Goffman's Gender Advertisements: Femininity and Power
This paper examines Erving Goffman's seminal work "Gender Advertisements," focusing on three recurring visual themes: the ritualized feminine touch, the ritualization of subordination, and licensed withdrawal. Drawing on specific advertisement examples, the paper demonstrates how advertisers construct and reinforce patriarchal gender hierarchies through imagery, staging, and symbolism. The analysis argues that these coded representations both reflect and actively shape broader social norms around masculinity, femininity, and power, and that Goffman's framework remains relevant for understanding how gender continues to be encoded in contemporary advertising.
- Introduction: Gender as an Advertising Theme: Goffman's thesis on gender and advertising norms
- The Feminine Touch: Ritualized, sexualized female touch in ads
- Ritualization of Subordination: Staging and props reinforce gender hierarchies
- Licensed Withdrawal: Women depicted as passive and psychologically absent
- Conclusion: Gender Norms and Advertising's Lasting Influence: Patriarchal gender codes persist in modern advertising
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What makes this paper effective
- Each analytical section is organized around a distinct concept drawn directly from Goffman's framework, giving the paper clear thematic coherence.
- Direct quotations from Goffman are integrated effectively and paired with specific advertisement examples, grounding abstract theory in concrete visual evidence.
- The conclusion ties all three themes together and reasserts the continued relevance of Goffman's work, providing satisfying closure without introducing new claims.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper models close textual and visual analysis rooted in a single theoretical source. Rather than surveying multiple theorists, the writer applies Goffman's vocabulary — ritualized touch, subordination, licensed withdrawal — as analytical lenses, demonstrating how a single theoretical framework can be used to read multiple cultural artifacts systematically.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a brief introduction summarizing Goffman's central argument, then devotes one body section to each of three key concepts (feminine touch, subordination, and licensed withdrawal), and closes with a short conclusion that synthesizes all three themes. Each body section follows a consistent pattern: introduce the concept, cite Goffman, apply it to a specific advertisement.
Introduction: Gender as an Advertising Theme
In Gender Advertisements, Erving Goffman argues that gender is a pervasive theme in modern advertising. The theme of gender is critical to advertisements because of the universal nature of gender and because personal identity is inextricably linked with it. Consumer behavior is motivated most effectively by advertisers who are skilled at exploiting the gender construct. Goffman shows that advertisements both create and reflect gender norms. By constructing an exaggerated patriarchy through imagery and symbolism, advertisers prescribe consumer behavior, which in turn influences broader social norms. The author ultimately identifies the subtle and overt patterns that pervade advertisements, encouraging strong media literacy.
The Feminine Touch
As Goffman points out, "women, more than men, are pictured using their fingers and hands to trace the outlines of an object or to cradle it or to caress its surface" (29). Goffman calls this type of touch "ritualistic" because it differs from the mundane, utilitarian act of touching an object for manipulation (29). In advertisements such as the Estée Lauder makeup advertisement, the ritualized feminine touch is also sexually charged. The model brings her fingers — which function as phallic surrogates — to her slightly open, pouty mouth. In doing so, the feminine touch mimics fellatio, underscoring how gender in advertising is constructed through layered visual symbolism.
Ritualization of Subordination
The ritual of subordination in advertisements plays on gender hierarchies and social stratification. Advertisers capitalize on existing gender hierarchies by exaggerating the relationships between persons in power and those in subordinate positions. Props and staging help to create this ritual of subordination. For example, "beds and floors provide places in social situations where incumbent persons will be lower than anyone sitting in a chair or standing" (41). Gender hierarchy in advertisements both confirms and reinforces gender hierarchies in reality. As Goffman observes, "in contrived scenes in advertisements, men tend to be located higher than women, thus allowing elevation to be exploited as a delineative resource" (43). This visual encoding of dominance and submission reflects the broader patriarchal structures that advertising simultaneously mirrors and perpetuates.
Conclusion: Gender Norms and Advertising's Lasting Influence
Advertisements inform social codes and gender norms. Both masculinity and femininity are pervasive themes in advertising, and ads also depict the relationships between men and women in ways that reflect and substantiate existing patriarchal hierarchies. Specific themes — the feminine touch, the ritual of subordination, and licensed withdrawal — converge to create a gender-based narrative. This narrative continues to be relevant years after Goffman published his seminal work. Advertisements remain encoded with gender, and social norms remain largely patriarchal in nature.
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