Ball Gowns and Bow Ties

Haily MacDonald

Media stereotypes are foreseeable, especially in the advertising, entertainment, and news industries. Stereotypes act like codes—they give audiences a quick, general understanding of a person or group of people, usually relating to their class, race, gender, or occupation. There are several other attributes that create the stereotypes of males or females. In our society today, men should be masculine, dominant, strong, aggressive, intelligent, rational, and also be active. Whereas women should be feminine, submissive, weak, passive, intuitive, beautiful, emotional, and communicative. From Cosmopolitan magazine, a stand out article was “Men, Love + Life”. Placed directly in the middle of a page is a couple—each supporting gender stereotypes about what it means to be a man or a woman and their roles in society.
Not only is the couple kissing, they each are doing something else. The female in the image is holding a vacuum revealing that she is doing household chores. She is carrying out a task “defined as ‘women’s work’—nurturing, feeding, caring for family and home” (Anderson 374) as stated in Rereading America in the essay “True Women and Real Men”. Instead of the female being dressed in a work attire carrying a brief case, she is vacuuming, a common women’s stereotype. The simple household object, a vacuum, symbolizes her duty, which is to work at home. Women are seen cleaning and caring for the house as well as the family, while men go out and support the family. This then leads me to the male’s work attire; he is wearing work shoes, socks, and a bow tie. The three simple aspects of his clothing symbolize how a man is provider, where our “American society reserves highly valued attributes for males and actively supports the high evaluation of any characteristics which might inadvertently become associated with maleness” (Devor 388). In our culture, typically what is associated with men is considered superior. Even in the article’s photograph, the man is portrayed to be superior to the woman through his gender role—he brings home the bacon.

Not only are the gender roles stereotypical, but their appearances are also. “..Femininity must be expressed through modes of dress, movement, speech and action which communicate weakness, dependency, ineffectualness, availability for sexual or emotional service” (Devor 389) is displayed through the female’s outfit in the article. The female’s nude colored dress is a ball gown style—tight top and free, flowing, sheer bottom. The color nude can represent how women in our society are often plain and unnoticed. The top of the strapless dress is embroidered with elegant jewels giving a sense of femininity. The slit up the leg gives a sexy touch to the dress as well as a greater exposure to more bare skin, emphasizing her sexual characteristics. The female’s shoes also set off a different style for women—showing the contrast of two different approaches of femininity. Women of the more classical era were often found in dresses that were long and free moving. The stylish pink, leopard patter of the high-top shoes shows the more informal style that is common today. This represents the clash of the two time periods and how women are creating a hybrid of the two. The male is posed in no shirt and bold colored boxers. The boxers have a loud plaid pattern on them and are a lime green color. The color is bright, and shows off a strong and courageous side of the man. Also, he is in his bow tie, work shoes and socks which show his status, and success. The male is dressed in these clothes because men in our society are often seen as being in charge, noticed, and assertive. Why is the male choosing to wear a bow tie instead of a normal tie? Since the man is shirtless, I believe he chose to wear a bow tie to keep his bare chest exposed because a man’s style of dress should “emphasize the size of the upper body musculature” (Devor 391). Also, it shows a more playful side in a way, that he means business, but wants to have fun too.

Not only does their clothing attire reveal certain aspects, so does their posture. The female is standing calmly, and leaning backwards—showing her submission to the male. The male on the other hand is standing solidly upright, showing how he is a strong, sturdy foundation for the female. The male holds the female with power, “strength and readiness” (Devor 391) showing his aggression and his wanting of affection. As the male holds tight to the female, she holds tight to the vacuum—one hand holding the cord and the other grasping the handle of the vacuum. Media influences many of our views of men and women. These stereotypes mold an individual’s mind into what men and women should be. Men are seen as masculine, dominant, strong and active, but women are seen as feminine, beautiful and emotional. The article “Men, Love + Life” represents a man’s lie and fantasy in a women’s magazine. A man fantasizes about coming home from a long day of work to a clean house, dinner on the table, a woman looking good and expects her to take his clothes off. But what do women want? Do they imagine the same things as men? Most women do not dream of wearing a ball gown. Nor staying home all day and be expected to look good. Many women go out and help support the family—it is becoming more common in our time period. I dream of being successful, and I want to help support my family one day. This article does not exemplify that—is says women should stay home doing women’s work, while a man should go out and bring in the money for the family; Women should remain dependent and a servants to men.