Gloria Steinem | |
Gloria SteinemGloria Steinem, "Sex, Lies, and Advertising" Gloria Steinem (1934- ) was born in Toledo, Ohio, and earned a B.A. in
1956 from Smith College. Steinem is probably America's best-known feminist
activist, thinker, and writer. She was a founding member of both the National
Women's Political Caucus and the Coalition of Labor Union Women. Steinem
was also co-founder, editor, and columnist for Ms. Magazine. She's
also been an editor at Glamour and New York magazines, and
a correspondent for the Today Show. Her books include Outrageous
Acts and Everyday Rebellions (1983), Revolution from Within: A
Book of Self-Esteem (1992), and Moving Beyond Words (1994).
Steinem also contributes to periodicals such as the New York Times,
Social Policy, and Belles Lettres. "Sex, Lies, and
Advertising," a look at Ms. Magazine's struggles with advertisers,
was first published in Ms.in 1990. | QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION | CONTENT - What is glasnost?
- In the beginning, why did Ms. refuse ads for hygiene sprays
and cigarettes?
- Describe the magazine's relationship with ads for alcohol. How
did some readers react?
- Who are the "two mothers from Indiana" the author mentions
in paragraph sixty-nine?
- Define the term complementary copy. (Note: This is not the
same thing as acomplimentarycopy.)
- Why does Steinem speculate that foreign car companies sold more
cars to women than U.S. companies did at the end of the 1980s.
- For what two reasons did Ms. decide to accept advertising
initially? What kinds of ads did it sell? What kinds of ads could it
not sell?
STRATEGY AND STYLE - Study the title of this piece. What do you make of the word lies
in light of the author's feelings about the relationship of women's
magazines to advertisers? Do you recognize the name of the film to which
the title refers, by the way?
- How did you picture the author as you read this essay? (Many of
the links below will lead to sites with her image.) Where in the essay
can you point to support your answer?
- What is the author's argument in this essay? Describe her main
points and the types of support she provides. Do you find her support
persuasive?
- What is Steinem asking her audience to do in her conclusion? Who
is she talking to, anyway?
- In paragraph sixty-two, Steinem compares the cost of a lunch to
something else. Complete the comparison. What does this literary device
have to say about her feelings of the relative positions of big advertisers
and the publishers of women's magazines?
| ENGAGING THE TEXT | - Are you a feminist? Can men be considered feminists? Explain. How
did your answers to these questions interact with your experience of
reading this piece?
- Do you study ads in magazines or do you find them a nuisance? How
might your feelings about this type of advertising have affected your
reading here?
| SUGGESTIONS FOR SUSTAINED WRITING | - Steinem calls the idea "that advertisers simply follow readers"
a myth. What does this statement have to do with cause and effect
concerning ads and consumers? Using your reading and your own experience,
write an essay about cause and effect in consumers' buying habits. Who
really creates demand: advertisers or consumers?
- The author mentions that the last two mass media that reach the
public without having to embed ads are movies and books, but that encroachment
has been made within those media as well. Pick one of those forms and
think about the last few movies you've seen or the last few books you've
read. Has the trend Steinem mentions continued? What is the relationship
of the medium you're studying to embedded advertising?
| FOR FURTHER RESEARCH | Get a hold of a current issue of Ms. Magazine, and do some research
to answer these questions: Who owns the magazine now? What kinds of ads
do you find today? What is the current circulation of the magazine? How
do these things compare to the state of the magazine described by Steinem?
| WEB CONNECTION | Here is the homepage of Ms.
Magazine, which Steinem co-founded. To see what other visitors there
have on their minds, be sure to check out the bulletin board area. | LINKS | Biographical Here's a biography
from Lifetime Online, with a photo and links. It's a good place to start
your Internet research. This is a brief
bio with photos, a timeline, and links. Do you trust the accuracy
of this information? How do you go about checking the accuracy of information
that you find on the Internet? This page
at Equity Online has a brief bio, information about Steinem's awards,
a bibliography, and some links. What's the focus of the biographical
material here? Is it different from the sites above?
Bibliographical Here is "'Women's
Liberation' Aims to Free Men Too" in etext. Do you like reading
electronic texts? What advantages do e-texts have over plain old paper?
Do they have any advantages? This is an interview
with Steinem at Feminist.com. Here, you'll find Steinem discussing her
views about feminism. This page
contains a link to a Steinem audio interview with Salon about
reproductive politics. What is her stance? What does it have to do with
politics? What's your position about women's reproductive rights?
Cultural Would you like some background to start your research of this author?
Here are some links
to feminism sources online from the Association for Progressive Communications
that are sure to get you going. How about some information from another point of view on a topic that
Steinem's written about? Here's an essay
about feminism and pornography by a male author. What is your position
on this topic? O.K., so you'd like some way of putting Steinem's work into a historical
context. This is a 1998 transcript
entitled "Is Feminism Dead?"
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