Gender Stereotypes In Advertisements And Movies

Words: 551
Pages: 3

The topic of periods is a very problematic when it comes to portrayal in both advertisements and on televisions and movies. Seeing how this is displayed really makes me upset, because young girls gain majority of their knowledge from magazines, and media. Like how the article describes menstruation advertisements are presented as a “’Hygienic crisis’, they focus on shame, physical discomfort, and fears,” (Merskin, 97). To me the article was a slap in the face, because menstruation is naturally occurring in most females, and should be portrayed the same as men growing facial hair. They are both products of puberty, but in advertisement one is displayed as masculine, and the other is displayed as “nasty” and a “sweet secret” (Merskin,101). Why is that? Like we learned in multiple lectures, this is a man’s world, and as the article discussed men have a control of women’s behaviour. If men view monthly bleeding as a biological defect then I see where society starts seeing the negative stigma with menstruation. …show more content…
Even if it is shown, it is very unrealistic and often shown as frightening, creating fear for young adolescence. A scene that comes to mind is Carrie (King,1976), Carrie got her period in the locker room shower, blood was everywhere and other girls shamed her. As an audience, we then experience embarrassment and anger for Carrie, she is experiencing the unknown and requires support instead of shame. But looking back at this scene now, I feel like Stephan King purposely used this scene to address the period stigma, Carrie represents the adolescence struggle during menstruation while other girls represent societal beliefs and stigmas. If this was the purpose, then I believe it could have been represented better, as I feel like the scene added to the stigma, as it produces the component of fear (due to the large amount of blood in the