Erica Zhang Professor Nelson Intro to Mass Media & Communications 3/11/2013 Media Analysis Assignment In today’s media the sexualisation of women has unfortunately also extended to young preteen girls, through a myriad of detrimental social constructs and internalized prejudices spanning centuries. The commodification of their sexuality is unnerving, as it encourages predators to project their fantasies onto unwilling participants that are too young to understand the nature of these harmful actions, and know how to escape or refuse them. In an attempt to shed light onto this issue as a concerned parent, Rachael Combe wrote the article Little Girls Gone Wild as a response to this sudden boom in increasingly sexualised behavior among and towards preteens. While her intentions remain sincere and her concerns as a mother legitimate, the article is flawed in the sense that she is not delving deeper into the causes behind this phenomenon, shaming the young girls for indulging in their outward appearances and for participating in a role that society has forced them into, instead of the predators that reinforce this sexualised image and make it something to be desired and aspired to. While a girl displaying an interest in her appearance is not inherently sexual; the cultural hivemind that perverts this interest and exploits her selfimage only to turn it around and blame the girl once it has garnered negative attention is an inherently sexist construct. When dissecting issues that involve women’s roles in society, one has to take into account the outside influences that have slowly created these roles and their increasingly constricting nature, and not just blame the woman as the source of her own victimization, which just demonstrates a r... ... middle of paper ... ...ideas of what makes them beautiful, and that it’s completely okay to want to be a “rock diva” or “reality star” instead of someone in a science or mathrelated career. This article has continually asserted young women as the ones at fault for sexualising themselves, stating that they should understand the kind of “messages” that they send out when they wear makeup and tight skirts, and that they should be prepared to handle the type of “reactions” they elicit. The statement in itself is not only incredibly sexist, but further shames girls and paints them as the instruments to their own oppression. To stop the sexualisation of young girls, people should first recognize that the girls are being victimized, and that unhealthy media standards along with oppressive ideals in a sexist society are the things that should really be changed, not their aspirations or identities.
In “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect,” Stephanie Hanes covers the sexualization of young girls and women in every aspect of the media that influences children and teens. She explains that girls see media figures, movies, and sports being sexualized, and how this is causing children to associate looking and acting a certain way to being ‘the perfect women’. Hanes believes the hypersexualized media is causing girls to obtain a negative body image and it’s killing their self-esteem. The author proposes what she believes society should do about overcoming this obstacle, and how people can crush the stereotypes about women; to her everyone is responsible and should aid in fixing these problems. She explains that the media
Though they may be conscious of this, it is high likely that male children and teenagers are picking up the predator/prey mindset through their peers as they interact on a day to day basis. It can also be acquired through social media, movies, and tv shows which can influence people of all ages. A potential solution to this would be to implement a new teaching style in the education system, that promotes and supports the ambitions of female children and teenagers both academic and otherwise, while their male male peers are encouraged to follow through with their ambitions and work along side female classmates with the same interests, while maintaining equal respect among each other. In other words, encouraging interactions with the opposite sex. This will ultimately engrain the idea within each child, that both males and females are viewed as equals. To stop the spread of the predator/prey mindset through various media outlets, networks should implement restrictions on content. What can be viewed as distinguishing men and women by portraying inappropriate stereotypes, and exploiting the predator/prey mindset should be banned. Any trace of this mindset can heavily impact those who observe it, especially those of a developing mind, therefore a restriction on such content will prevent it’s expansion. From the combined efforts of media and social networks, an emergence in mutual respect will soon follow. Once this
To sufficiently take a side in the ever-growing debate of pornography, one must first define the concept around which this discourse surrounds itself. A working definition for pornography is a piece of material that has the object purpose of arousing erotic feelings. Radical feminists, however, strictly define it as “the act of sexual subordination of women” (Dworkin 1986).
In the article, “Little Girls or Little Women: The Disney Princess Affect”, Stephanie Hanes shows the influential impact that young girls, and youth in general, are experiencing in today’s society. This article goes in depth on the issues that impressionable minds experience and how they are reacting as a result. “Depth of gender guidelines” has been introduced to youth all around the world making it apparent that to be a girl, you have to fit the requirements. Is making guidelines of how you should act and look as a gender going too far?
A Study Conducted by the American Psychological Association Task Force concluded that sexualization occurs when a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behavior, to the exclusion of other characteristics; a person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness (narrowly defined) with being sexy; a person is sexually objectified- that is, made into a thing for others’ sexual use, rather than seen as a person with the capacity for independent action and decision making; and/or sexuality is inappropriately imposed upon a person. The APA Task Force reported many example of the sexualization of girls, such as toy manufactures duce dolls wearing black leather miniskirts, feather boas, and thigh-high boots and market them to 8- to 12-year-old girls. Clothing stores sell thongs sized for 7– to 10-year-old girls, some printed with slogans such as “eye candy” or “wink wink”; other thongs sized for women and late adolescent girls are imprinted with characters from Dr. Seuss and the Muppets. In the world of child beauty pageants, 5-year-old girls wear fake teeth, hair extensions, and makeup and are encouraged to “flirt” onstage by batting their long, false eyelashes. Journalists, child advocacy organizations, parents, and psychologists have become alarmed according to the APA Task Force, arguing that the sexualization of girls is a broad and increasing problem and is harmful to girls, and I for one agree with their proposition.
The role of women in society has been promoted as subservient and inferior to men. This concept is still upheld as a standard. Women are less likely, “consulted as ‘experts’” (Lee and Shaw 67) on a topic than male counterparts. Women not being regarded as “experts” (Lee and Shaw 67) reinforces women as inferior to men. In the media men are regarded as “spokesperson” (Lee and Shaw 67); this idea are competent and trustworthy to represent a product. Society labels women as incompetent and does not accept women having authority. The lack of women holding authoritative positions reveals the discomfort American society feels with women and power. This concept has persisted throughout time; women are seen as inadequate to males. In the media news women are substantially “underrepresented” (Lee and Shaw 67). The trend presents women as undesired and disassociated from society. The disassociation implies to women they are not valued. The under representation of women in the media enforces a patriarchal society. The society is represented by men. Stories in the media associate women with “family, looks, or romance” (Lee and Shaw 67). Those stories enforce the view of women being care givers and only valued for physical...
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.
Today, pornography has different targeted audiences based on various categories of pornography. There are pornographies made that are targeted toward women in which are slow and focused more on the people’s language rather than solely genitally focused. Most pornographies, however, are made specifically for men. These videos contain a large focus on the genitals, the men are portrayed as dominant, and the women please the men taking any measures necessary. According to a study, pornography that was intended for men and women aroused the men who were being studied. Women on the other hand, activated negative affects after watching the pornography intended for men and positive after watching the pornography intended for women (Mosher, 1994). In general, men are the main target of pornographies and women as well as feminists believe that pornography should not characterize women as objects. Also when making this study, it was difficult to find pornography that was made by women, majority of the videos are made by men and produced for
In the American culture today, women are becoming more sexualized at a younger age due to the influences of the corporate media. Corporate media and society form the perfect idealistic body that women should have and is constantly being promoted, making younger girls start to compare themselves to them at a young age. Certain shows and movies, such as Disney, influence young children and teenagers through their characters as to how a woman is supposed to be accepted. The way the corporate media and society make this body image they want women to have starts at a very early stage in a woman's life without them knowing. There are these childhood movies, such as Disney, Barbie and Ken dolls, programs such as Netflix, teen magazines, and the most common source of them all, the internet.
... history, it is proven that gender changes along with social, political, and cultural change. Despite all, many women continue to face other kinds of discrimination. Women continue to experience sexism, the idea of traditional gender roles. Women are still thought to be more involved in taking care of their children and the household. Women often face unconscious stereotypes in the workplace as well. In some cases, women have a less change of obtaining better, and higher paying jobs. Women often don’t get promoted to higher positions in office, despite their qualifications and experiences. Female candidates running for public office experience forms of sexism as well. The variations and adaptions of society are evidence that reinforce the idea that gender is formed under social construction rather than the essence from biology alone.
...gument against pornography is claiming that intercourse is an act of rape, the argument immediately seems outlandish and almost laughable, and it surely seems that way to the average person. People see these examples of radical feminism and attribute those isolated incidents as representative of the entire feminist movement as a whole. Therefore through complexity, the feminist movement lost a substantial amount of its genuine credibility due to perceived extremist views on female sexuality. This, among many other incidents, seems to be the cause of this great reversal in female sexuality in our current day society. Instead of putting an end to pornography, it flourishes. Instead of bringing an end to female objectification, it is often nowadays encouraged. This reversal of feminist ideals is the main cause for the damage to female gender roles in the 21st century.
Gender roles designate that women are not as able as men are. People who were raised during anytime before about 1980 were probably raised to believe that women were there to do housework and have kids, not to have a job and be successful. Now that the children who were brought up during these times are adults, they are bringing their objectifying views with them. They don’t see a problem with it, as it was so common before the United States and some other countries began to see how women were equal to men. These people will see treating others this way as okay, as it has been accepted for so long and it is what they were taught.
Media has been filled with exaggerated scrutinies and trashed with unreasonable criticisms. It deserves a break. This is the generation of Information Technology. Danger is just around the corner, where a click from a mouse or a remote control and all sex-related garbage can pop out of the monitor. Truly, a vulnerable teenager can easily get lost to temptations. As an adolescent, I can empathize how these sweet girls feel about how horrible their body shapes are, how ugly their face is, and how brands in fashion seem to be worth more than anything in the world. Fashion labels, tiny bodies, and sexual activities are all characterized in Sex and the City. From th...
The media has a strong influence on society, both negatively and positively. So when children as young as 6 are being influenced by celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and Britney Spears; we as a society have lost site in what it is to be a positive influence. Kathleen Deveny and Raina Kelly raised awareness in their article “Girls Gone Bad?” which depicts the bad behavior and influences set by celebrities such as Hilton, Lohan, and Spears have any long term affects on young women. Are young women so riveted to the highlights of these celebrities and the media that surrounds their lifestyle that, as Deveny and Kelly boldly puts it, we are raising ‘prosti-tots’? Or can our young women look beyond the bad behavior with lavish lifestyles, and still make a wise decision based on common sense? Not only are young women bombarded with the lifestyle of these celebrities produced by the media but they are plagued with images of how they should behave and what they should look like. This is an adolescent crisis in a young woman’s life because from the stages of preteen to near adulthood is when young women are most susceptible to influence.
Society has set limits on gender roles with ideals such as male privilege and patriarchy. Patriarchy is the political structure to control womenbs thoughts on their sexuality, laboring, and place in society so...