Reaction to Class Discussion

I thought many people were involved in the discussion in class about Kilbourne’s argument. Many people had interesting ideas. For example, Tony made a point that the companies do not care what their advertisement says, as long as it sells products. They just want to make a product and sometimes the only way they can do it is by having a shocking ad.

I think our discussions are good, but at some points I think classmates become inconsiderate to other’s opinions. Some are stubborn to what they think and will not listen to other’s opinions. This annoys me. It makes me a bit timid to give my opinion in class because I do not want it to get shot down by people who have a closed mind. One point I want to bring up was that I thought that Kilbourne was trying to say that the images of women in ads (women being objectified/dehumanized) are one of the main reasons people act violent towards women such as abusing or raping them. I thought this point was incorrect. I feel that men act aggressive towards women because men who lack power can feel the power if they take advantage of women. I feel it’s more of a power issue, than what ads advertise that leads to women getting hurt.

Another thing that bothered me a little about the discussion was that people did not wait their turn to talk. They just shouted out what they were thinking at any point. I understand not being able to hold their opinion in, but our class is big and there are a lot of people who want to talk. Sometimes classmates have their hands raised for a while and have to keep waiting to get called on because others are shouting out their beliefs.