Second Reading Susan Bordo

October 24, 2006 at 9:04 pm (Uncategorized)

1. I like how Bordo wrote this essay. Usually written speech and spoken speech are two completely different things. But this essay is written more like how one may talk. There is structure to the essay, but it is loose and free-flowing. Bordo makes sure never to stray from her point, but to explain it thoroughly instead of short and straight to the point. This is much like a conversation that is spoken from one person to another. There is a point to every conversation, but it is never just a stating of the facts and then walking away. This type of writing makes the reader seem more involved. Instead of just listening to what the author has to say, they are more like the recipient of this knowledge as if they were able to speak back to her with their own opinions.

2. The subtexts of the essay are split up in a way that Bordo is able to convey how the perception of males in society has evolved over time. The first one introduces the beginning of when the general public first noticed that men were beginning to be subject in the same way women have been in the media for years. It then moves on to discuss how the fashion world was not the first to model men in a sexual manner, but that when this started it became the most main stream. Then she goes on to discuss the different types of ads that use men in a sexual way to sell their products. The next couple sections talk about how there are different types of men, ones who depend on their wife to get dressed and others that actually put an effort into what they want to wear. It also depicts the societal changes throughout history in men’s and women’s fashion. The last section talks about how instead of society changing for the better, it is changing for the worse. Since women are overexposed in the media and the general public is becoming more aware of it, it would seem that this practice would slowly dwindle out of use. But instead, the same rules are now applying to the opposite sex, which is not the type of equality women have been asking for.

3. Bordo uses the opinions of others infused with her own in order to make her opinions stronger. She uses the wisdom of Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Berger to describe the Calvin Klein ads. She also uses the opinions of the general public in order to supplement her own opinions of the new ads that surfaced. These differences help to prove what she feels about men in ads and in the media in general.

4.

This ad adheres to the business men of America. This group is the young bachelors who work a 9-5 every day in a plush office and drive home at night in a really nice car. They feel that a nice suit can be the thing that gives them the edge over their competetors. It gives them a sense of power and prestige that can’t possibly come from hard work.