Women have been objectified in the media since the introduction of advertising centuries ago. Although I cannot date back specifically to when and where the first time this happened, I thought it would be helpful to create a timeline of women's portrayal in the media.
Before- Early 19th Century: Advertisements began before the 19th century but women didn’t have different “expectations” to fill. Mainly because advertisements back then were meant to sell the products based on what the product entails. However, during the 19th century a lot of women’s magazines had advertisements focusing on women's suffrage. This is one of the first times in history where we see women portrayed in a good strong image. As time progressed to the 1930's advertisements portrayed women as homemakers or objects of sexual desire.
1950's: This was after the great depression and World War II, a very big time when women and men strictly followed gender roles. Women were often portrayed in ads as wives or mothers. This is when TV became an important part of American life, with almost half of all households in America owning a television set by 1955. Television shows such as "I Love Lucy" and "Leave it to Beaver" portrayed society's view of women at the time to be the regular housewife. Lacking to show these women's ambitions, goals, or even real emotions. A women's ultimate purpose was to serve, and help a man.
1960's: Many advertisements started to aim their advertisements towards women, for example cigarette companies. This is also the time of slight female rebellion. NOW organization ( National Organization for women) fought against the Miss America Pageant and sexist advertisements. Feminist groups boycotted different products and businesses that objectified women and young girls. This got lots of attention but the media ended up creating a discourse that feminists were brash, and unfeminine, and the new just tried to dismiss these issues.
1970's - 1980's: Thanks to the NOW organization and other feminist groups, during this time ad executives were re-evaluating their portrayals of women's roles in society. In 1975 a new agency that was advertising to women was founded. Its purpose was to reach the confident women that were not inhibited by their sexuality. Advertisements in the 80's portrayed career- minded women as "supermoms." The Advertisement industry began to wrestle with the traditional roles of women .
1990's- 21st century: A new genre of advertising produces a new attitude of " reverse sexism" Advertisers used the liberated women's "I don't need a man" mindset. However, research shows that the correlation between eating disorders and advertising gained prominence in the 90's. By the turn of the 21st century many key positions in advertising were occupied by women and allowing them have a major influence on ad campaigns.