Life Magazine, Jan 3rd 1949: Kentucky Tavern Whiskey

The ad for Kentucky Tavern Whiskey is a very sexual one, filled with hidden meanings and subliminal messaging. The words used in this specific ad are carefully placed and full of double meanings. The words “pleasure” and “planned” both use the playful “puh” sound at the beginning, and the P alliteration can be used to indicate breathlessness and, as seen in this case, relaxation, both feelings commonly associated with post-orgasm sensations. These words are included in the title at the top of the page, “Pleasure . . . As Planned”, and are seen once again in the short description at the bottom. The word “pleasure” is usually linked with sexual gratification, and in this ad, the advertisers mix that meaning with the other pleasure of familiarity and hominess brought on by the word “Kentucky” and the description of the family at the distillery.

Recover the Wife or Silence the Malcontent: Agency Vs. Structure

            Every society has their own definition of the “ideal wife”. Many factors, with some discrepancies relative from culture to culture, include child rearing, cooking, cleaning, and sexual availability. But the most important quality a woman must have in order to be considered idealistic is compliance to her husband. For the women in the South Arcot district of Tamilnadu in South India, they have no choice but to give up their free will and obey the demands of their male oppressors. In the case study “Expel the Lover, Recover the Wife: Symbolic Analysis of a South Indian Exorcism” by Isabelle Nabokov, she explains the rituals of demonic possession and exorcism in this society. Such rituals are usually seen as taboo or rare occurrences, but in the Tamil culture, they are used by the  men as a way to further control the female population and keep gender roles intact.