Sexualization Of Women In The Media Essay

Americans are exposed to an estimated total of 4,000 to 10,000 advertisements each day, therefore; the media play a significant role in our lives on a daily basis (Marshall 2015). Music videos, movies, television shows, advertisements, and video games are just a few of the ways that we are exposed to sex and sexuality through the media. Sexually explicit images are dominating media and our society is becoming more and more sex-obsessed. Mainstream media portrays sex in a way that greatly affects our conceptions of sexuality. It is no secret though that when it comes to the media, men and women face very different realities. Whether it be in their portrayal, expectations or even careers within the media. Clear double standards can be seen

The American Psychological Association defines hypersexualization as “occurring when a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behavior to the exclusion of other characteristics,” and Dr. Sarah Murnen has studied this concept becoming more and more prevalent in her research at Kenyon College over the last two decades. Dr. Murnen has found that these sexualized images have increased dramatically in even just the relatively short amount of time that she has been studying this. “We’ve seen three trends associated with these images,” stated Murnen, “It is now common to see more parts of the body exposed. There is more emphasis on the size of women’s breasts. And easy access to all these images has made it all more acceptable to us.” So not only has the sexualization increased, but the increase has then normalized the concept for

It was common place up until the 1960’s for women to be portrayed as desirable if they were curvy, because it simply showed that they were of a certain status level. Vintage weight gain advertisements show that there were products specifically created to help women gain weight, not lose it. For example, in the 1960’s an advertisement for Wate-On, a product that helped women gain weight, was widely popular. The headline reads, “Don’t Let Them Call You Skinny” (Krupnick, 2011). Other ads featured similar products and messages such as, “If you want to be popular...you can’t afford to be skinny.” Just a couple decades ago, women’s body image expectations were polar opposite to what they are now, how is that possible? Simply put, body image ideals, like everything else in pop culture, are a trend. The media hold an unbelievable power over our perceptions and our beliefs. While women of the early 1900’s were not expected to hold the same body image standards as we are today, there was still an expectation of what their body types should be.
The media can also use sex and sexuality to sell products. By using this approach, the media are essentially selling status or popularity, not just products. They use the allure of sex to make people insecure and think they need a certain product or they need to look a certain