The next time you are watching television, or flipping through a magazine, take a good, hard look at how marketing techniques attempt to sell to men versus women. Now that so many women are financially independent, they have the privilege of being the targets of advertising as well. Very often, not always, but often, men are enticed to buy a product by it being suggested that if they buy and use this product, they will achieve status, power and prestige. Don't underestimate the importance of these messages. Henry Kissinger, a notoriously unattractive man, demonstrated during his heyday in the Nixon White House that power is indeed a powerful aphrodisiac.
Advertising geared towards women, however, seems less kind.
Many of the signals women get focus on physical appearance rather than a broader definition of self worth. Simply put, if a woman uses this product, she is beautiful, if not, she is ugly. For years, women have been protesting against the un-natural standard of beauty that all women must be compared to. Yet when you consider how much time and energy women have wasted trying to conform to that standard and achieve that supposedly ideal ratio, it is a big deal. Often, when a crossdresser comes out to his partner and the early signals he gets are generally supportive, there is a sense that everything is OK and he can proceed full speed ahead.