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 Is Sexism Still Around in Todays World?

 

             Many people would like to think that sexism has long been gone from our society, however I am here to show you otherwise.  It may appear that sexism has all but disappeared from todays world, but the truth is it is just deeply hidden.  Many people are born into the already present sexism so they don't realize that is going on.  I will show you two advertisements which may seem "normal" but upon further inspection show just how real sexism is in todays world.  

           The first advertisement I am going to take a look at is the ad for the new video game Call of Duty: Black Ops II.  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wIZp_E2CxQ).  This is an existing franchise which markets  a FPS (First Person Shooter) video game, which one can clearly tell mainly focuses in appealing to boys/men.  In the existing games and in this new one, females do not really appear in the game at all, and you cannot play as them in the multiplayer feature.  However within the first few seconds of the advertisement a female is shown participating in what appears to simulate the games multiplayer combat.  The woman is seen wearing what almost appears to be a mid -drift style sleeveless shirt.  Her personal appearance also makes it seem as tho she just walked out of a salon, not fighting for her life on a battlefield.  This clearly has the woman set up so that she appeals to the males watching the commercial.  They make the woman look like a swimsuit model instead of something practical.

         The next woman in the advertisement actually happens to be a "gamer" whom is widely known on youtube.  You would expect her to maybe be a little more closely related to the men in the advert because she at least plays these games for real... and she is.  She's not really made to look like the "swimsuit model" that they first showed.  However she still has some stereotypes once you look closer.  When she first appears in the advertisement she jumps over two males on a white stallion riding past them just as a grenade explodes and says seductively "surprise boys."  Before looking anymore into it that sounds pretty "badass" for a woman in the commercial, so whats wrong with it?  Although it is meant to be applied that she was the one that through the grenade, it is never really shown that she was the one who threw it.  This is portraying that even though she is made out to be a "woman soldier" she does not get her "hands dirty."  Also another subtle clue towards this is the white stallion that she rides by on.  White which is generally known to send sort of an innocent and gentle meaning, could this not be easily implied to the woman riding on that very same horse?  While the advertisement may be appearing to appeal to women as well as men by including them in the ad, one can easily see that they are just mere props to further appeal to the male audience.

         The next advertisement I would like to introduce you to is an advertisement for a new Microsoft computer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7UlE-o8DQQ).  This advertisement would seem to try to rake in a wider range of people as it is advertising a computer rathern than a military styled video game.  However, after going through the advert it appears to me as though they are generally aiming towards the same genre, males.  This ad, like the one analyzed above, features men and women from many different races to try to establish a sence of diversity in the ad.  One of my "favorite" scenes in the ad is of a typical American family, a mother, father, son, and dog.  There seems as tho there is nothing wrong with this picture until you start to notice some things.  First of all, only the father and the son are using the computers; while the only female in the picture just sits there holding a dog with a silly grin on her face.  I can't help believe that the woman is the only one not engaging with the computer, while both of the guys have one, I mean that is pretty much putting her son above her.  That just seems a "little sexist" to me.  Another thing to be said about this one scene inparticular is the dog that she is seen with.  Again like the ad above, the dog is a little tiny white lapdog.  Not only is the dog white, but it is also a tiny specimen of a dog.  In my mind that is showing that the woman can bearly handle the dog, let alone master the computer both the father and his son are using.  

            I'm sure that this is more than enough to show you guys that sexism and stereotypes towards women still exist in todays world, even though they may not be hitting you straight in the face... they're still there.  I encourage you to look for "odd coincidences" such as these and try to see for yourself that this kind of stuff is out there.  Try to find out what different stereotypes there are out there, see which ones apply to yourself, and see if you agree with them.  Chancers are you might not agree with all that you find...