Female Objectification Essay

While modernity has allowed humans to advance greatly with technology, we as a modern society, have failed to address certain social problems that arise with media. People of all ages are exposed to particular advertisements that objectify women in a manner, that has now become normalized and a part of our culture. Female objectification in media such as advertisements, has created an issue where a woman’s worth is associated to her body appearance (1). US residents alone are exposed to over two thousand advertisements a day (2). According to a study done by (3), one in every two advertisements from 58 popular US magazines, represented women as sex objects. Female objectification in ads is an important issue to address as the representation of women as victims or sex objects, is known to increase

Due to the constant sexualisation of women in ads, they are more likely to be constantly judged. This is known to lead to low self-esteem, depression and eating disorders (4). This misogynistic and patriarchic presentation of women may further lead to more violent attacks on women, as viewing women as sex objects may make sexual violence seem justified (3). This modern issue negatively impacts some men such that it increases their aggression levels, which can affect their daily lives (3). According to Lanis and Covell 1995; MacKay and Covell 1997, viewing images of objectified women increases acceptance of rape and gender role stereotyping. Although this has a definite negative impact on women in terms of victim blaming, this attitude can likewise affect men. The belief that women are sex objects can lead to unnoticeable yet significant impacts such as masculinity issues and unbalanced relationships. Often ads that represent women as objects, include presentations of masculine ideals. This negatively impacts men because these unrealistic models lead to drug abuse and eating disorders