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=Gender Advertisements=

Gender Advertisements was written by Erving Goffman in the 1970s. This book attempted to identify and categorize patterns found in advertisements and the gender codes within them. Several of these categories include Feminine Touch, Relative Size, Function Ranking, Family, Licensed Withdrawal, and Ritualization of Subordination. In this publication, "Goffman makes a clear distinction among “private” pictures, “public” pictures and “commercial” pictures.

=Feminine Touch=

Feminine touch is a common technique employed by advertisers to promote products endorsed by women. This method includes models interacting with the product in a way that is "just barely there," or merely silhouetting the object rather than using it in a functional way. Feminine touch also includes women holding and touching themselves in such a way that implies fragility and sensitivity of the female body.

Advertisements utilizing this technique often show women's faces and fingers, which caress and outline the shape of the product being sold.

=Relative Size=

Relative size is a psychological and artistic device used in images and art, meant to imply distance between two things. For example, a sculptor may carve two figures in different sizes to show that the larger one is closer than the smaller figure.

In Goffman's theory, however, relative size is meant to depict social ranking. The larger the subject, the more power they are portrayed to hold. Men are typically larger in comparison to women in advertisements, unless they hold a lower social status than their female counterpart.

=Function Ranking=

Goffman identifies function ranking as the likelihood of a man performing the executive role in a task when it is shared between a man and a woman. This interaction can take place in both occupational and domestic settings.

=Family=

The way that families are depicted in advertisements are often consisting of a heterosexual couple with at least one son and at least one daughter. Like function ranking, the father is usually shown performing the manual tasks, while the mother is shown taking care of the family and household. The children are similar in that the son follows the actions of the father, trying to reach "manhood." There is a clear divide between father and son. The daughter, on the other hand, is often performing similar tasks as the mother, sometimes even dressed the same way. This implies that the mother never really breaks free of her girlhood.

=Licensed Withdrawal=

Licensed withdrawal is almost always portrayed by women. This idea shows models looking away, unaware of their surroundings, in a position which renders them defenseless. "This pose implies that she is not paying attention to the world around her, and that she is psychologically removed from the social situation at large." This contrasts starkly to the way men are presented in ads: alert and prepared. Women are rarely seen to be anything but aloof and at the mercy of her surroundings in ads.

=Ritualization of Subordination=

This advertising technique utilizes the interaction of men and women in a way that depicts the women as subject the the whims of the men, most often in a sexual way. Women are commonly placed on their backs in a defenseless position. Men are standing above the women, alert and in control.