User:Jessobe

By: Marissa Knox, Miko Breski, and Jessica Obriot
Relative size : the tendency for men to be presented as larger or taller than women. Goffman also found exceptions to this tendency that ‘proved the rule’. For if the woman was larger in an advertisement, she was generally found to be of a higher social status. Goffman argues that social situation is expressed through the relative size of the persons in the advertisements, with men showing their superiority through their girth and height.

Goffman (1976) contended that the visual expression of social weight (the granting of respect, honor, and dignity) is often reflected in relative size, especially height. He states, ―It is assumed that differences in size will correlate with differences in social weight that relative size can be routinely used as a means of ensuring that the viewer will understand relationships of [interactive power]

Feminine Portrayal
Height in Relationship. The variable “height relationship” appeared infrequently in magazine advertisements in 1979 and 1991. However, when the behavior arrangements where applicable, males were featured frequently in the taller positions.
 * Although men were frequently portrayed as taller, this size difference was not very large. Many of the portrayals were nearly equal in height, but to maintain coding consistency, it was necessary to note when the male was even slightly taller.

Height As a Social Rank

 * A woman is only displayed taller than a man if he is socially inferior to her. An example of this would be people bowing to Queen Elizabeth
 * Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise were once a couple.  Nicole is higher in height than Tom Cruise.  Yet, in the magazine cover below, Tom Cruise is positioned to be taller in height than Nicole.  This does not mean that she has a higher rank than him.  She is just simply taller than him.  However, the angle of the photo below displays a different message.  the photo is edited to show that Tom Cruise is taller than Nicole Kidman.  This is deceiving and trying to create a social rank based on gender.

Methodology

 * During the use of methodology that Goffman developed during his study on the five theoretical definitions of Gender advertisements, he added two more categories than originally planned. During his study he found that he needed to add Body Display as well as Independence and Self-Assertiveness. The use of analyzing the way that the body is displayed as well as how the person’s level of independence and self-assertiveness is shown will help someone who is working on the subject determine the reasoning of relative size.
 * The method used during the measuring of variables is on that used finding samples within the commonplace magazines. The use of looking into the frequency of gender displays and assigning a number to the stereotypical behaviors in accordance to frequency they occur. The stereotypical behaviors were exampled as the height of the male, male instructing female, as well as male not taller and male not instructing female. The total numbers were added up at the end and then given a weight behind the number. The scores were ranged from 0 meaning no stereotyping and 15 being high levels of stereotyping.
 * Goffman’s study was done over the range of 1979 to 1991. His results were as follows: “Overall, the extent of sexism in magazine ads remained approximately the same from 1979 to 1991. The hypothesis is unsupported, although there are some significant differences between the two years on some variables. Some of these actually run counter to the hypothesis. Still, the portrayal of women in ads has not been changed much since 1979. Twelve years after the Goffman study, magazine advertisements are still showing the same stereotyped images of women.”

Final Thoughts
Relative size is used to distinguish the order of authority in advertisements. Usually, women are depicted as lower than men on the rank of status. Men are pictured taller than women to display their social rank and so that rank is easily understood at first glance. Yet, there is an exception to this rank. Women can have a higher social rank in terms of employment. Relative size is a very tactical and derogatory advertising technique that has more social power than a simple advertisement.
 * Men are portrayed taller to show their dominance not only over women but over the entire gender