gender and language

Language , Gender , and the Soap Opera

Conversation Analysis /Assignment 1

March 1 , 2007

By

Conversation

The women watched an advert in the middle of a soap opera , and then commented upon it . Advertisers are perceived as picking advertising slots during programmes watched by their target audience . It is no surprise , therefore , that the adverts in the middle of soap operas are concerned with a ) Cleaning

b ) Washing and ironing clothes

c ) shampoos and conditioners

d ) Make-up and beauty products

Women 's reactions to adverts for which they

are supposed to be the prime targets may provide useful information about their perceptions of their roles , and the language they use to describe themselves (advert for hair dye shows woman discussing her new hair colour with her mother . The woman tells her mother not to worry about damage to her hair , since the dye is nourishing , and can even colour grey hair

Woman one : What was that

Woman two : It 's for hair dye

Woman one : Do you think she knows that [ .] (branded name ) isn 't a scientific word

Woman two : It 's just made up by the advertisers to fool us into buying things

Woman one : Yes , like the wrinkle creams with all their nourishing formulas Do they think we are idiots

Woman two : Probably

Woman one : Or just that we can 't understand science because we are women

Women two : You never see them selling cars on the basis that they have a magical new formula

Women one : Men wouldn 't believe it

Women two : Men have to be told all the numbers and facts

Women one (Sarcastically )Women are too stupid to work it out

Women two : Why bother to make up some numbers when you can just go Whoooo , shiny object . That 's all they are doing with that advert

The women talked about the advert through the rest of the ad break , and then returned to watching the soap . The feelings that they expressed about the advert show that they felt rather condescended to , and that they dismissed the message of the advert - although it stuck in their minds , they were rather offended by the way in which the advert was marketed , and may have been put off buying the product

Commentary

There are several interesting elements to the advert , its position in the viewing timeslot , and the way in which the women view themselves and how they may well be viewed by those who were making the adverts and then picking the slots . Were the advertisers viewing the soap operas as reinforcing the role of women as housekeepers and (stereotypically women being less critical than men about their viewing choices

This claims that there is a developing space between the way in which soap operas are viewed in the critical arena , and the space that it occupies in the sphere of gender theory

Firstly , the position of the advert was clearly placed to appeal to women who would be housewives and mothers (The...