Why do you think there is a double standard when we look at gender in art verses in advertisements? Women seem to be idolized in fine arts while being exploited in advertisements and commercials.


The double standard comes from the influence of the patriarchal systems that were established hundreds of years ago. The stereotypes toward women have never seemed to disappear. In the Rhetoric book, it mentions how the feminists have always & can, trace phallic structures & meanings back to the bible. Due to the male painters & their male audiences, in my opinion, created the 'setting stone' and laid the foundation almost for the phrase "seen but not heard."There's clearly a fine line between what is tasteful of men & of women. A guy could pose naked for an ad with his hands behind his head & that probably wouldn't be taken as something sexual, but if a woman were to do the same pose it would probably be understood a different way. Whether its right or wrong - it's a thought. But then again, women are more frequently related to earth (i.e. mother nature) so, you could say because women are fertile, like earth is, they would be best used as models & subjects like we use nature as our subjects (like in fine art.) With advertisements though, emotions & thought processes are focused on more which is why stereotypes seem to catch our attention and mold our thought-its what we know. It's just like all those pictures and ads in the 60s and in the movie Pleasantville. Women are set in these defined roles whether they want to be in them or not. Guys can show a little skin and they get teased or nothing is said, but a woman shows some skin and they are frowned upon. I guess it just comes down to, fine art wasn't necessarily appreciated during its original time, but is today; advertisements are kind of the same- we frown upon it today but tomorrow we'll praise it.