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Oscar De Jesus
Professor Ditch
Eng 114A
6 November 2014
Advertising Affects Gender Performance
While social media has grown in American society, sexuality has integrated itself into the
realm of commercial advertising, and the culture of Western societys mainstream media has
developed into a web of hypersexual, unrealistic trends. From the image I have selected to
generate this argument, the picture displays what appears to be a face with two different
appearances of eyes: one male and one female. However, for the entire image, there appears to
be a red and black smudges all over the face almost as if it were smudged red lipstick and black
eye shadow. Most importantly, the photos caption call us ugly to sell us shit indicates a
powerful message about media and advertising. Due to the amount of influence that our media
has on a great deal of our population, some men and women might push themselves to live up to
the models we see in the media today. While a portion of consumers are put under pressure to
conform, a failure to do so might result in psychological effects like eating disorders, developing
low self-esteem, and even erratic, violent behavior. Moreover, the new style of advertising is an
impractical method that has an effect on a significant amount of advertising viewers.
A common issue that has been growing over the years in young women is eating
disorders. Why this happens is questionable, but a possible culprit can be advertising in social
media. Beauty is constructed by the attributes of women that we see in common advertising. As a
result, it has become an expectation to like women with these attributes: hourglass body, slender,
symmetrical face. So, beauty becomes the only value amongst women, which can lead to

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changes of social norms within a community. But what happens when women are unable to fit
into the social norm? Eating disorders possibly spawn from a womans self-acceptance.
Anorexia is a serious medical condition within a portion of the female population. According to a
study performed by Ohmler, Jacobi and Taylor, a large number of women were interested in the
improvement of body figure program. Unfortunately, the procedure must have pushed some
women away due to the loss in corresponding patients (Ohlmer, Jacobi, Taylor). The sudden loss
of patients in their study could have resulted from a feeling of insecurity. Shockingly enough, the
number of women that were interested in the weight management program, 1494 patients, is
shocking alone. Gender expectations are influenced through medias advertising. Some women
take the flawless women in a cheeseburger commercial to an extreme level of insecurity. In an
article by Ruth Hubbard, there is a statement that indicates how young girls unknowingly
conform to characters that are praised by society; they attempt to become these figures. One
isnt born a woman, one becomes a woman (Hubbard 22).
Amongst males, a notable majority of them desire to become masculine. Social norms
indicate that males must possess one critical trait in order to be considered a man: masculine
body type. Commonly, this is what society looks for in males due to the exposure of hyper
masculine advertising. Some males take extreme measures to fit into the demand of a masculine
body figure. In fact, it is a false assumption for anorexia nervosa to be exclusively for females.
Manorexia has been on the rise for young males. According to Tom Wooldridge and Pauline
Lytle, approximately 25% of the clinical population is male (Wooldridge and Lytle 1).
These authors might be trying to imply that some young males might attempt to become
masculine through anorexia. For some males it could be a critical process to lose every single
ounce of fat in order to be considered masculine. Manorexia is not a result of psychological

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disturbance but is a possible outcome for an easy path to masculinity. Through a perspective of
gender performance, it is an overlooked issue that can propose some critical information on
eating disorders within the male population.
Self-esteem amongst some women coexists with a single characteristic: beauty. For some
woman, beauty might mean everything to them. It is the only form of acceptance within a
community or being able to fit into the social norm. As mentioned earlier, some women see to it
that becoming a woman is a process of acquiring beauty. Women who are unable to fit in suffer
the consequence of being an outcast or considered not beautiful. While self-esteem is affected,
drastic results will follow the lack of self-acceptance. A low self-esteem can push women to take
measures such as resorting to anorexia as a solution. Emily Pisetsky states that eating disorders
are serious mental illnesses and can have poor long-term outcomes (Pietsky 1). The measures
taken to deal with forlornness lay amid dark consequences. In this case, anorexia can develop
into a lethal issue in some women. These developments include psychological issues or even
suicide. The study by Pietsky analyzes the rate of suicide in women with eating disorders.
Conclusively, mortality rate is connected to eating disorders (Pietsky). The culprit who is still at
large remains amongst our advertised media today. The unrealistic, hypersexual models that are
paid to emit the idea that beauty consists of dramatically high expectations. A single commercial
can have drastic mental consequences on a single individual of either sex.
Young males find comfort by fitting into the social norm of masculinity. The commercial
advertisements of male actors with a hyper masculine body and unrealistic performance of
dominance impacts a majority of young males. From this form of media, some males desire to
become masculine but are unable to achieve their unrealistic standards. As a result, young males
tend to force each other into the social norm through impractical methods of friendships. This

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links back to a possible cause of manorexia but digs deeper into the cause: bullying. Jackson
Katz believes it to be a box of characteristics that define the typical man. Some young males
attempt to close other males into this box by using extreme tones of language or bullying (Katz).
A few ramifications of refusing the pressure can lead to a low self-esteem. Like women, males
will turn to alternatives for becoming masculine or losing weight. In this case, anorexia, which is
alien to the male population, is a shocking form of weight loss found in men. This eating
disorder is at risk of developing into a larger issue. Collectively, this process occurs from the
medias ideals of what males should be like, which leads to another issue with medias display of
violence and dominance.
Mostly noticeable in males, violent behavior amongst men has been linked to the amount
of violence we see on televised broadcasts (Katz). Along side masculinity, dominance is praised
in Western media as well. These traits have been marked as key characteristics for male actors.
Milk commercials can turn into a man beating up a gang of men while holding a cup of milk.
Violence becomes a matter of playing the game monkey-see monkey-do. Paul Haridakis argues
that violence as a form of imitation can lead to a number of adverse effects, such as
imitationseeing violence as acceptableand distorted perceptions of actual crime and violence
(Haridakis 227). A negative feed of influence regarding violence leads to a significant change in
behavior amongst men. The statistical analysis by Kats in Miss Representation II displays a
shocking truth; males are responsible for a majority of crimes (Katz). Media has made a
significant impact on the way men should perform in society. Almost every commercial,
advertisement or television show will display the main male character to be masculine and
dominate through violence. Young males grow up and experience these characters as if they are
commonly accepted figures. Furthermore, it results into the integration of this trait amongst

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children and males. On a different perspective, there are groups who abide by a lifestyle of living
against the norm: gender nonconformists.
Gender non-conformity is going against the social norm by living a lifestyle of free will.
Some people may assume that these people arent accepted in society. Although this is a
common mindset amongst many Americans, groups like LGBTQ embrace their choice to go
against the stereotypical masculine male or skinny female. However, what some individuals
might be unaware about is the correlation between sexual orientation and mental health. Several
recent reviews conclude that homosexual and bisexual men and women report poorer
psychological well-being than heterosexual men and women (Reiger and Savin-Williams 611).
After thorough research, the two authors concluded that even gender non-conformists might also
suffer the same consequences of those who conform to the social norm. Conformity towards
gender performance doesnt always lead to psychological or mental issues, but even an opposing
population will suffer the same consequence. So, living against the expected gender performance
will not necessarily guarantee any form of safety from social harassment or, to an extent, mental
trauma.
The amount influence that social media has on men and women is overlooked due to the
gargantuan reputation the media holds. It would be impossible to completely impose a limitation
to a widely accepted source of entertainment, so the solution is complex but worth a shot: be
more aware of what we are watching, censor the excessive, violent programs and raise the
awareness of the correlation between media and psychological issues. The fault cant be entirely
directed at the media because we subtly undergo the influence and stand by as it happens.
Moreover, we must treat this as a large-scale problem that we must approach carefully in order to
remedy the solution in a rational, nationwide form.

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Works Cited
Haridakis, Paul M. "Men, Women, And Televised Violence: Predicting Viewer Aggression In
Male And Female Television Viewers." Communication Quarterly 54.2 (2006): 227-255.
Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 Nov. 2014.
Hubbard, Ruth. Rethinking Womens Biology. The Politics of Womens Biology. Rutgers The
State University. Rutgers University Press, 1990. Print
Newsom, Jennifer S and Jackson Katz. Miss Representation. Sausalito, Calif.: Roco Films
Educational, 2011.
Ohlmer, Ricarda, Corinna Jacobi, and Craig Barr Taylor. "Preventing Symptom Progression In
Women At Risk For AN: Results Of A Pilot Study." European Eating Disorders Review
21.4 (2013): 323-329. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.
Pisetsky, Emily M. "Suicide Attempts In Women With Eating Disorders." Journal Of Abnormal
Psychology 122.4 (2013): 1042-1056. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 Nov. 2014.
Rieger, Gerulf, and Savin-Williams, Rich. "Gender Nonconformity, Sexual Orientation, And
Psychological Well-Being." Archives Of Sexual Behavior 41.3 (2012): 611-621.
Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.
Wooldridge, Tom, and Lytle, Paline."An Overview Of Anorexia Nervosa In Males."
Eating Disorders 20.5 (2012): 368-378. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.