Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
How media contructs our understanding of gender
Media's crucial role to portray the female
Gender representation in mass media
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: How media contructs our understanding of gender
In today’s society woman are beaten and brutalized with words on a daily basis. Women in the twenty-first century still get judged and disrespected more than the average man. Since I was thirteen, I have been told “You’re a slut” or “You are asking for boy’s attention” or “Save some for the imagination, sweetheart”. Now that I am older it has gotten a lot worse and more derogatory. The word “slut” didn’t always stand for someone that wears a shorter shorts or shows a little more cleavage than the average women, it used to stand for a woman that had a lot of casual sexual partners. In pop culture we have blown this up by making the average woman feel self-conscious about wearing a casual summer dress because she is scared she is going to get …show more content…
During the Victorian era the word “slut” meant that a woman had a lot of casual sex around the town. Heidi Stevens explains how sluts were perceived in the Victorian era, “"The only contrast that existed was a fallen woman — a slut," Bronstein says. "You were bawdy and loved sex and you had no credibility. You were the lowest sort of citizen."” (Stevens). As time went on the word slut started being used in schools around the 1990’s. Young women would get their reputation ruined in the 1990’s if they were considered a “slut”. These young women usually will forever label themselves as a “slut” or someone who isn’t “good enough” for a serious relationship. Nowadays if a woman gets labeled as a slut she is considered one out of thousands but back in the 1990’s there were only a handful that were singled out. “What’s different today is that we still have slut-bashing, but in the 1990s and previous to that, every middle school and high school had one to two girls singled out and labeled a slut. Now, in 2015, the word is everywhere. Almost every girl has had the experience of being labeled a “slut.” I have yet to meet a girl under the age of 25 who has not been called a “slut.”” (Steinkeller). Over time the demographic has expanded greatly. Looking at the history of the word “slut” the word has gone to a specific group of women who were sleeping with a lot of …show more content…
From parents telling their children to go back into their rooms to change because they’re “not leaving enough to the imagination” to rapist saying “well she was asking for it”. A woman’s clothing should never define who she is. Slut has become so commonly used that we throw it out of our mouths like it doesn’t hurt others or makes others feel very self-conscious. In today’s society very few women have gone their whole life without being called a “slut”, “whore”, “skank” or “hoe”. Most of the time in society we use these derogatory words to describe a woman’s appearance or attitude. For example, I have been told that I am a “slut” for wearing athletic shorts and a tank top while working out. With the word meaning a woman sleeps around a lot with multiple different guys how does this imply to my outfit? Looking into a rape cases there is always one person that believes that the survivor was “asking for it”. Keli Goff explains what happened to an eleven-year-old girl in her state “This became crystal clear to me upon reading coverage of the rape of an 11-year-old girl in my home state of Texas. In a New York Times article on the story, we hear from outraged community members who seem both appalled and embarrassed by the ordeal. Not so much by the fact that an 11-year-old girl was raped and that they live among a group of young men who could do such a thing, but appalled by the fact that she dressed
Sexism is very prevalent in society today. Women are often not seen as wives or girlfriends but more of as a personal maid or sex object to men attracted to her. Men value the looks of a female before anything else. If a woman is dressed more revealing than another there will be more men that get the idea that she’s not the person she actually is. This leads to more sexual harassment between men and women that is often to be thought of as the female 's fault. An example of this when women are cat called on the street and feel ashamed of their appearance but if it was a man in the situation it would be odd. The female is often made to think that she is the one who promoted these advances on herself as evidenced by Bonnie Tsui in “The Undress Code”. The female within the story believes that a sweater that had no sexual intention to it was perceived as the wrong way by a former co-worker which lead to the constant stalking of the female. She did nothing to promote these activities because she did not feel that way towards the man at
Before social media was ever a thing, there was not much meaning when a girl was singled out and called a slut. When called a slut, the girl definitely knew that she as was being bullied and harassed. However, today the word “slut” is so casually used that it is almost like greeting someone. “Through the “slut” greeting, girls and young women hail each other the way police officers hails the citizens” (Tanenbaum, 2015, pg.113). It has been so widely used by many girls that
Young women around the U.S are being made to feel insecure in who they are as almost anything they wear is attacked. My own high school, Granby Memorial High School, just recently rescinded a new rule requiring that girl’s shorts and skirts are six inches from the knee or longer. The rule was rescinded after student protest when “The students were told the clothing was inappropriate for school and distracting to the male students and staff.” This misogynistic idea that a young woman’s education is not as important as a young man’s is disrespectful to young men by claiming they are unable to control themselves, and containing a concealed message that women are under men. As a young woman, seeing all the civil rights movements both in the U.S and in other countries, and being told that I am not as worthy or wanted as a man fills me with a passionate rage. We, as a country, fight for basic rights in other countries even though there are stigmas in the U.S that show women in the workplace as either secretary-like positions or women who have had to take on a “man-like” mindset in order to succeed in business. While some of these rules may be acceptable, short-shorts being banned, for example, the educational system needs to realize that with so many restrictions to dress code it would almost be better to have a uniform of nice pants and a shirt. An extremist might even say that these strict dress codes are leading towards victimization as men are not taught to control themselves so it is up to women to make sure that they are not in the position to be sexually assaulted or raped. Even if you are not an extremist, you can understand that these dress codes must change to be all inclusive. Some of the rules in states like California only allow skirts and dresses for girls when the U.S has stated that schools should be inclusive of all
It is also a story in which a girl who is raped is labelled a slut and ostracized by her community rather than supported. Part of the reason this happens is because is that many of our school systems value sports – which can generate income and good press – over people, so we are often willing to overlook the bad behavior of our sports stars. It’s cognitively easier for us to blame the victim and dismiss the severity of the crime than it is for us to break down the ideals we build up in our minds about these men and women we declare “stars”; we write cultural narratives that idolize our subjects and when we get information that contradicts that we have such a difficult time with this incongruent information that it’s easier for us to deflect blame elsewhere. This is one of the reasons why we continue to talk about slut shaming. As Christa Desir points out repeatedly, slut shaming is one of the reasons that more
Our society is entirely based on looks and how “the perfect women should be”. To be pretty you are expected to have the perfect body with the perfect face and hair. You could never cut your hair short because you would be considered a dyke. If you’re makeup isn’t perfect you are considered ugly and if you don’t have the “hourglass figure” you are considered fat and overweight. “Despite higher global self-esteem, women do not feel good about their appearance. This disconnect can be attributed, at least in part, to concerns about body image.” (@PsychToday, paragraph 4) Our society and social media is so caught up on how every woman should look that our own judgment has been clouded and we always believe we need to look and act that way. “The truth is that women’s insecurity about their appearance is driven by competition with other women.”(@PsychToday, paragraph 16) All we do nowadays is compare ourselves to others and that’s not how it should be. You are considered to be a “whore” such as Eve if you sleep around, so women are afraid to do it. You are considered to be “weak” if you stay at home and can’t support yourself, such as Lori. Our world is so caught up in people thinking that they need to be a certain way in order to impress themselves and others. Why do women shave their legs? Why do woman dye their hair? Why do woman get spray tans? Everything we do has to do with our appearance in order to impress
The Victorian era brought about many changes and the introduction of new things. One issue that stood out was “The Sex.” Many things evolved around this issue like changes in laws all over, it became a topic for literary poets/ writers and also for the woman question. This term means discrimination based on a person’s sex and during the 19th century this was a vast issue toward women. This all Started from the early Victorian era with queen victoria, who was the monarch of the united kingdom of Great Britain from 1837- 1901. Being the queen she played a very substantial role during this time. As a wife she showed a domestic side. She supported Prince Albert, had his children, became very submissive and devoted to her husband a family. This image she portrayed became a trend to the outside world. Most people looked at this as what the ideal woman was during this era.
There were many prostitutes during the Victorian era. Most were lower-class women, with the exception of the mistresses kept by upper-class men. According to Victorian standards, respectable women did not consider sexual intercourse pleasurable. It was their duty to be intimate with their husbands. Having affairs was disgraceful (Waters). Prostitutes, on the other hand, were sexually intimate with men because they enjoyed sex. Men enjoyed prostitutes because they could not enjoy their wives. Victorian femininity was not defined by sexual pleasure, while Victorian masculinity was defined by sexual pleasure and conquest.
Bates, Laura. "How School Dress Codes Shame Girls and Perpetuate Rape Culture." Time. Time, 22 May 2015. Web. 18 Feb. 2016. In this article, Bates argues that today’s school dress codes are sexist and leave a lasting impression on young girls. Bates explains that there are several cases where girls are being punished for their adolescent bodies being distractions to boys. Also, it can teach a young girl that her body is dangerous and that a young boy automatically has the right to sexually diminish and harass adolescent girls in schools. This thought process is what causes a stigma later in college, declaring that when someone is sexually assaulted on campus, the person was asking for it. This can be detrimental to a young girl, and can even
Their reason to first utilize the term was to “show the ways in which society blamed victims of sexual assault and normalized male sexual violence”. Almost a half a century later, Southern Connecticut State University defines the term rape culture as “an environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence against women is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture”. Forms of rape culture include but are not limited to: blaming the victim of sexual assault, the assumption that men are weak if they experience sexual assault, making sexual assault seem less of a serious crime, rape jokes/sexually explicit jokes, as well as defining gender roles. All of these forms are seen in today’s society through “jokes, T.V., music, advertising, legal jargon, laws, words, and imagery”. Essentially, rape culture is an actual problem in our society and needs to be addressed
Every day, women are harassed in the street simply for being women. Every time a woman steps out the house, she runs the risk of being shouted at or assaulted, even in broad daylight. It is not only socially acceptable for men to catcall women, but when a woman feels uncomfortable from it, she is more often than not told to take it as a compliment. Even as children, when a girl comes home and complains about boys picking on her, the behavior is often dismissed as “boys just being boys,” or she is told he probably “has a crush on her.” Dismissing abusive behavior, simply because the abuser is male, is unacceptable.
“What is rape culture” is the question that has been repeatedly asked since its emergence in the 1970s. From our lecture, we have learned that the thing about Rape Culture is that it doesn’t have just one definition, but the simplest way to define it may be to say that rape culture is the society that accepts and even promotes sexual violence in one form or another. This includes, TV shows that make rape look sexy; you know the kind: guy pushes girl down, throws open her blouse, exposing her breasts, and even though she is saying no, everyone watching is saying yes. Rape culture is when a college student goes to their Dean and tells them they have been raped, and the first question the Dean ask is “what were you wearing?” Rape culture is saying “that exam just raped me” instead of “that exam was hard”. Rape culture is the most popular, catchy songs these days have lyrics like “I know you want it”. Rape culture is the party girl image, the “she was asking for it”, the “boys will be boys”, the slut shaming, the victim blaming, and the most concerning, rape culture is denying the fact that sexual assault is a problem in today’s society. One in six women and one in thirty-three men will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. In the United States alone, that
Modern America, in accordance to course materials and personal experiences, overtly sexualizes people, specifically among the youth, engendering new versions of gender expectations, roles, relationships, and how society views people based on appearance, sexual promiscuity or supposed promiscuity, and so on. Easy A (2011) represents an example clarifying how gender socialization impacts today’s youth via several concepts such as slut shaming, slut glorification, challenging masculinity, dating/hooking up, gender expectations and social acceptance. This film primarily focuses on a female’s promiscuity. Olive, the main character, is automatically labeled slut, after a rumor she unintentionally sparked by a bathroom conversation. Soon, the rumor spread and Olive became “school slut” in minutes.
Whore and Slut, two words that seemed to have forced their way out of the mouths of hundreds of girls in the last decade. Often enough, these words are used to berate and tear down other girls for acting a certain way, dressing in a way that is considered “provocative”, or having more than one sexual partner: an act called Slut-Shaming. According to the author Jessica Valenti, “I was called a slut when I didn 't have a boyfriend and kissed a random boy at a party. . .I was called a slut when I wore a bikini on a weekend trip with high school friends. It seems the word slut can be applied to any activity that doesn 't include knitting, praying, or sitting perfectly still lest any sudden movements be deemed whorish” (Valenti 1). Women who have
In high school, a boy made up a rumor that we had sex at a party. The rumor spread around, and no seemed to take my word over his; they said I was only denying it because of regret. The most frustrating part of it was that people were calling me a slut, and at the same time were congratulating him. This stems from the impossible double standard that women face when it comes to sex. Women are shamed for having and enjoying sex, yet the same behavior is expected and even celebrated in men. Terms like “whore” and “slut” are almost exclusively used on women, and there is no male equivalent. The shaming doesn’t come from society having a problem with sex but is a facet of how the patriarchy enforces male dominance over women. Some of the more dangerous aspects of patriarchy are the condoning of men asserting their dominance over women verbally and physically. Only a daily basis women have to deal with men thinking they have a right to touch us without an invitation, to say unprovoked and unwarranted sexual things to us; to call us “bitch” or a “tease” when we point out unacceptable behavior. When I worked a Café over the summer I had problems with a man who would come in and make me uncomfortable; when we were alone in the café he would approach my cash and tell me about how he could use his phone to turn off the Café’s security camera’s. He would
To place the blame on young women for how they are treated by men due to their dress is completely unfair. A girl could wear an oversized t-shirt and baggy sweatpants and a boy will still be curious about her. The same is true for girls. The idea that it is a girl’s fault if she is commented about or raped for how she is dressed is sickening and completely sexist. Reilly Card and Neil Haran, authors of an article titled “High School Dress Codes: Sexist or Appropriate?”