OULI401 COP - Study Task 3 Planning and Structuring an Essay

Chosen question - To what extent does advertising construct our ideas of gender? 
I chose this question as advertising is something that regularly irritates me through it's over sexualisation of women and the objectifcation of womens bodies. I am interested in exploring these themes further and also possibly looking into the affect that advertising has on how we see ourselves. 

Which academic sources will you reference?
Gill, R , (2003) Supersexualise Me! Advertising and ‘the midriffs’ in Attwood, F ed Mainstreaming Sex: The Sexualisation of Western Culture , London, I.B. Tauris

Gill, R (2006), Gender and The Media, Cambridge, Polity Press

Heldman, C. (2012). Sexual Objectification (Part 2): The Harm. https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2012/07/06/sexual-objectification-part-2-the-harm/. [Accessed 26 March 2016].

Hills, R. )2015). I Failed At Being A Sex Object.... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rachel-hills/failed-at-being-a-sex-object-and-became-something-hotter_b_7933376.html. [Accessed 26 March 2016].

Wolf, N (1990), The Beauty Myth, Chatto and Windus

What images/illustrations will you analyse? 

These are the three images that I have chosen to analyse. After doing some research into adverts and different companies, American Apparels hyper sexual adverts have caused controversy and come under fire from the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority). I chose to analyse these images due to their explicit nature, and their obvious objectification of the female body. 


Essay map

Thesis - American Apparels controversial representation of women in their adverts objectifies and overly sexualises women and their bodies. 

This will be addressed by analysing examples of American Apparel adverts, looking at the sex object.sexual subject argument, midriff advertising, third wave feminism and narcissism  and the male gaze. 

Four main arguments:

• Sex object to sexual subject - No longer seen in passive or victimised objects but in playful sexual subjects, knowing of their sexual power.
• Midriff advertising - four central themes - emphasis on empowerment, objectification to sexual subjectification, emphasis on the body, discourse of choice and autonomy
• Third wave feminism - sex is power, younger females, in line with popular culture
• Narcissim and the male gaze - John Berger