It's a hot, sunny day and two beautiful women with humongous breasts, slim waists and long luscious legs, rip each other's clothes off while splashing around in a shallow pool of water. The preceding sounds like an accurate depiction of just another day on the job for a porn star, however in this context it is not. Take this scenario and throw in an argument over beer tasting great or being less filling and you have the latest Miller Lite commercial. Sex appeal is one of the most effective forms of advertising in modern popular culture. Sexually influenced materials have normally been created for and by men and have a particularly overwhelming masculine theme, (Harris 91, 214). This androcentric view of a woman, measured only by her ability to stimulate and satisfy the male's sexual appetite, continues to perpetuate three specific aspects of our modern Western society: male's dominance over females, the phenomenon of eating disorders among women and the increased amount of violence against women. .
An androcentric position can easily be seen through any number of popular magazine publications. I conducted a study of five different magazines, all accessible to buy while in line at the supermarket. The magazines: Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Shape and Maxim, are typical purchases for many of my friends and much of the United States. Of the five magazines, I choose twenty-five different advertisements to examine: ten of women only, ten of men only and five that were mixed sexes. Through comparison of the male and female's physical appearance in each advertisement, I have found much evidence supporting androcentrism in mass media. .
There were many similarities among the advertisements. All of the models would be rated high on any physical attraction scale. They all are of average or less than average weight, average or above average height, have firm, clear skin, and healthy, beautiful hair.