Two Ways A Woman Can Get Hurt Analysis

Gender is not as simple as just being male or female. It can refer to a male or female’s role in society or the way that a male or female characterizes themselves. There are many differences in gender that are influencing the attitudes and behaviors of men and women, these differences typically result from our society. Two articles that explain these differences and show how they are created is Aaron Devor’s, “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the social meaning of Gender” in which he explains how differences in Gender result from language, upbringing, and attitudes and behavior that were taught in early childhood, and Jean Kilbourne’s, “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt: Advertising and Violence” in which she writes about how the attitudes of male and females are influenced by harmful media messages and advertising, …show more content…
Joan Kilbourne believes that the behaviors between genders are an immediate result of the way media messages and advertising portrays masculinity and femininity, with females getting the worse of it. Females are getting the worse of it because many of these ads have dangerous views towards them while also making them feel inferior to men. This all results in women feeling pressured to be young, thin and beautiful or else society will not accept them. One of these ads that have dangerous views towards women is the one of a man standing over a girl that is saying, “no” but laughing as she says it. This ad may lead to younger men believing that they can do whatever they want to women even if they resist and won’t lead to any consequences. At the same time, a younger girl who views these ads may feel like if she is violated she should let it happen because she may not know that she has the right to defend herself, which is just scary. Kilbourne states, “I contend that all girls growing up in this culture are sexually abused,” which effects their behaviors throughout life. Devor feels that society has influenced how