humphrys shared his stereotyping opinions which leads to uproar of debate. However, there are also listeners that support John Humphrys’s point of view, they felt that John is not in the wrong in stating common sense that women are better than men for being a caregiver.
Based on my personal opinion, I do not agree with John Humphrys point of view. It does not mean that if one is a female, she will be better at being a caregiver as compared to a male. I understand that in the older generation, female do not have much rights and have no say as compared to males. Therefore, John might have adapted such stereotyping practise. However, based on experience due to my mum’s job scope she has to travel overseas very often when I was young. Thus, my dad was mostly the one taking care of my sister and I.
To conclude, both men and female should be treated equally. Something that men are capable of doing, women will also have the ability to accomplish, vice versa.
This is the end of this post. Thank you for taking your time to read.
Yu Ning 🙂
References
Aurora, B. (2019). John Humphrys sparks furious row: BBC veteran in shock ‘sexism’ outburst. Retrieved from https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1165460/BBC-Today-programme-john-humphrys-gender-stereotyping-mondelez-volkswagen-latest
Scoop Whoop. (n.d.). 20 highly sexist print ads that objectify women. Retrieved 2019 from https://www.google.com.sg/amp/s/www.scoopwhoop.com/amp/inothernews/sexist-advertisements/
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Hi Yu Ning! You guys did put a great amount of effort into your subvertisment and it was amazing! I did not notice the hidden message in the ad until you mentioned it. In fact, I thought it meant that the car will always be a man’s first love and that a woman will always be second in their lives. The example you’ve given was clear and although I’ve not heard about it, it did frustrate me to know that John felt that ads that promotes gender stereotyping should not be ban. Just as you mentioned, both genders should be treated equally. Since it was not the first time, he made such comments, it’s sad to know that he still does not believe in gender equality. Just like you, I agree that women are just as capable as men! 😊
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Hello Yu Ning!
I am actually quite shocked at the meaning behind your poster. Only now did I understand the hidden message. It is true that women, often sexualized, are frequently used in the marketing industry to promote products; especially those whose target market are older men. Some say that the reason for this is because sex sells. However, as a woman, I do not like how women are being used as marketing tools to appeal to the male demographic. Surely, there are other ways to promote a product other than objectifying women.
As for Humphry’s point of view, I disagree with it too. Saying that women are better as caregivers is like saying that caregiving is only for them. Despite the opinions of certain males, history has proven that time and time again, women are also capable of greatness.
~Precious
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Hi Yu Ning
I remember your name very well because your name always come with Yi Jun in class haha. Not mocking you, just want to say that I recognise you better because of this~
The concept of feminism of your group is interesting as it was performed in every corner of the world. For me it sound logic because using females as a tool in selling products really isn’t a good way. I think it’s because perspective are different, some see this as discrimination in moral perspective, businessman see it as money making opportunity in business perspective, both side are not wrong, just the stance of both side are conflicted.
The topic that you discuss is interesting, women does better in taking care of children than men. Yeah I agree that, because women were told and practised to be taking care of the family since centuries ago, so generally women are more capable in this. I think this is ok because what John said is a general phenomenon of current century, kind of like a theory, those who disagree with him were just arguing their theories only, just the way they argue is a little bit extreme.
That’s all and see you tomorrow~
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