Ever since I was in the archives, certain parts of different articles have stood out to me as more interesting or more shocking. Although I knew that sexism was worse in the past, it still baffles me whenever I see real life examples. Recently, I have been thinking a lot about the special classes that were offered starting the first year women were admitted. Some of these classes include Shopping “A” and Fundamentals of Washing Machine Repair or Vacuum Repair. But the class that really shocked me was Philosophy of the Kitchen and the main textbook for this class was Betty Crocker’s cookbook. I am sorry, but a philosophy course discussing philosophy not cooking. Anyways, I was also thinking about the Fundamentals of Vacuum Repair and I was reminded of a sexist ad from the 60s (the same time women were first admitted into SCU).
Source: Hoover
This Hoover vacuum ad depicts a a women on Christmas morning who is very excited because she was given a vacuum. The ad makes it seem like the best way to make her happy is to give her a tool to clean the house. This ad supports the idea that a woman’s place is in the home. That whole concept is so sexist I can’t even begin. Anyways I know there are a lot of Hoover vacuum ads that are very sexist, so I was interested to see what Hoover ads look like now. Honestly, it was very difficult to find a current ad since the first things that pop up are the sexist ads, but I eventually found one.
Source: Hoover
So obviously Hoover cannot no longer produce sexist ads and be a successful company (plus hopefully it goes against their morals now). This looks like a typical vacuum ad, and no one would ever know this company is known to be very sexist. (Side note: I do think it is kinda funny that the one modern Hoover ad I found does include family in its headline.)
This information as of right now if mostly food for thought for both all of you and myself as I begin to try to develop my argument around my super awesome feminist artifacts.
Well its goodbye for now…
Source: Disney
But I promise there is always tomorrow.