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Research essay on influence of gender on sports
Gender issues and sports
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Women begin to be sexualized at a young age and through time this sexualization has been met with a mix of controversy and empowerment. One must understand what sexualization is to see how it can be seen with such contrasting ideas. Thomas G. Fiffer of the Good Men Project describes sexualization as a person being sexually objectified by others basing the individuals worth based on their sexual appeal. Furthermore, the hyper sexualization of women is a learned idea. For example in sports, the commentary of female athletes is not on their athletic abilities or accomplishments but rather objectification (3). In contrast, sexualization is sometimes seen as empowerment; an outlet for women to reclaim their sexuality. Dr. Durham, author of The Lolita
Effect comments that, “It’s easy to recognize how alluring these symbols of playful femininity are, how they can be reworked ironically or campily to convey new messages about ‘girl power’. But is it realistic to believe that young children would be aware of these subversive and liberating possibilities?” Finally, one may ask who’s to blame. “‘Blame the media!’ become an appealing battle cry, but scapegoating the media as the source of all society’s ills is both shortsighted and simplistic.” Says Durham. One can agree that blaming solely the media is false due to various cultures ideas of sexualization. In conclusion, recent years has shown that the line between female empowerment and over sexualization has become blurred.
The idea of enlightenment and the feeling of liberation seem unattainable most of the time. However, once you discover a gateway, such as literature or meditation, it becomes easier to reach your goals of becoming open-minded. Azar Nafisi’s “Selection from Reading Lolita in Tehran” describes the struggles she and her students face and how they use literature to escape from their atrocious life. Similarly, “Wisdom” by Robert Thurman explores the idea of reaching a nirvana-like state where people become aware of their surroundings and the nature of themselves. Nafisi and Thurman state that once people have attained the knowledge to reach an utopian, nirvana like state and have unmasked themselves from a pseudo-self mask put on for society, they must share their knowledge with others. Both Nafisi and Thurman propose that in order to act out selflessly and become an honest, true self, an individual needs bravery and courage to escape from their comfort zone and reach a state of compassion.
Sexuality has often been confused with pornography. It has been trivialised as something that is a denigration and denial of true feeling by sensationalising genuine expressivism.
Travis, Cheryl Brown, Kayce L. Meginnis, and Kristin M. Bardari. "Beauty, Sexuality, and Identity: The Social Control of Women." Sexuality, Society, and Feminism. Ed. Cheryl Brown Travis and Jacquelyn W. White. Washington: American Psychological Association, 2000.
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.
In Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, the overruling drive of the narrator, Humbert Humbert, is his want to attest himself master of all, whether man or woman, his prime cravings, all-powerful destiny, or even something as broad as language. Through the novel the reader begins to see Humbert’s most extreme engagements and feelings, from his marriage to his imprisonment, not as a consequence of his sensual, raw desires but rather his mental want to triumph, to own, and to control. To Humbert, human interaction becomes, or is, very unassuming for him: his reality is that females are to be possessed, and men ought to contest for the ownership of them. They, the women, become the very definition of superiority and dominance. But it isn’t so barbaric of Humbert, for he designates his sexuality as of exceptionally polished taste, a penchant loftier than the typical man’s. His relationship with Valerie and Charlotte; his infatuation with Lolita; and his murdering of Quilty are all definite examples of his yearning for power. It is so that throughout the novel, and especially by its conclusion, the reader sees that Humbert’s desire for superiority subjugates the odd particularities of his wants and is the actual reason of his anguish.
I chose these four journal writings because I believe they are the strongest pieces I have written from the second half of the semester. The main focus of these journals was based on readings under the women as objects topic. The oppression of women has led to females being objectified and used as gratification for men. A woman’s body and appearance have become a commodity, especially in the media. Films, television shows, music and advertisements use women’s bodies to attract their audience and sell products. The movie watched in class “Killing Us Softly 4,” highlights this fact while presenting how women are represented throughout the media. The media has set and perpetuated a particular standard of beauty that is restrictive, but for some many women completely unattainable. The women represented in the media are young, thin and have western or European characteristics. Where does that leave the majority of women that do not fall under this category? This leads to women developing eating disorders to achieve an ideal body image that is manufactured through Photoshop and other picture editing systems. Women of color, women with disabilities or any woman that does not follow this standard is not represented within the media. When a few women do break this mold and become famous, they are set at a different standard. These women’s differences become the highlighted feature of their fame. However, the one constant in the media when it comes to women is the objectification and sexualization of women. This sexualization can lead to aggression or violence against women and the perpetuation of rape culture. The images viewed in the media directly impact how women view themselves and how others view women. By examining the issues women f...
Sexual content of any nature was considered devils play in the highly Catholic society that was North America, up until early to middle 20th Century (Noble, 2013). There has been a fast swing in the Pendulum of Life as now today’s society has become extremely sexualized. This has lead to negative affects on both males and females in numerous ways. As various aspects of culture have primarily targeted females over the past several generations, this has been used to expand multiple industries. Males have predominantly contributed to this, but just as very well been negatively affected by this as well. Developing from past generations of media tabloids, advertising and twisting the cultural views on sex taboo and symbols, have led to distortion of male and female sexuality. This Literary Review will cover the question; how has sexualization affected family? Sexualization refers to the development of sexual thought associating with a sexual expression (Collins English Dictionary, 2013). Faced with a preconceived notion of what the average male and female are to physically look like and be treated as, sexuality have affected five specific areas; Media, Males, Females, Intimate Relationships and child- parent relationships. The secondary sources used for this Literary Review are a balanced mix of Internet journal articles and scholarly book research.
The sexualization of women in the 21st century has led many to wonder whether or not the feminist movement actually resulted in more harm than good. Although the progress and reform that came out of the feminist movement is indisputable, things such as equal rights under the law, equal status and equal pay, the reality is that the subjugation of female roles in society still exist, and the most surprising part about this is that now women are just as much as at fault for this as men are. Ariel Levy defines female chauvinist pigs as “women who make sex objects of other women and of ourselves” (Levy 11). This raunch culture is mistakenly assumed to be empowering and even liberating to women when it is in fact degrading and corrupting to the modern feminist movement and makes it more difficult for women to be taken seriously in society. The shift in the nature of the feminist movement is in Levy’s opinion attributed to by the massive industry now profiting off of the sexualization of women, the reverse mindset now adopted by post-feminists and women in power roles in our society, and ultimately the women who further their own objectification as sex objects and thus, so by association, deem themselves lesser than man.
The question as to whether Lolita, a novel written by Vladimir Nabokov, has become a new form of pornography or a form of literature has yet to be answered. Because of the many controversies surrounding this novel, an entirely new form of writing was created during its time period. The idea of having what many people considered being “porn” in the form of a novel was not something that many people agreed to, which is the exact reason Nabokov experienced so much trouble when it came to actually publishing the novel. In fact, Nabokov couldn’t find anyone who was willing to publish his book and because of this he tried burning it. Luckily enough his wife Vera Nabokov, stopped it from happening. It was she who allowed Lolita to keep moving forward and eventually become the novel that it now is. Whether it is pornography or a new form of written work, Lolita will always be a novel that impacts people differently and stirs up controversy.
Objectification theory has been proposed as a standard for understanding the effects of living in a culture that sexually objectifies women (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). Objectification occurs when a person’s body is treated like a separate entity and is evaluated on its own merit, without consideration for the rest of the person. When an individual is sexually objectified, they are treated like an object that exists only for the pleasure of others and objectification theory asserts that women are uniquely subject to these types of experiences, especially in Western culture. Self-objectification (SO) leads the individual to create a third person perspective in their minds that they use to compare their physical selves to and in turn causes them to see themselves as an object instead of a whole person. SO also creates a form of self-consciousness, causing a habitual and vigilant self-monitoring of outward appearance.
It is shocking to see the digression in humanity’s morals and values over the past decade. As cliché as it sounds, the media is the center of it all. The way women are being represented, from our television sets, the radio, pornography and even art has pushed beauty to the top of the list of controversial and widely debated topics around the globe. “Whenever we walk down the street, watch TV, open a magazine or enter an art gallery, we are faced with images of femininity,” (Watson and Martin).
Fausto-Sterling, Anne. Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality. NY: Basic Books, 2000.
In his essay, "On a Novel Entitled Lolita," Vladimir Nabokov tries to answer the age-old question, "What is the objective of the novel?" He quickly replies, "...I happen to be the kind of author who in starting to work on a book has no other purpose than to get rid of that book..." (311). There is more to his response than this, however. He goes on to say that his book was not written to celebrate pornography or pedophilia, nor was it written to promote Anti-Americanism (313 - 315). What's the purpose of his novel then? Well, Nabokov writes, "For me a work of fiction exists only insofar as it affords me what I shall bluntly call aesthetic bliss, that is a sense of being somehow, somewhere, connected with other states of being where art (curiosity, tenderness, kindness, ecstasy) is the norm" (314 - 315). He sees his novel in simple terms: art. Whether it be the novel Lolita or the name Lolita, a sexual meaning has been given to the word Lolita, and this is largely due to the strong sexual overtones used by the novel's main character Humbert to describe his character of obsession Lolita; thus resulting in different and confusing interpretations of the novel and the author's intentions.
16.)Utt, Jamie. "Navigating The Difference Between The Appreciation of Beauty and Sexual Objectification." Everyday Feminism 18 Apr. 2013: n. pag. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. .
"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.