We’ve Come So Far . . .

Authors

  • Kerry Dirk

Keywords:

gender and commercials, women and cleaning commercials, gender and advertisements

Abstract

This piece is a brief rant about the current gender stereotypes that play out in commercials and other forms of advertisements. While sarcasm constantly reigns in this rant, there is also a grain of truth to these complaints. Yet there is also an amount of truth in these commercials, as they are not unintentionally addressing these stereotypical audiences. I was inspired to write this piece after seeing endless commercials trying to sell me, a woman, various cleaning and cooking products. I was especially bothered because these commercials, by appealing to women, are really confirming that women are still the primary cookers and cleaners of households despite women’s prevalence in the workforce; advertisements know their target buyers. Perhaps my anger toward these commercials is indirect in that advertisers still have reason to advertise these products to women because the division of labor is still steeped in inequality.

Author Biography

Kerry Dirk

Kerry Dirk recently completed her first year of doctoral work in Rhetoric and Composition at Ohio University. Her research interests include visual rhetoric, computers and composition, and composition pedagogy. She has published short works in Teaching English in the Two-Year College (TETYC) and is currently working on a study examining the meanings of participation in the freshman composition classroom. She finds that most of her inspiration occurs during her frequent runs, but her thoughts, while bordering on brilliance, often disappear before she can write them on paper.

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Published

2008-09-30

Issue

No. 1 (2008)

Section

In This Issue

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