BackStage

If you found yourself thinking, “WHAT?!?” You aren’t the only one. But according to this article by Advertising Age, it’s no longer accurate to assume that men are privileged over women:

Young males certainly aren’t privileged. The vast majority of learning-disabled students are boys, and boys are four times as likely as girls to receive diagnoses of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Girls get better grades than boys and are much more likely than boys to graduate high school and enter college. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, women earn 60% of all bachelor’s degrees and 60% of all master’s degrees.

Well, I’m not sure about learning-disabilities or attention-deficit disorder (except for that it is over diagnosed), I do know the education information is slightly skewed. And completely besides the point. In fact, women only start out pacing men in higher level degrees when you get to the percentages over 25 years of age (see ACS here). Anyway, isn’t the point really that women get paid less than men? Even with the same type of degree?

B20004. MEDIAN EARNINGS IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS (IN 2006 INFLATION-ADJUSTED DOLLARS) BY SEX BY EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT FOR THE POPULATION 25 YEARS AND OVER – Universe: POPULATION 25 YEARS AND OVER WITH EARNINGS

As this table from the Census, the American Community Survey indicates, men make more than women for matching degree. Heck, on average, men with only a BA make more than women with a graduate or professional degree.

And, let’s take a small look at women in academia:

More of this fun information here. Don’t even get me started on women entrepreneurs and the challenges they face. Or into labor force participation, or sex segregation, or discrimination, or …

Now the main point of the article is this:

The way the advertising industry portrays men has drawn increasing scrutiny in both the trade press and the mainstream media. Defenders of the status quo — in which men are depicted as irresponsible fathers and lazy, foolish husbands — are starting to feel outnumbered. It’s an understandable feeling.

Do I agree that men should not be shown in this light in the media? Of course! Ads like this:

generally piss me off. Taken from Sociological Images, this is an ad that even my fairly conservative husband got upset about when we caught it on TV–and it’s not the only horrible commercial out there. There are some pretty horrible fast food commercials which equate manliness with overeating a lot of red meat (with bacon, and more burger, and none of those terrible vegetables like lettuce to get in your way). Tonight’s Scrubs was even a doozie (can’t believe it, but it’s not on YouTube yet, best I could do is a summary found here).

**Update: After a comment from Anomie (great comment, see in the “Starting a Norm of Commenting” section there to your left), I decide she was right–the above ad was not the best for portraying the point. Boy, I love the feedback, even — especially — when I’m shown wrong! How about this ad taken from Sociological Images that portray men as asses? Although there are strong implications for women, men are still shown as fools.

Better? Or, is there an ad out there someone else knows of that would work even better?

I also found this, although much more amusing:

But, is the best way to sell the message that men should not be portrayed as idiots by trying to debunk the argument:

Defenders of the advertising status quo generally put forth the following arguments: Males are “privileged” and “it’s men’s turn,” so it’s OK to portray them this way…

How about, It’s NOT okay to portray anyone as idiots–men or women? It’s not like men are the only one who get this treatment! Take an example from one of my favorite model shows, America’s Next Top Model, where (the winner of her season) modeled as a “dumb blond.”

Le Sigh. I think I’m out of righteous indignation.

A thank you to In the Form of a Question… if not for this post today, I wouldn’t have stumbled across this enlightening article.