1
Doe
Jane Doe
Professor Gutierrez
English 102
11 March 2013
Annotated Bibliography
How is the representation of women in contemporary advertisement campaigns correlated to women’s health and eating disorders? Each of my sources explores this question. My sources include a book written by a prominent feminist author, Naomi Wolf, and an article written by another feminist, Susan Bordo. Each author brings their research and feminist view on the effects of media and beauty standards on the American woman. Another source includes a BBC television series discussing the historical representation of women and its relationship with how women are represented in the media today. Two other sources are from scholarly journals each performing their own research on the correlation between the self-objectification of women and eating disorders as a result of the representation of women in contemporary media. Collectively, these sources will help me explore the correlation between eating disorders and contemporary media advertisements.
Berger, John. Ways of Seeing: Based on the BBC Television Series with John Berger. London: British Broadcasting, 1977. Print.
Keywords: Women, Advertisements, Paintings, Perception, Female Nude
John Berger discusses the female nude in European oil paintings. He explains how, with an exception of a few artists, women were depicted as a subject of male idealization and desire rather than as herself. He also discusses the relationship between men and women. In most paintings “men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at” (Berger 47). Berger discusses his observations about the European art and his conclusions about the female nude. He also uses historical information to support his claims. Berger uses mainly visual evidence to support his claim. He claims that women are aware of their nakedness and supports this claim by showing European Paintings where women are looking back at the viewer or viewing themselves in the mirror. Most statements made by Berger are supported through visual evidence. Berger’s discussion shows historically women were represented as objects and that continues in our culture today. Berger supports my thesis in showing that women were and continue to be judged based on their physical appearance. He discusses that women not only are being judged but men but that women also judge each other.
Bordo, Susan. “Beauty (Re)discovers the Male Body.” The Male Body: A New Look at Men in Public and in Private. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999. 168- 201. Print.
Keywords: beauty, advertising, men, media
Through this work Bordo focuses on a women’s perspective of how men are represented in the media. She explores the representation of the male body in popular culture, advertisements, and literature. In contrast to women, men’s sexuality was used more in fashion and later, Hollywood. She uses several outside examples such as Calvin Klein’s advertising campaigns that use the sexuality of men to their advantage. She discusses the role of men and women in advertising and demonstrates how men act and women appear. This work will support my paper through the relationship between men and women’s representation in contemporary media. It will strengthen my points regarding sexuality used as a marketing tool in advertising. I will also use her ideas of men act and women appear to show how women are represented in contemporary media.
Moradi, Bonnie, Danielle Dirks, and Alicia V. Matteson. "Roles Of Sexual Objectification Experiences And Internalization Of Standards Of Beauty In Eating Disorder Symptomatology: A Test And Extension Of Objectification Theory." Journal Of Counseling Psychology 52.3 (2005): 420-428. Academic Search Complete.Web. 9 Mar. 2013.
Keywords: beauty standards, objectification, eating disorders.
This work tests the objectification theory and examines the links between sexual objectification experiences to eating disorders. It dives into topics of body shame, and internalizations of sociocultural standards of beauty. These authors sampled 221 women and collected their own data. They concluded that the role of body shame acts as a mediator between body awareness and eating disorders. This study will help me link eating disorders directly to the feelings of shame in the face of beauty standards. It will support my thesis that eating disorders are directly related to women’s attitudes towards their own bodies.
Muehlenkamp, J.J., and R.N. Saris–Baglama. "Self–Objectification And Its Psychological Outcomes For College Women." Psychology Of Women Quarterly 26.4 (2002): 371-379. Academic Search Complete.Web. 9 Mar. 2013.
Keywords: psychology, women, self-objectification, eating disorders, depression
This work discusses the Self-Objectification theory and its effects on women’s eating disorders and depression. The authors conducted their own study on 613 undergraduate women to examine the relationship between self-objectification and the psychological disorders. The results of this study pointed to a greater relationship self-objectification and restrictive eating disorders, also known as anorexia. The authors concluded, “A woman’s self-objectification may highlight the fact that her body does not conform to the cultural thin ideal. When confronted with one’s inability to attain the cultural standards of beauty, some women experience guilt, shame, and a sense of helplessness” (Kalodner). The findings in this study will help me to show that the exploitation of women’s sexuality in the media directly affects women’s psychological condition and leads to eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia.
Streitmatter, Rodger. Sex Sells; The Media's Journey from Representation to Obsession. Cambridge, MA: Westview Press, 2004. Print.
Keywords: Advertising, sex, women, television, magazine ads, representation
This work explores the cultural and economic forces that contributed to the beginning of using sexuality in advertising to sell products. It discusses various sexual thresholds that were crossed and questioned whether media had gone too far. This work used a variety of other sources including current TV and Magazine advertisements. The author also used several commentaries from various corporate executives, fashion designers, and television critics to assist in his discussion. He uses evidence through modern television shows and advertising campaigns that have pushed the boundaries of using sexuality in their media such as Calvin Klein and “Sex and the City.” This work supports my thesis in showing how advertising used contemporary media to exploit women through their sexuality and used it for economic gain.
Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc, 1991. Print.
Keywords: Beauty, Culture, Gender Equality, Religion, Sex, Pornography, Media
In this work Naomi Wolf shows how images of beauty are used against women. Wolf discusses how the myth of feminine beauty affects women today in the home and at work, in media, and in relationships between men and women. The author builds upon the ideas of other prominent feminist authors such as Simone de Beauvoir and Betty Friedan, and uses other sources as evidence to support her claims. Wolf claims that even though women have gained a higher socioeconomic standing, the rates of eating disorders and cosmetic surgery has risen exponentially as a result of women’s self esteem. Wolf also claims that the use of feminine beauty as a political weapon is a form of backlash against the recent rise of feminism. Naomi Wolf’s book helps support my ideas that beauty has been used against women. Her supporting evidence is most relevant to my topic in discussing the effects of using feminine beauty against women.