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Kaycee White
Period: 3B
10/23/13
Sex, Lies and Advertising—A response to Gloria Steinem
Right now women across the country lay in their lavender scented bubble baths, as they
flip through soggy magazine pages containing articles on the latest fall fashions, advertisements
for Sketchers Shape-ups, and hard hitting exposes on things like, ‘picking the right jeans for your
body type’. Nowhere in these magazines will you find fiction, political reporting, or consumer
reporting. Advertisers claim they are simply “giving the women what they want,” (20).This
statement implies that women do not care about nor would they understand important current
issues, which is an inaccurate and insulting perception of women.
Gloria Steinem, former editor of Ms. Magazine, addresses these issues in her article “Sex,
Lies and Advertising,” published in Ms. Magazine (July, 1990). Steinem expresses her educated
opinions on the importance of effective journalism included in women’s magazines. She
emphasizes that the traditional practices are offensive and need to be taken seriously, specifically
in how business in conducted in terms of magazine ads. Her essay focuses on the time she spent
working for Ms. Magazine. She tells of the positive and negative experiences she had while
trying to get advertisers to publish their ads in her very feminist magazine. She concludes by
telling her readers to take action if they want to see a significant change in the magazine
industry. I agree with Steinem when she says that woman’s magazines are basically catalogs and
that women are generally are seen as frivolous to society and are not given equal treatment.
Although, I do feel that some of her ideas are slightly outdated.
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Steinem is speaking to all women through her essay but it is focused mainly towards the
activists and the rising generation. I like how she often speaks directly to her audience and
encourages them to take a stand. She also uses relatable examples throughout her essay and
succeeds at making an emotional connection with the readers. From her tone you can tell she is
very passionate about the subject and determined to get her point across. She uses humor and wit
in her writing in order to lighten the mood which appeals to “pathos”.
I agree with quite a few of the points Steinem made in her essay. One being that most
women’s magazine are basically catalogs. By this she is saying that most magazines are filled
with advertisements leaving no room for articles that have meaningful content. She points out
that most of the articles in magazines are just “editorial extensions of ads” (36). This is
something I have noticed as I have searched magazines, there is hardly an advertisement that
does not have some sort of article related to it. For example, if there is an ad for a certain type of
makeup there will also be an article teaching you how to use the makeup.
I also agree with Steinem’s views on equality towards women. Since she was one of the
key figures in the feminist movement it is no surprise that a large portion of the essay was on
equality. She points out that women are rarely taken seriously especially when it comes to
making decisions. She explains that when women go and buy something such as a car the
salesmen often say to them things like “let me know when your husband can come in” (23),
which she found repulsive. Her goal with Ms. Magazine was to empower women and to prove
that they can be much more than homemakers. Her magazine helped to break through the female
stereotypes.
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Although Steinem proved some very valid points in her article some of her ideas were
slightly outdated. We have come a long way since 1990 when this magazine was published.
Steinem talked about how advertisers would not integrate their ads because they feared that
white women would not identify but now-a-days people of all races are mixed throughout
magazines. Gender equality has also improved dramatically in the past 23 years. People
generally have become much more excepting of differences than they once were. I wonder what
Gloria Steinem would have to say about this topic in 2013?
In conclusion, Steinem succeeded in showing the audience that women’s magazines are
nothing more than glorified catalogs. She also proved that women are seen as frivolous to society
and are not given totally equal treatment. However, some of her ideas were slightly outdated
because society has become much more excepting over the years. It is my hope that someday
women will lay in there bathtubs while they read magazines that are filled with less advertising
and more meaningful journalism!