Women and Advertising

As surprising and completely offensive this ad was to me, not only is it real, but it's also current, and aimed towards women, in some sort of ironic, throwback "let's market to women through essentialist stereotypes" kind of way. While the text is extremely off-putting, the pin-up, Edward D'Ancona aesthetic is something I find really beautiful when done tastefully, so it is eye-catching, before being so overtly crude as to completely dispel my interest. The woman appears happy, but judging from the accompanying text, her happiness seems to be predicated on the common lie that women must objectify themselves in order to gain approval from society, or fulfillment on a personal level. The ad is selling vodka, in an age where the martini is extremely en vogue for the single lady (think Sex and the City), while assuming that throwing back to Helen Gurley Brown-esque attitudes about female sexuality is a relevant way of catching the attention of the young social climber. Note also that the young social climber represented is thin and white, as is the case with all media catering to this genre of persons. Apparently, only white women drink martinis. "Van Gogh" implies a level of cultural appreciation and glamour that people tend to look for in their beverages of choice, yet the implicit message of the text in the ad is decidedly more lowbrow, catching attention with cheap humor and a calculatedly loose lifestyle. I must, of course, clarify that I am in no way puritanical about women owning their sexuality in whatever manner they see fit, but I do experience considerable internal opposition to the empty-headedness that this caption encourages. It makes me wonder why these female stereotypes are being reinforced by the focus groups as being accurate, and why despite its blatant manner of pontificating on the same worn out stereotypes, the ad campaign is still being hailed as "edgy," not only by the advertising company, but also by the New York Times. Of course, women becoming complicit sexual objects is nothing new, as they are now more risk averse because of contraception and can actively pursue their autonomous sexuality (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 151), and perhaps it's not even my place to say that this is an inappropriate manner of expressing that sexuality, but in reducing young, white, female professionals seeking an after work outlet to their most unflattering common denominator (a parodic sorority girl, essentially), this ad implies that women only value themselves when they play into their own "objectification, commodification... and dismemberment" (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 208), a set of legs and a mind that will never consider the implications long enough to see that they're not really "in" on the joke. Wouldn't want to risk getting our panties in a bunch, right?

Works Cited

Kirk, Gwyn, and Okazawa-Rey, Margo. Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010.

Elliott, Stuart. "Vodka Brand Goes Edgy as It Reaches Out to Women." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. The New York Times, 9 Aug. 2010. Web. 29 Sept. 2010. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/09/business/media/09adnewsletter1.html_r=1&pagewanted=2>.

Oh, and p.s. as an added bonus, here's my favorite ad from this campaign:

Service Learning Proposal.

Service Learning Proposal for Voices of Planned Parenthood

By: Patricia P.

September 22, 2010

Meredith Tweed

WST 3015-0001

Community Partner Profile:

Community Partner: Voices of Planned Parenthood

Address: 4000 Central Florida Blvd. Orlando, FL 32816

Contact: Cristina Caldruccio; ccruz1017@yahoo.com

Community Partner Mission Statement: “Being pro-choice, we believe that every man and woman have the right to make choices pertaining to their own bodies. In short, every individual should have the fundamental right to manage his or her fertility. VOX supports full access to comprehensive reproductive and complementary health care services in settings that preserve and protect the essential privacy of and rights of each individual.” (VOX)

Political and/or Social Basis for Organization: VOX acts as liaison between the university and the reproductive health centers and promotes safer sex practices through education and organizing events for the advocation of public policies that guarantee these rights and ensure access to such services. (VOX)

The Proposal

Memorandum

TO: Meredith L. Tweed

FROM: Patricia P.

DATE: September 22, 2010

RE: Proposal to Write a Feasibility Report for a Service Learning Project

The following is a proposal to outline the needs, rationale and feasibility for a service learning project to benefit VOX: Voices of Planned Parenthood. The following proposal contains background on the need for and benefits of a VOX project, an outline of the work I plan to do, the rationale for its inclusion in WST 3015, and a scheduled timeline. This proposal may need to be revised after beginning the project and must be flexible to meet the needs of the Service Learning project and the community partner.

The Need For Increased Awareness Regarding Reproductive Health

In our current polarizing political climate, the need for substantive information about reproductive health is at an all-time high. Anti-choice activism threatens public policy and opinion, abstinence only education has proven ineffective, but is still employed in many areas, including our neighboring counties, and unsafe sexual practices are commonplace, often with little regard to the implications of STI/STDs. With the support of student volunteers, VOX provides a link between Planned Parenthood and the university, enabling students who have been put into compromising positions with their reproductive health to have peer advocates. Beyond that, education is paramount to the prevention of such situations, as evidenced by VOX’s other goals. 


Plan Proposal:
To that end, in addition to participating in the yet developing event concerning awareness about men and HPV and assisting in providing the vaccinations, Kara and I are planning an off campus movie night, centering on reproductive health for the purpose of consciousness raising by creating a dialogue about the implications of choice, as well as donation-based fundraising for VOX's other events. Because we're using off-campus facilities, most likely a privately owned business, such as Natura or Austin's, the subject matter will not be as dark as it possibly could be (we're debating between Juno and a documentary called Speak Out: I Had An Abortion, if we're able to procure the latter, as it would be preferable), but the goal is geared more the opportunity for analysis and dialogue than offending anyone, of course.

Rationale for Women's Studies:
While we've yet to cover sexuality in relation to feminism in this class, theorizing sexuality and its identitarian implications is central to the mission of women's studies. As an organization, Planned Parenthood's central goal is to educate about the execution of safe sex practices, and beyond that, to allow women in all socioeconomic situations a way out of reproductive situations which would threaten their education, livelihood, and/or emotional and physical wellbeing. An unwanted pregnancy is an incredibly difficult situation for any woman (and her partner, assuming they're involved) to go through, and the attempts of anti-choice activists, most problematically politicians, to shame women for grappling with these issues is deplorable. Because Women's Studies provides a safe place to grow from the perspectives of uniquely female experiences, abortion is central to our understanding of our history (the fight for choice in the second wave), and we must continue to be vigilant in its defense, especially in the wake of the "growing gap between legality and access" (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 214). Furthermore, "sexually transmitted infections affect some 19 million people each year, half of them aged 15-24" (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 215), and despite this alarming statistic, education is not nearly pervasive enough. Most men are unaware that the HPV vaccination is now available them. While they may live with this STI for years asymptomatically, they can transmit it to female partners who can have their fertility threatened by cervical cancer if it goes undetected. For all of these reasons, VOX is an perfect example of valuable activism pertaining to Women's Studies.

Action:

I have spoken with the vice president of VOX, Rachel, about the organization's plans for the semester, and expressed my interest in assisting her with the HPV event, also mentioning that Kara and I want to plan our own event under the VOX banner, and she is very open to it, as long as our dates don't conflict with other events. I'm going to email Cristina with my plan and when they work out all of their dates, I'll have a better grasp on my own.

Timeline:

Movie Night - some weekend day in November, most likely
HPV Awareness - TBA, contingent on Rachel
Write Preliminary Draft - November 22
Final SL Reflection Paper - December 1

Works Cited

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010.

Word Count: 884

Introductory Letter

In case you missed it, with all of the silly banners and things, I'm Patricia Parker. Essentially, I'm from the metro area (I've lived in Clermont for seventeen years and currently commute), but I was born in San Jose, California. I'm a junior in the Interdisciplinary Studies program with a Women's Studies track currently, and a second concentration in Letters and Modern Languages, though I'm hoping for Women's Studies to become an actual major before I get too close to graduating, as I would also like to minor in European Studies.

The study of gender politics and issues has been central to my education for as long as I can remember. I was a bit of a gender bender, traditionally speaking, in elementary and middle school. I always had very short hair and was a bit boyish, though not in the least bit athletic, and I didn't mind at all the corresponding ostracism that it always seemed to bring me. I was preternaturally self-assured, which I credit to my mother's need to stress the incredible importance of self acceptance from a very early age. In high school and college, all of my papers relating to "issues" usually linked themselves to my abhorrence for homophobia and gender inequity. I read Susan Brownmiller, Margaret Atwood, Susan Sontag, Inga Muscio, on and on, and I was obsessed. Though I was planning to major in English Literature, I knew, on a personal level, that gender politics would always come before my love of Walt Whitman, T.S. Eliot, Kant, Goethe, and the like, so here we are.

I had been aware of my peers trying to push me into constructed gender roles, but I was privileged enough to have progressive parents who did just the opposite, letting me dig around in the dirt wearing overalls practically from the time I could walk. The idea that other people weren't afforded this opportunity, to live outside of culturally constructed gender roles, was extremely bothersome to me, although I didn't really consider the consequences concerning deviation from traditional masculine gender roles until I met my boyfriend. His influence, as he is frankly often more sensitive than I am and has suffered the consequences from his peers not being receptive to this perceived "softness," has led me to view gender-based social constructs as detrimental by both tokens. 

At this point in my life, I view a lot of my choices concerning my gender and sexuality to be progressive on a very personal level. My comfort zone has become much more traditionally feminine (i.e. I will always prefer wearing a dress over pants, and I have become incredibly domestic, to the point where I plan to procure a second bachelor's in Culinary Arts after I finish at UCF), and I feel incredibly privileged to be able to make these choices on my own, rather than being forced into a compulsory domestic situation. I know I owe that to feminism. Additionally, I don't view any of my opinions as defined by or tied to my gender, and I think I can credit that to the advances of the women's movement as well. I am a (cis) woman, but unlike Simone de Beavoir and the women of her age, I believe I am offered the luxury not to be defined by this, although perhaps saying so is youthful idealism.

As for what I want to learn about Women's Studies, I hope to be a sponge in all of my classes (I'm taking Intro, Third Wave Feminisms, Theories of Masculinity, and Professor Tweed's Research in Women and Gender, and I'm sure there will be a lot of overlap). Because I've already read a lot of theory on my own time (currently reading The Feminine Mystique to brush up on my second wave history/theory) and know the history pretty well, I expect to learn more in the service learning component of this class, as I'm a bit lazy and activism is a challenging idea for me, truthfully. I guess time will tell, but I couldn't be more excited.

Here's a bit of my life in pictures. As I mentioned, I cook, so I think it would be apropos to include photo documentation.

Mascarpone-filled cake with sherried berries for my dad's birthday.

Grilled Mahi-Mahi with Thai coconut sauce, jasmine rice, and Thai cucumber salad.

Pavlova with lemon curd and mixed berries.

And since I directly mentioned him, here's a picture of my boyfriend and me. He's my best friend and probably my greatest personal influence, so pardon me if I reference him often, or if I'm unintentionally quite verbose.

Oh, and I have read, understood, and agreed to the terms of the course syllabus and the blogging protocols.

Regards,

Patricia