Rough Draft (Paper #2)

Santa Cruz, CA 95060

November 26, 2012

Jean Kilbourne

1234 Kilbourn Ln.

Jeantowne, MI 11111

Dear Ms. Kilbourne:

It’s true that all throughout human’s civilization, at least in the majority of western culture, females have been the underdog of society. This is a tragedy to say the least; the influence that women could’ve generated all throughout the progression of human civilization could have been not only a positive one, but it could have also prevented some of the great tragedies throughout our history or it could have caused some new eras of transgression or achievement that we haven’t already achieved as the human race. For women to have only just recently been bestowed with the power to influence society and to and make choices that are their own is indeed something that would make sense for every woman to feel unjustified and infuriated. Any person who had been put through so much injustification would not be wrong in feeling anger and frustration towards those who caused them said injustification. But at what point in time have arguments that were lead by anger and frustration been the correct and appropriate way of dealing with a heated issue or a problem, or, at least, when has been the best way in which neither parties were left disadvantaged or hurt.

            In the struggle regarding women’s rights, it’s important to realize that it’s not just women who have been disadvantaged by the struggle for power and equality between the sexes, and the disadvantage that has been endured by our male counterparts should not just conveniently be glazed over. It’s true that by stamping out a woman’s voice, any and all of her opinion goes left disregarded, unacknowledged, and void of having the ability to take control over her own life, but to counter that argument, what if your voice not only spoke for your own personal well being, but also spoke for the well being of those that you cared about and all of their futures and the future all those to follow you. Even more so, what if your significant other, the person that a one typically becomes closest to in their life, isn’t someone that can be depended upon to assist as an equal during hardships and failures or as someone who can support you when times are hard, but is instead a dependent of whom you are responsible for along with yourself and all others you might take care of. Any failure that you make is not just your own, but is also a failure for those around and those you care for, and to deprive one’s self of such a responsibility, would be to deprive one’s self of some of the most gratifying and happiest aspects of one’s life.

In Joan Morgan’s piece, From Fly-Girls to Bitches and Hos some of these points are more heavily touched upon. Although veered more towards the black community and the struggles encountered by black males in the rap industry, Morgan argues that to counter the injustices and misogyny directed at women in rap music, us females cannot simply point the finger and say “What you’re doing is bad! You can’t say those things or us women we’ll condemn you and hate you!”, no, Morgan states that to deal with such misogyny we have to do what our opposition not; we have to learn to understand them. We have to learn to view our male counterparts as more than just the generalized other and  the demon that feminism sometimes seems to preaches them to be, but we have to view our fathers and brothers and friends, that the male race tends to be in our day to day life, as being just as dispositioned as us women have been, to be to act and think a certain way in which society has lead them to believe is an alright and acceptable way for them to be. Who’s to say that any of our male counterparts wanted to be thrust into a position of power and dominance in which they have to be completely responsible for those they care for and love? I don’t think it’s just by chance that the rate of male suicides in the US alone is 1 to 4 with males taking the lead, and yet we women preach that we've had a difficult time with our societal pressures, by these statistics I think it’s safe to assume that were not the only ones who are being potentially cheated by our society. The fact that this argument has been going on for as long as it has is another clear indication too, that something in the struggle between male and female equality isn't working out quite right. If females are still arguing for their equality and finding injustifications within the media, news, and the regulations that are constricting them, and then, on the other side of the argument, the male portion of our society is killing themselves at four times the rate of the females, then what about this argument isn't working?

The fact that this argument for equality is even just that, an argument, is probably the best place to start in terms of find a solution for that equality. How can equality be found when each side of the struggle is pointing fingers and making accusations?

Annotated Bibliographies (Formal Paper #2)

Curtis, Carole. "Powerful Women, Sound Advice." Westchester County Business Journal 48.11 (2012): 2. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 20 Nov. 2012


This is an article interviewing several very successful women (women who own their own business or are in positions of great responsibility and power)


Kilbourne, Jean. “‘Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt’: Advertising And Violence”. Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. By Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 1992. 575-600. Print.


This exert from Jean Kilbourne's book Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel is Kilbourne's reflection on the effects that the media's portrayal of females could be having on the females of the US.


Morgan, Joan. "From Fly-Girls to Bitches and Hos". Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. By Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 1992. 575-600. Print.


This essay by Morgan describes what she describes as a need for an understanding of the male stigma towards the degrading of women prior to condemning them and judging them for said degradation.

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 2012. Web. 27 Nov. 2012.

This website contains statistics of suicide rates in the til up to the year 2010.

Proposal Formal Paper #2

Proposal Formal Paper #2

Title: Undecided

Author: Me J

Date: 11/18/12

Topic: Women’s power in the modern world. Equal with of man?

Analysis of Argument

Exigence: To demonstrate all the forms and sources of power and influence that women hold in the modern world, in comparison to those possessed my men, and in doing so to prevent from the somewhat one-track mind set the feminist movement can sometimes tend to have.

Intended Audience: All females! And specifically to Jean Kilbourne in response to her exert in the Rereading America textbook. I think it’s imperative for all women to understand the advantage that they truly do have in our modern society; women who waste time talking about how they could have more power instead of taking advantage of the powers they already possess and being the example of the kind of woman they say they stand for, and women who just simply aren't aware of the power’s they've always possessed and just need to be made aware, not told that they are just a product of a society in which they are helpless, weak, and victimized, like Kilbourne made them out to be.
Purpose: To allow Kilbourne to know that making statements that confirm that media is having an impact on society which is suppressing and negative towards women is hardly enough in the process of fixing that problem, and is just as good as pointing a finger in blame, and then walking away with no means of making a solution or finding a compromise with what/who it is you're pointing the finger to.

Logos: For the logical reasoning in the essay/business letter I will compare both Kilbourne and Morgan's pieces, and elaborate on each their arguments so as to to draw out the pros and cons of each and eventually explain how Morgan's reasoning is more realistic and effective than Kilbourne's at generating empowerment for women, and finding a real means to equality of the sexes.
Ethos: For the ethical    reasoning of this business letter I will use the examples of women who've achieved great success to back what I have to say, and I will also describe my position as a woman and, at that, a woman who also envisions a path for success.
Pathos: For the emotional appeal of this piece I will describe a need for understanding on both sides of the spectrum, for both men and women, and how this understanding will lead to better harmony and happiness for both men and women.

RR#3: Kilbourne

                In an exert from Kilbourne’s 1999 piece, Can’t Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel, Kilbourne describes the effect that media and advertising have on female’s in  America; she explains their effect on how a woman views her sexuality, and how we, Americans, view sexuality in general. Kilbourne employs well used and well known arguments to describe the adverse effects mass media has on American culture, demonizing America’s media and marketing industries, stressing their corruption, immorality and their devaluation of family values. However, Kilbourne specifically stresses how the utilization of sexuality by large corporations in mass media is objectifying and dehumanizing to the role of women in society, and is an unjustified means for selling a product. Kilbourne uses a lot of primary source ads to demonstrate her cases; she interprets said advertisements in very perverse and negative ways, making sure to demonstrate how each image and slogan could be taken to have very negative and insulting implications towards the female gender, and plows through a number of advertisements in an identical and similar manner.

Kilbourne describes the appeal of using bondage, sexual aggression, and rape in advertising as attractive due to its ability to link these things with the possession of the product being advertised, or, as Kilbourne puts it, “…it fetishizes products, imbues them with an erotic charge-”, along with the charge put upon the product being advertised, Kilbourne also suggests that the roles that each gender portrays in the advertisements that sell said product are, in a way, being sold as well. Kilbourne suggests that the advertisements that are being put out in which the sexualization of both males and females are included in pursuit of selling a product, are, in fact, condoning certain behaviors of said males’ and females’ sexuality, making those behaviors more sellable and appealing whilst doing similarly for the product. Kilbourne suggests that these advertisements, by displaying women in such weak and submissive ways, and by being as successful as they are in selling their product by doing so, are also very successful in their ability to sell women aspiration to become weak and submissive and to acquire those attributes just like they were able to acquire the product that was advertised.

          The pictures of ads Kilbourne put alongside her writing were irrefutably suggestive of male dominance and exploitation of women’s sexuality and bodies, and included incredibly violent and shocking images of women at gun point and looking vulnerable, scared, and weak. My original reaction to the pieces was that the images were ludicrous, indecent, and unacceptable. For the most part I felt disassociated and very objectively towards the ads, I not feel as if I could relate to the women in the ads and their air of absolute powerlessness and defenselessness. That’s not to say that I wasn’t able to understand the origin of those feelings, but my predisposition to the effects that advertisements and media are intended to have on the individuals that they’re directed at.