Gender Changes In Popular Media

Brian Carter

252652490

ANTH3871

February 22, 2000

Gender Differences as Portrayed in LIFE Magazine from 1937-1960

Between the years of 1937 and 1960,LIFE underwent changes involving the portrayal of the genders. In popular literature, stereotypes and views of certain subjects are often displayed for future study. In the case of gender differences, advertisements and articles yield the best portrayal of gender stereotyping of the time. The following issues of LIFE magazine were used in this paper: January-February 1937, January-February 1945, January-February 1952, and January-February 1960. At the end of the Great Depression in 1937, women had a very simple stereotype in the popular media. They were portrayed as staying home, cleaning, cooking, and mothering. The only pictures of women in LIFE were of housewives doing some sort of domestic work. Men were portrayed exactly the opposite, out at social functions or at some sort of important occupation. One of the first ads in the magazine was an advertisement for Colgate toothpaste. It pictured a girl in college complaining to her roommate that no one likes her and she is quitting school, "I should have never gone to college". She then goes to her dean to quit and realizes she has bad breath. The dentist gives her Colgate and soon she has a date for the prom. "I love college now." This cartoon advertisement seems to imply that in 1937, women went to college to get married. Most of the other articles involving women were ones that involved housework. Every last one of the cleaning and food advertisements had a pretty lady in a dress holding the item. Moreover, if there was a man in the picture, he was either getting food at the dinner table or sick in bed with his wife nursing him back to health. All of these articles implied the same thing: women stayed in the house and took care of all the domestic activities. Some ads did portray women outside the home. One cigarette ad had both a man and a woman on it. The Camel man was a cowboy, watching his herd, the Camel woman was a pretty young secretary busy at her typewriter. There was obviously a clear division of labor in 1937. Finally there was an popular art series exhibited in LIFE in January. The article was written about a series of murals painted of the depression. All the men in the paintings were working hard, carrying mailbags, building a house, farm work, and other hard labor jobs. The women were sewing, cooking and taking care of the babies. When women and men were together in the murals, the men were eating, and the women were usually taking care of them. The popular gender stereotypes of the time made apparent in LIFE magazine in 1937. And yet there was one article in February that wrote about the women's liberation movement. It was on Margaret Sager and her efforts to make contraception more available to women. It even mentioned how she was a "inspiration for women all over the world". One thing I noticed in all the pictured in the magazine was that all the women wore dresses. No matter what the activity, women were always portrayed wearing a long skirt or dress. Eight years later in 1945, during World War II, gender roles were forced to change in America and popular literature changed a little right along with it. Ten million American men went to Europe and Japan leaving a huge labor shortage. The women in the country took their place making bombs, cars, and other factory-produced commodities. A Chrysler ad showed a picture of a car on an assembly line of entirely women with "Support your women in the war effort" at the top. Another page advertised a need for more nurses. One of the pictures was a nurse in hospital nursery, and another was an Army nurse tending to a wounded soldier. One full-featured article was about women taking care of the family farm because all their brothers were at war. So the magazines did reflect the social gender changes of the time, but most advertisements did not change at all. All the domestic ads still showed a pretty lady in a dress doing some type of housework. One woman showed off the new "4 Soaps in One" that could wash babies, sheets, hands, and dishes. Another woman boasted "Just a plain old cook --- that's me!" One page even had a secretary telling another not to type to fast or hard because men do not like big biceps in women. "Men only like feminine ladies". The woman's place was still in the home. A man told his wife in a detergent drawing that she was great at washing and picking out all his clothes for the day. This not only stereotyped the women of the day, but also painted a picture of men not being self-reliant. I observed in each issue there were more and more automobile ads. However, not one showed a woman driving. It always showed a man driving with his wife riding in the seat next to him. Clothing still did not change a bit either. Except