“A Woman’s Place”
In 2013, the American woman can vote, be the CEO of a business, start her own company, and wear pants. Many would say that a woman has the exact same rights as a man in today’s society- and is treated the same as well. However, in addition to glaring economical evidence provided through data stating that women still earn 77 cents to every man’s dollar (Basset, HuffingtonPost.com), we find that women are still entrapped socially- by sexualisation and objectification of them. Sexualising and objectifying women in advertisements leads to the de-humanisation of them.
From a young age, women are taught that to be successful and happy they must reach a certain standard of beauty first. Rather than grow up thinking that the most important asset a woman can have is her self, young girls are taught through advertisements that their value rests on their appearance. This is an immense social issue. Today being a successful woman means wearing a sexy outfit that shows just the right amount of cleavage and curve. It means turning heads everywhere she goes- men looking after her in lust, women looking after her in envy. A successful woman is desirable and beautiful, confident and sultry. Her worth comes from her ability to gain men’s attention. If she is not servicing men by being physically pleasing to the eye, she is of no use. This is a dangerous mentality that is thriving in the United States, and unfortunately growing throughout the world. Just last month one of India’s senior policemen and leader of the Central Bureau of Investigation, Ranjit Sinha, compared rape to unlicensed betting, stating, “it is very easy to say that if you can’t enforce it, it’s like saying if you can’t prevent rape, you [should] enjoy it” (B...
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Huffington Post [Doutzen Kroes: Even I’m Not A Sample Size In Real Life] 09 09 2013, n.page. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.
Goudrea, Jenna. “The Hidden Dangers Of Cosmetic Surgery.” Forbes. 16 06 2011: n. page. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.
Sanders, Erica Lauren. “The Influence of Media Marketing on Adolescent Girls.” Undergraduate Research Journal for the Human Sciences. 2. (2002-2013): n. page. Web. 30 Nov. 2013
Peter, Jochen, and Patti Valkenburg. "Adolescents’ Exposure To A Sexualized Media Environment And Their Notions Of Women As Sex Objects." Sex Roles 56.5/6 (2007): 381-395. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.Vaes, Jeroen, Paola Paladino, and Elisa Puvia.
"Are Sexualized Women Complete Human Beings? Why Men and Women Dehumanize Sexually Objectified Women." European Journal Of Social Psychology 41.6 (2011): 774-785. Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Nov. 2013.
Instead, women are being discriminated and treated as inferior due to the stereotypes that are portrayed in the media. The media creates and reproduces ways of seeing that at a minimum reflect and shape our culture. We can look at the media to understand more about a culture’s values and norms, if we realize the limitations of looking at the media. For example, one may ask, does the news based in the United Sates represent what the American culture is like, or only what stands out from everyday American culture? The answer to that is no. Instead, the media represents what it thinks it will be able to sell and is supported by advertisements. This includes violent acts, the sensationally and inappropriate. Jhally reminds us that “it is this male, heterosexual, pornographic imagination based on the degradation and control of women that has colonized commercial culture in general, although it is more clearly articulated in music videos” (Jhally 2007). Therefore, “media content is a symbolic rather than a literal representation of society and that to be represented in the media is in itself a form of power—social groups that are powerless can be relatively easily ignored, allowing the media to focus on the social groups that ‘really matter’” (Gerbner,
Signorelli, Ph.D., Nancy. A CONTENT ANALYSIS: Reflections of Girls in the Media A Study of Television Shows and Commercials, Movies, Music Videos, and Teen Magazine Articles and Ads. Kaiser Family Foundation and Children Now, Apr. 1997. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
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Szymanski, Dawn M., Lauren B. Moffitt, and Erika R. Carr. “Sexual Objectification of Women: Advances to Theory and Research.” APA, 2011. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
Women celebrities often remark that the media negatively displays women and sexually objectifies them through many mediums such as film, TV, video games, and advertisements. However, there are many female stars that are willing to pose provocatively for a wide variety of men’s magazines such as Maxim, a European magazine targeted at men. Their hypocrisy in shooting the pictures invalidates the argument that men exploit female sexuality, as they are likewise eager to take those pictures. These women are so quick to jump at an opportunity to pose seductively for the camera, a...
The Iliad is a story of strong characters, brave heroism, raw human emotion and physical and emotional strife. From war prizes to goddesses, women play a large role in that story. From the opening of the seemingly male-oriented epic, women are at the center of the plot movement and motivation. The war between Greece and Troy originally starts over a woman, Helen. The wife of Menelaus and the promised prize to Paris for being the judge of a beauty contest for the goddesses, Helen is the nexus of the war. Being the source of the entire war gives her a very powerful role in the Iliad. Even though the story is not about the war it based around the war and at times the two are very intertwined. Not all women in the Iliad have power though, many are treated like objects and property. The balance between male and female roles in this poem is a fascinating point of interest.
Sexualization of women is taught to the public from an early age through the media. This is not a new phenomena, however. As Roberts and Zurbriggen (2012) address, the problem exponentially compounds over time, as evolving mass communication technology creates more opportunities for the press to teach sexualization. New technology is not entirely negative though, as it allows the public to more easily engage in discussions regarding the expression of
Paddock , C. (2007). Sexualization of girls in the media is harmful. Medical News Today, Retrieved from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/63514.php
A common trend in the entertainment industry today is the objectification of women in society. Sexualizing women are seen in media such as; movies, advertisement, television show and music video, where their main focus is providing the audience with an image of women as sexual objects rather than a human. This is detrimental to society since the media is producing social stereotypes for both genders, which can further result in corrupted social habits. Objectification in media are more focused on females than male, these false images of women leave individuals with the wrong idea of the opposite sex. As media continuously use sexual contents regarding women, the audience starts underestimating women. Specifically movies, it allows media to shape the culture’s idea of romance, sex and what seems
The media is a large part of our everyday lives; everywhere we go we can find a source of media. It influences our thoughts, feelings and behaviours every day as it is a huge influence in today’s society. Society heavily relies on the media to show them what is in the norm and what is going on in the world. The media also serves as another way to display the normative of the society. Sexuality is a big part in the media and what is appropriate sexuality. The media negatively affects the people who do not fit society’s ideal normative. This includes people with a sexuality that is not the normative of heterosexuality. In the media, these people of other sexualities are excluded and made to feel they do not fit into society. My pyramid shows how society classifies people by their sexuality in the media. This involves highlighting the normative sexuality and excluded any other sexuality from the mainstream media.
The documentary Killing Us Softly 4 discusses and examines the role of women in advertisements and the effects of the ads throughout history. The film begins by inspecting a variety of old ads. The speaker, Jean Kilbourne, then discusses and dissects each ad describing the messages of the advertisements and the subliminal meanings they evoke. The commercials from the past and now differ in some respects but they still suggest the same messages. These messages include but are not limited to the following: women are sexual objects, physical appearance is everything, and women are naturally inferior then men. Kilbourne discusses that because individuals are surrounded by media and advertisements everywhere they go, that these messages become real attitudes and mindsets in men and women. Women believe they must achieve a level of beauty similar to models they see in magazines and television commercials. On the other hand, men expect real women to have the same characteristics and look as beautiful as the women pictured in ads. However, even though women may diet and exercise, the reality...
Marcus, Miriam. “Ten Plastic Surgical Risks You Need To Know.” Forbes, n.p. 10 October 2007. Web. 17 February 2012.
Cosmetic surgery is becoming a trend world-wide today because humans can never be fully satisfied in terms of looks; however, this type of surgery has many serious perils rather than some benefits that we already know.
Pornography degrades the moral values of a society. With increased pornography in the contemporary society, sex is no longer a sacred act shared between two people who love each other. Sex has been abused by many people, while there has been an increase in promiscuity (Sabo 150). In addition, the perceptions that people have about sex and women has changed. Women are seen as objects or instruments of sexual satisfaction. They are no longer respected while men expect sexual gratification from acts that can even be termed as beastly. The effects are far reaching as young people as young as 12 years have been fed with the same perception (Peter and Valkenburg 179).