1. Introduction of topic.
2. History of the Bra and the company history of Wonderbra, background information.
3. American cultural evolution: How has the sexual views in mass media and throughout society progressed since the 1950’s?
4. Compare the advertisements of Wonderbra with the cultural progression disovered in #3 with examples of advertisements put out by Wonderbra.
5. Future? Will the advertisements continue to get more racy and sexually charged? or Will culture start to reign in some of the sexuality that is present today?
6. Closing statements.

I am going to research the history of the bra, to get background information on the invention and design of the bra. Also, I will look through advertisements to chronical the history of advertising the bra. I think that I will just focus on the Wonderbra brand bra. I am looking to find out how the bra advertising has developed through the progression of our culture and times. Probably will end up finding that the ads get more riske and sexier. I also plan to put in some pictures of advertisements to accentuate my findings. Some of the sites I will be using is the Wonderbra website/company history which will give me some necessary background information about Wonderbra. Also, I will be going to google images to find the various advertisements that Wonderbra has put out through the years. I will also get books and other text article from the library to document the history of advertising and the changing culture, but I just haven’t gotten there yet.

• Question 1: I am reminded of a time in my junior history class, where we were supposed to do some vocab homework. Our teacher just checked to see if the homework is done and didn’t even care what we had written, so i just wrote some random words in the homework, and she didn’t even notice. She was just finding another way to give us grades, she didn’t actually care if we had actually learned something. It was just about doing her job and not making an impact on her students. She was just making “deposits”, and not investing in her students.
• Question 2: In the essay he uses it to describe, the teachers and their ideas. They are so over powering that it prevents the students from actually learning. The teachers alienate them by talking down to the students, because they think they are more intelligent and are more experienced with the subject matter. I’m not too sure what he is trying to convey by using the word praxis. From the definition I found it doesn’t really relate to the essay.
• Question3: Freire talks about how teachers only treat their students as banks to be deposited and don’t allow them to be apart of the dialogue in the classroom. However, I think Freire is doing the same thing when wrtiting this essay because he just spews out his beliefs and doesn’t allow for the reader to stop and think about what he is saying. He uses big words and words from other languages that makes it hard to read continuously. I know that I have to stop and think about what is being said and then I get caught on a difficult word and lose all concentration. If he had made the essay a little easier to read, atleast for me, I would have been able to connect more with the essay and understand the points he is trying to make.

I would like to research the bra because I find the advertising for underwear interesting. I am expecting to find that throughout the years the bra has become not just a functional piece of everyday wardrobe but now it is supposed to be sexy, lustful object. From Cotton to Lace, sounds like a catchy title. I am expecting to find information in the databases provided by school and looking for generalizations in google and wikipedia. I’m also interested in finding about the history about the bra and how it came to be an important part of the everyday wardrobe.

I think that I would like to do research on the history of bras in advertisements. It is an essential(hopefully)part of every women’s wardrobe. I think it would be interesting and and education to see what has appealed to women through out the decades.

• Question 1: Bordo takes time throughout her essay describing and giving many details about the points she is making. She takes extra time to give a lot of examples to fully explain her ideas. Throughout the essay we see not only many Calvin Klein ads but also other adds that emphasize her points in each section. Bordo also breaks down her essay into sections, which allows her to fully explain and help the reader understand her ideas. Her writing is a little too in depth for my liking but I did like how she explained her writing with so much detail that it made you really think about the points she was trying to make.
• Question 2: Bordo breaks her essay down into sections to introduce her new ideas to the reader. She first introduces the new ideas. Then throughout the rest of the sections she elaborates about her idea and gives examples to support her points. After explaining the examples and her thoughts she then finishes by proposing a question that makes us think and ponder about the ideas she has presented to us.
• Question 3: In her first section Bordo talks about how women have defined their sexuality on whether or not they are approved by an onlooker. Women are by no means any less feminine if they get their approval from someone else’s opinion, but a man is less masculine when he defines himself from someone else’s opinion. She says that our culture has made it okay for a women to be an object of disapproving or approving eyes, but men cannot be a true men when they are subjecting themselves to gazes of others.
• Question 4: 

Though these two ads are selling the same product and are made by the same company, they represent two very different time periods of our culture. The first ad appeals to the woman’s social life. They claim that no matter what social perdicament Kotex will keep you feeling comfortable, calm, and collected. It is more about social situations and the woman’s position in them, not just about her as an object. Not only is the ad appealing to the social side, but it is also not presented in the same way. The ad is done in a cartoon-like fashion and with a lot of text. It’s not just about the image and a few catch phrases but it is presenting information and not just an idea. The next ad is telling the woman that she can be can anything as long as she is sure. Although perhaps the only way to be sure is to buy the Kotex napkins. The presentation is also completely different than the first, older advertisement. This one is all about the model and the picture. There are only a few short sentences and almost no information is in the ad at all. The model is a lot more scantilly clad than any of the other women in the first advertisement. This is perhaps saying to the consumer that if she buys the Kotex napkin then maybe she too will look gorgeous and carefree. These two advertisements are some that can clearly show how our culture has become increasingly sex-driven.

http://adflip.com/addetails.php?adID=11880&showLargeJpg=yes, This first image shows a very technical way of advertising for something. It was produced in the 1960’s to advertise for Dunlop tires. It shows a car being lifted up by a crane, which is the focal point of the advertisement. There is also just one person in the picture and it is a man and he is completely covered by a rain slicker. This is completely about the tires, and what they can do. The bottom half of the advertisement is all text telling information and making claims about the tires. The focus is clearly all about the tires.

http://www.bridgestonetire.com/images/media/2005adcamp/Turanza5.jpg,  The second advertisement is also selling tires but in a very different way. There are two women in somewhat revealing clothing and it raining. The tires now have to share the spotlight with the women. There is now very little text and it’s more about catching your eye with a certain image. Now are they really trying to tell men that if they put these tires on their car they will have hot, wet women with? No, i don’t think they are, but they are trying to appeal to the male customer by using the objects(in this case women) to catch their eye. The women in the ad now just become a means of grabbing attention, they really have nothing to do with the tires. Bridgestone is just joining the trend of using women in their ads to appeal to customers. As we can see 40 years ago, manufactures wouldn’t have even though to do that. As the slogan goes, Sex Sells, so why shouldn’t the tire companys use it too, even though it has nothing to do with the product.

• Question 1: Throughout Douglas’s essay she uses sarcasm and cynicism to prove her point. She talks a lot about molds that women are made to fill in society. One of her main irritations is the quest for perfects thighs and the perfect butt, and the quest to have smooth non “orange-peel like skin.” She complains that it’s not just acceptable to be fit and healthy, but women are being pushed to look like young girls. Women are being forced to look at themselves and decide that they are unhappy with they way they are. Society pushed the image of women to be younger and more youthful looking. Douglas isn’t saying that it’s wrong to be young and youthful, however, we shouldn’t drive ourselves mad because we have “orange-peel skin,” but we should just be happy with our fit, maybe a little curvier than “normal,” selves.
• Question 2: Douglas’ technique of writing is what draws the reader in and keeps them intrigued. She likes to criticize and make fun of society for the pressures they have put on women and adolescents. Her sarcasm and cynical comments not only intrigue the reader but they are also part of a training that Douglas has received. She uses techinical terms to undermine the terms the cosmetic adds and magazines have used to draw women into buy and consuming their products.  When Douglas uses technical words such as “feminist rhetoric,” hedonistic,”or “age of Regean” she is showing an knowledge of what she is saying. The reader is drawn in with her witty banter and sarcastic comments, but then they realize that she’s not just complaining and long-winded but that she actually knows what’s going on.

Picture provided by http://ziyiforever.primenova.com/pictures/advertisements/008.jpg via Google image search. This advertisement is not using a women’s body to sell the product but it is instead selling milk with a milk mustache. Not using sexual innuindos or guilt-trip that advertisments typically use.

Picture provided by http://images.macdesktops.com/Previews/DRbummerPreview240.jpg via Google image search. This one is just using what appears to be a normal woman and just text. She is covered and she isn’t standing in some sexy pose, it’s not using sex to sell the product. It’s probably just trying to persuade others to buy an Apple computer.

Picture provided by http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com.au/in-the-news/images/img-ad-campaign.jpg via Google image search. I know that this image is showing the female body in what can be perceived in a sexual way or like a conventional ad. However, I think the Dove ads are revolutionary because they are trying to appeal to the mass women saying that the way you are is beutiful. I don’t think they are trying to degrade women or guilt them into buying their products so that they can feel better. These ads are actually trying to help women’s self-esteem issues.

• Question 1: Berger describes “history” throughout his essay. The history he talks about is mostly referring to the history of the art. Once we know the history of the art, then we are able to see it for what it is. When he refers to the art historians writing about their opinions of the art, we take what they have said to be the truth about a piece of art. However, they take the art out of context. With the example of Hals pictures, the unknown author describes the Regentesses as though they were being revered by Hals, but when we find out that he was a poor artist working for wealthy commissioners we suddenly have a new perspective on Hals’ painting. Because we now know the history of the painting we are able to see it as it was maybe originally meant to be seen, not as a critic or historian sees it. This history gives us a way to recover (Oh, Walker Percy, you genius) the actual meaning and context of the painting or image.
• Question 2: Berger claims that the way we see things depends on our knowledge and our opinions of what we are seeing. By finding out the history of the painting, we can perhaps then be able to look at it, not objectively, but as the painter may have seen it. Our subject views are now more informed so that we can then maybe we can see the painting as it was meant to be seen. I think that Berger wants us to still go to see art but he believes that we should be informed about our observations. Perhaps everything we see is too clouded with judgements and previous assumptions, and that we just need to break everything down to its origins and find out its historical beginnings. Berger says his favorite painter is Caravaggio not because he was a greater artists than other but because as he put it Caravaggio, “does not depict the underworld for others: his vision is one that he shares with it.”