Comparing Kilbourne's 'Gender And Geometry'

Jean Kilbourne and Jesse J. Prinz explored the impact a person’s gender has on the way society views and treats them in their articles, “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt” and “Gender and Geometry”. However, Kilbourne discusses advertising whereas Prinz focuses on academics and the job market. Kilbourne’s article points out how women are overly sexualized in advertising and tells us how damaging it can be for women. On page 510 she examines how advertisements contribute to addictions. According to Kilbourne, addiction can often stem from society’s pressure on women to be submissive and subdued. Addiction to things that help perpetuate the ideal characteristics of women portrayed in advertising, such as eating disorders, is very harmful and but …show more content…
He leads us to the conclusion that even if gender had any sway in what academic skills you have, it is a very small influence and it is much more likely that it is society’s fault rather than biology. Men are stereotyped as being to be better at STEM fields whereas women excel in language fields. Following this logic we should assume jobs in STEM are male dominated while jobs in English and Philosophy are female dominated. As Prinz points out, that is not the case. As of 2012, when “Gender and Geometry” was written, male professors in engineering departments outnumbered female professors 36 to 1. That seems to follow the stereotype until he points out that even in Harvard's English and Philosophy departments, departments that are supposedly more fit for women, male professors still outnumber female professors. It’s not just in academia though, when a woman is hired over a man, people question whether she’s only there to fill a quota, Male dominated fields are seen as important, women in those fields are told they don’t belong there. Alternatively, in female dominated fields, men are praised for succeeding in a field that is not typical for