Example Of Reading Response Two Ways A Woman Can Get Hurt By Jean Kilbourne Literature Review

In her article “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt”, Jean Kilbourne raises the issue of advertisements and the way they portray women. More importantly, she stresses that they influence young boys and society to mistreat women. The general picture that is build, urges men to be more dominant, forceful and aggressive. Rather than putting emotional intimacy on a pedestal, advertisements rank sexual intimacy higher. This leaves men that actually care to be intimately and emotionally close to a woman with impugned masculinity.
I believe that there is a point to the article. Even though I was skeptical when I first began reading it, I was convinced of the truth behind the argument. I too first though that Kilbourne is looking at things too deep and finding meaning that where never put into them. Perhaps these types of advertisements do not influence confident adult who have strong moral character. However, most people are not like that. They look up to TV for ways that they should behave. It is completely true that advertisements wrong tell women to fall in love and give themselves away to hostile and indifferent men. Supposedly, the are the true catch. Moreover, it is the women that end up being punished for being drunk and sexually assaulted as men, apparently, can’t help themselves. Women are far harsher judges than men. We believe that we should be strong and do not accept weakness. This is all at the same time when violence is being made erotic in the pictures around us. I agree with the author that there really is a problem. Perhaps not all of the advertisements are as harmful as she says, but very many truly are. While it can be acceptable to joke about the stereotypes of women, there needs to be a limit. There is a clear line between an innocent funny joke and a harsh abuse.