Assignment Takeaway #4

For this assignment, I selected a variety of advertisements depicting men and women from the United States and France, including two images of men from France and one from the United States, and two images of women from the united states and one from France.
I selected France as a comparison country to the U.S. as I was fascinated by the images from a recent Air France ad campaign. Despite both cultures holding Western ideals (e.g., individualism), I believe the cultures are still worth comparing.

The three advertisements depicting women include 1) Pro-tennis player Serena Williams mid-swing in a white uniform promoting Tampax, demonstrating that nothing, including menstruation, will get in the way of her athletic performance, 2) a working mom multitasking cleaning up the kid’s play area, with text promoting cleaning services because “life is short – clean less,” and 3) a variety of sweet snacks being held by a woman, advertising the luxury of flying Air France. Both ads from the U.S. stand out as selling women the dream of ‘having it all,’ but while looking perfectly made up and dressed. The Tampax ad with Serena Williams focuses on the objective of not only winning the match but doing so while looking flawlessly, something that would be ruined by a bloodstain on her perfect white uniform. Similarly, the working mom picking up her children’s toys is doing so in heels. This drives home the message that women can have it all, but their appearance should still be a priority. The Air France ad featuring a similarly well-dressed woman is focusing on the delivery and presentation of luxury. She appears to be part of that delivery, as she doesn’t look like she is the one who will be indulging in the snacks. She is merely the beautiful person presenting the beautiful food.

This is in contrast to the man in the second Air France ad who is gazing upon what appears to be an elegant parfait. He is depicted as the one who this delicacy was concocted for, rather than the person presenting the treat. This is similar to the third Air France ad, which portrays a man being swept away by the comfort of flying Air France. Finally, we have a picture of three athletes promoting Dove For Men, which is in stark contrast to the Tampax ad featuring Serena Williams. Dove for Men appears to be marketed as enhancing masculinity and ruggedness for “every man.” This reinforces masculine gender roles (e.g., dominance) in U.S. culture. Overall, the advertisements from both France and the U.S. reinforce expectations that men should be dominant, and that women can have it all, but must care for themselves and others and look beautiful doing it. Ads like this make it less surprising when sports interviewers ask Serena Williams sexist questions, or when women encounter sexist policies surrounding maternity leave in the workplace. It’s important to evaluate the gender roles we’re implying when planning marketing campaigns, as they may have lasting repercussions.

Assignment Takeaway #3

I explored the blog of Doriana Diaz, a Temple University student who was part of the Culture and Identity Envoy Program in Rome, Italy. I primarily selected Doriana’s blog to review as I was intrigued by the program she studied with. Reflecting on my research experience exploring identity, I felt a connection to Doriana’s interest in the identity of minoritized individuals – a connection I didn’t feel with some of the other students’ blogs. A recurring theme in Doriana’s posts was the intersection of her own identity as a black woman from the States with her exploration of identity abroad. According to our text, race is a social construction which is then assigned meaning by a given culture. It appears the purpose of this program is to foster safe spaces for minoritized individuals to develop their identities, and Doriana cited the need for this not only in the U.S. but also in Italy, discussing the parallels she saw in racial issues between the two countries. Safe spaces were difficult to come by early in her study abroad tenure. Doriana discussed finding great joy in the tight-knit migrant communities of Rome, discussing their warmth and supportiveness, as well as the peace she felt upon seeing other black and brown people together.

Doriana emphasized that neither the U.S. nor Italy were post-racial societies and that there is still an enormous amount of work that needs to be done for black and brown people to feel safe to explore and develop their identities. She also discussed the harm that can come to an individual’s identity when they assimilate to a secondary culture to avoid xenophobia. I became very aware of this issue when working in Dr. Meca’s lab as a research assistant last year looking at the impact of cultural stress on identity development in Hispanic and Latinx emerging adults. This awareness has changed not only how I approach research but also how I approach daily life.

In her first blog post, Doriana seemed uncertain about how she might bring change to minoritized individuals searching for spaces to explore their identities, despite being aware that change was urgently needed. However, it was evident that Doriana ended her study abroad experience grateful and with a renewed sense of optimism to address these issues both at home and abroad.

Assignment Takeaway #2

I found all 13 of the American values discussed by Kohls, 1984 very intriguing, and I would agree that I’ve either observed or resonated with each of them in some form or another. One value that I’ve found myself continuing to reflect on is directness, openness, and honesty. It certainly characterizes the ideal communication style in America. When I was a teenager, I often struggled with asserting my thoughts, needs, and wants in relationships, and have found that assertiveness has been a skill that I have had to practice over the years, as my earlier hesitation and anxiety with being straightforward was often misinterpreted by others as passive-aggressiveness. As I’ve further developed my communication skills into my twenties, I find that I now prefer interacting with people who also communicate in a more open, honest, and assertive manner.

Before reading Kohls’s 1984 article on American values, directness, openness, and honesty wouldn’t have struck me as a core value in our culture. However, reflecting on my roles in work and school settings especially, I now realize how much emphasis was placed on communication skills, particularly directness, clarity in one’s message, and assertiveness. People don’t want you to beat around the bush.

It’s truthfully hard for me to imagine living in a culture with an alternative preferred communication style. However, I can imagine that if one came to the United States from a place where courtesy, reverence, and maintaining one’s standing – factors which all might foster indirect communication styles – were highly valued, there would certainly be a period of adjustment. They would likely view Americans who communicate in this way as disrespectful and somewhat uncivilized. However, I think I will always prefer a more assertive communication style, as I don’t want anyone to ever misconstrue my message, nor do I want to misconstrue the message of others. It’s certainly possible that someone from a more indirect, ritualistic culture who fears being misconstrued or misconstruing others might feel similarly, but someone without those fears may struggle to see the value in an open and honest communication style.

Kohls, L. R. (1984). The values Americans live by. Washington, DC: Meridian House

            International.

Assignment Takeaway #1

Hailing from Northern Virginia, I went to school with peers from various cultural backgrounds. I befriended two Korean girls who lived in my neighborhood, and we were inseparable for most of high school. When visiting them and their families at their homes, I noticed the differences between our cultures more acutely. I was lucky enough that they both instructed me on expected manners for a guest in a home of their culture. I was always certain to greet their parents with a bow, saying, “annyeonghaseyo.” I also made sure to graciously try any food offered to me.

Upon reflection, the developmental stage of intercultural sensitivity I most identify with is Adaptation to Difference (Bennett, 1993). Bennett describes Adaptation to Difference as a time when one makes a conscious effort to tailor their attitude and behavior to a given cultural context. Experiencing the aforementioned intercultural exposure as a teenager helped me be more adaptable to intercultural interactions as an adult. I’m now able to implement cognitive and intuitive empathy to shift my approach when meeting someone from a different cultural background than my own. When I worked as a registered behavior technician in Applied Behavior Analysis therapy, I helped children and families from many different cultural backgrounds. To provide the best standard of care, we had to be attuned to such differences. Although I am happy I was able to make these adaptations, I don’t consider myself to be in Bennett’s Integration of Difference stage, as I find myself consciously adjusting my behaviors to a situation as I gather more information. I hope that my coursework in Cross-Cultural Psychology, especially that which focuses on communication, emotion, and social behavior, can help me become more reflexive in future intercultural interactions. Before this assignment, I hadn’t considered the intentional thought processes that I put into intercultural interactions. I also hadn’t considered that these processes and interactions could occur more reflexively than they do now. I plan to implement this knowledge in future coursework and real-life interactions to further improve their quality.

References

Bennett, M. J. (1993): Towards Ethnorelativism: A Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity. Aus: Paige, RM, 21-71.