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Essay / Analysis of Erving Goffman's Gender Advertisements
In this analysis, the author examines the portrayal of male and female subjects in visual discourse by deconstructing advertisements that involve gendered subjects, examining gender in institutional level and considering gender as a representation. Advertisements are the most conventional way of representing commercial realism, something that could be real because they don't look weird or strange - they look normal. The big question posed by Erving Goffman, author of the book “Gender Advertisements” is: why do these advertisements not seem strange to us when in fact they really are (Jhally)? Gender is a learned social construct about what you do. It is a cultural system based on the binary opposition of men and women, but there are also variations such as transgender, homosexual and queer people (Cook-Gumperz, Jenny 291-307). In our society, we sometimes confuse sex and gender as one and the same thing. Sex is biological and is identified by an organic/physical aspect while gender is constructed through the interaction of interpersonal and institutional practices (DeFrancisco and Palczewski). Gender relations in advertisements are very different from what they are in reality. Women are treated like children, they never leave their childhood in these images nor in the way they act. Males, on the other hand, are the adults or parents, more mature and adult. Goffman supports his arguments through a selection of images that show gender relations in advertising. For example, beds and floors are the least clean part of the room and people associated with these areas are positioned so that their body is lower than that of a sitting or standing person (Jhally). According to Canetti, when we start to get closer to the ground, we are in the middle of papers and practices. All institutions influence and are influenced by the institution of gender. There is a system based on the idea that men and women are different but equal. As children, we learned that there is segregation between gender classes and that as we get older, this segregation becomes ingrained in our identity. The company already has rules in place; if we do not follow them, we will face disappointment from our peers. Imagining starts from birth, you are assigned a role to play but if you can't imagine something it won't happen. Gender is a performance in which every human being must participate; the difficult question to ask yourself is whether you have respected these gender codes? Even though we often ignore our social practices, now would be a good time to start thinking. The world is our stage and our role in the play we call life is gender..