A Woman's Place

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“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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.... 2 Dec. 2013
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.

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