ABSTRACT
In addition to reinforcing sexist notions about ideal woman-and manhood, ads exploit sexuality. Many products are pitched with explicit sexual imagery that borders on pornography. Countless ads reinforce insecurity by asking women to view their faces and bodies as an ensemble of discrete parts, each in need of a major overhaul. According to Naomi Wolf, "Consumer culture is best supported by markets made up of sexual clones, men who want objects and women who want to be objects, and the object desired ever-changing, disposable, and dictated by the market". As an adaptation to the physical demands of childbearing, women's bodies typically have a fat content of around 25%, as opposed to 15 percent in men. Advertising is a window into adult life, a lesson in what it means to be a woman. Sex in ads is inherently exploitative; it seeks to arouse people in order to sell their things, to press our sexuality into the service of the consumer culture.
