Gendered Ads in Harper's Weekly

These ads in Harper’s Weekly seem to reinforce traditional gender roles as a sales tactic for their products. The ad “Every Man His Own Printer” implies a target audience of men. The above ad reads “Stimpson’s Scientific Pen”. Taken together the two ads promote scientific and technological advancement. However, the printer ad appeals to traditional notions of gender identity and constructed ideas of masculinity as a selling tactic. The phrasing of “Every Man His Own Printer” could also be read as every man has his own printer, and every man should have his own printer, as though it were an emblem of masculinity for a man to own their own printer, which conflates ideas of gender identity with consumerism. It also indirectly links the field of science and technology with men, participating in the earlier mentioned notion of “men of science” (Barton). Whereas the ads directed at a women audience include an ad for a Ladies’ Book that contains items such as “Seven Beautiful Fortune-telling Cards”, and “a neat little Gold-pinted Charm-locket”, and an ad for hair curl cream, items which the ads presume women should and would be interested in.

Work Cited:

Barton, Ruth. “’Men of Science’: Language, Identity and Professionalization in the Mid-Victorian Scientific Community.” History of Science, vol. 41, no. 131, 2003, pp. 73-119. Sage, doi:10.1177/007327530304100103. Accessed 01 Dec. 2019.