Cutlery, sneakers, breath mints — do these products make you think of sex? Maybe not, but advertisers use sexual images to sell these and plenty of other seemingly unsexy products all the time! These days, you can't open a magazine, turn on the television, or even walk down the street without seeing some form of sex in advertising. At its best, sex in advertising creates excitement and desire for a product. At its worst, it can create a scandal, even resulting in a boycott. Whether it is used to shock the viewer, or used so subtly that it goes straight to your subconcious, sex is being used in more ways than you may realize. This course will open your eyes to the meanings behind the sexual messages that saturate the media, and invite you to play anthropologist as you examine sexual mores of cultures around the world.

Course Developer/Content Expert

Lisa Douglass, Ph.D.

Lisa Douglass, developer of Sex in Advertising. Ms. Douglass is co-author of Are We Having Fun Yet? The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Sex (Hyperion, 1997). She has a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the University of Chicago. In the interest of bringing social research to bear on the concerns of a broader audience, she has written for publications ranging from The American Journal of Sociology to New Woman magazine. Ms. Douglass has taught at Northwestern University, and presently teaches a popular undergraduate sociology course on human sexuality at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is currently writing a book on gender relations called Sex and the New Balance of Power.

Instructors

Ingrid Capozzoli Flinn is a fine artist who works in both traditional and digital media. Through Arte Atelier, her clients have included Flexxperts Software and the Atlantic Marketing Association. Ms. Capozzoli's teaching experience includes lecturing at Northeastern University and leading workshops for Aquent Partners. She holds an MFA in Painting from Boston University and a BFA ­ obtained magna cum laude ­ from the University of Michigan, where she studied with Dr. Rudolf Arnheim.

Piper Nilsson is a graphic designer and information architect. In her four-year career for a leading Web design agency, she blueprinted sites for such global clients as MetLife, Pepsi, ETS, and Citibank. Her current projects include building an e-learning prototype for children with learning disabilities and teaching technology in New York City public schools. She received a degree in graphic design from Pratt Institute.

Outline
Lesson 1	Reading Sex In Advertising and design
	This lesson introduces you to the various ways sex is used in advertising and media. You will look at ads from all over the world to gain awareness of the kinds of images, language, action, and sound that advertisers rely on to signify sex. You will observe various trends in the types of bodies that are most often on display, and discuss the implications on the ads' intended market, gender biases, and the different social/sexual mores of cultures around the world.
Lesson 2	Sex in Cross-Cultural Context
	This lesson delves more deeply into the role of race, culture, ethnicity, and class in the meaning of "sex." It also stresses the importance of sensitivity to cross-cultural variations in what is acceptable to show in advertising. Case studies may surprise you — what is perfectly innocent in one society may be considered a shocking taboo in another! Excercises will have you analyze ads from one culture in terms of taboos that exist in other cultures arond the globe. You will learn ways of tailoring ads to suceed (and not offend!) across societal boundaries.
Lesson 3	The Future of Sex In Media
	At the rate we are going, it seems that soon there will be no sexual taboos left in advertising. But where will we draw the line? This lesson looks at ads in terms of feminist and post feminist critiqes, and discusses recent controversies concerning ads that overstep society's sexual boundaries. Examples will be cited from feminist literature, religious groups, and other groups that oppose the overt expression of sexuality in advertising. You will examine the positive and negative effects of pushing the limits in ad sex, and speculate on the direction ad sex will take in the future.
Prerequisites • None Software/Hardware Requirements • Access to a computer with Internet connection (28.8 Kbs modem or faster) • Web browser (such as Netscape Communicator) *Only students 18 years of age or older are allowed to enroll in this class. Proof of age is required.