The author (moi) used old ads for a good reason. To demonstrate how long this has been going on as my piece is geared toward understanding the history of advertising. As I mentioned in another comment, three words: airbrushed thigh gap.

As a 27 year old you may never have seen these ads. I don’t know how old your mom is. Mine is 79. I’m 44. While I never saw these ads, my mom did. She raised me. She ingrained in me many of the virtues these ads sold. It had taken a lot to break free of that and we, as women, didn’t have a lot of support for breaking free.

Men are shown an ad where they are told is is okay to buck certain aspects of their gender roles. Women everywhere cheered. How many men cheer ads that openly show women how to buck convention and gender roles. The outpouring of support wouldn’t have been what men received.