...It was only a short one hundred years ago that the social norm for women was to wear dresses. Since then, fashion has evolved alongside technology, and media has influenced how both men and women perceive women. With this change, one of the major problems in the society we live in today is the sexual objectification of women. While it is widely believed that sexual objectification is caused by dress codes, sexual objectification actually occurs because of the media and previous objectification, where standards of dress in fact promote a more positive environment, and discourage from sexual objectification. Contrary to popular belief, it is the way that women are portrayed in media independent of a dress code which causes sexual objectification....
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...In the essay “Out-of-Body Image” by Caroline Heldman, Heldman illustrates the strain on the relationship between a woman and her body caused by the manipulation in the media. Early on in the essay, Heldman makes it clear that the media has an issue sexualizing women and she does it through tone and the words she chooses. In the introduction of the essay she discusses the typical body figures people see in advertisements; they are “impossibly slim (and digitally airbrushed).” The words impossible and digitally suggest this sense of fabrication and falseness, a perception that cannot be reciprocated by a typical woman. She continues by suggesting that the depictions of women in the media is poisonous and highlights just how bad the impact of the media is, that it is comparable to poison and is harming not only women but young girls who view these advertisements as well. Heldman also demonstrates the direct effects the “poison” has, she mentions that self-objectification leads to eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. These disorders stand out from the essay because they discuss a serious disease that could affect young girls and women. Heldman then focuses on the young girl aspect of the problem when she mentions the American Psychologists Association investigative report. The report found that girls as young as seven years old were learning to objectify themselves after watching advertisements and across other medium. Heldman states, “Teaching them to think of themselves...
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...academically supported body of work, designed to retort the following questions: How and why are semantically sexualised women used as a perceptive marketing stunt’ and ‘what role does the media play in legitimizing gender discrepancies through framing and cultivation strategies? Coaxed by the issue of female objectification in the mass media, the following research was conducted both practically, and theoretically, to overtly annunciate the social and democratic problems associated with advertised female subordination. The relative research involves a semiotic analysis of two sources, coupled with a survey of 40 candidates of varying ages. Furthermore, theoretical mechanisms of media framing and cultivation have been deconstructed throughout this article to uncover the impact of magnified female subordination on the domestic expectations of children and young adults. Through the collection of data, it was able to be conclusively recognized the impact of objectification on social attitudes. Results had shown the many conceptions concerning the female purpose, these include; a woman’s role as a domestic and sexual slave to her male partner. Through the convergence of data, semiotic analysis and academic theory, it may be meticulously understood how female objectification in the mass media is a social complication in the construction of an egalitarian future. ‘Women’s bodies are predominantly valued for its use to others’ Fredrickson & Roberts 1997 During the past decade, society...
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...the order of the objectification theory variables that include appearance surveillance, body shame, body anxiety and eating disorders (Slater & Tiggemann 2010). Similarly, according to Holland & Tiggemann, (2016) correlational findings about the relationship between social media usage, body satisfaction, and disordered eating are almost difficult to draw. Also, high social media exposure could influence thin-internalization,...
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...closer attention to the media, especially social media. I noticed that females who posted seductive pictures of themselves, or videos got more positive feedbacks especially from the males. Females who posted decent pictures got little or no feedback. Also, movies and musical videos that had half-naked females featured in them got better ratings as compared to appropriate videos. Because of the way females have been portrayed, most of these females need validation from people in order to feel beautiful and confident thereby posting this type of pictures. The media also encourages sexual objectification of women through advertising, magazines, and especially the television. Some of these television stations have created shows, specifically beauty pageants for toddlers and young girls that encourage sexualization of women. In these pageants, you can see how it is emphasized that the young girls have to walk, dress, talk, and be skinny in order to be considered...
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...The objectification of women can simply be defined as “seeing and/or treating a [women] as an object” instead of a human being (Papadaki). Women today are portrayed as objects because of the overexposure of erotic images and scenarios in society’s media, social networking and their expectations. Say you are buying something from your local grocery store. While you are in line you notice magazines near the cash register. You then proceed to look through the covers and pages. All there is, is beautiful women. Weather they are clothed or not, that is all you see. Back before the internet, magazines and newspapers were the primary source for entertainment. One of the more popular ones for young boys and some adults was Playboy Magazine. Buy Playboy...
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...extremely well the fact that false rape accusations are exceedingly rare, despite what media reports might suggest. Almost as rare are cases when rapists actually go to jail more so than strangers.his article The Real Campus Sexual Assault Problem. He explains that a common controversy comes up at colleges where rape is concerned when alcohol is involved, and whether or not that is rape. Conservatives and liberals have shown the different sides of this debate while conservatives argue that evidence should be “clear and convincing”. Liberals tend to push for a less demanding standard. Because of this controversy, many victims fear that their case may not be successful in court, causing...
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...Standpoint Theory A standpoint is a place from which we view the world that determines what we focus on as well as what we don’t know. The standpoint is a specific location in time and space that determines how one sees the world. The social groups like sexuality, socio economic status, gender, etc. we belong to shape how we see the world and how we communicate. Not that everyone in that social group will have the exact same view point but they’ll be closer to each other. Now, the problem is that these social groups influence the way we see the world, but all the groups were not treated as equals. For example, poor people might be oppressed by the rich community; historically, women were not considered as important as men; blacks and whites were not treated equally, etc. Therefore, it was observed that some groups were treated better than others and some group oppressed others. Societal inequalities generate distinctive accounts of nature and social relationships. The standpoint theory argues that the perspective from the lives of the less powerful provide a more objective perspective than lives of the powerful. So, poor people have a better and comprehensive way of seeing the world compared to the rich people. The standpoint theorist idea suggests that dominant people have a less objective view of the world. Privileged groups are not forced to observe the realities of inferior groups; therefore their standpoints are more narrow and biased. In Indian context as we see, there...
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...tedious process to acquire equal rights for women and fairness in politics. After over two centuries, women have almost completely overcome the gender barrier and established an equal dominant role in society as men. However, the recent provocative portrayals of women in the media have questioned the idea that, if in fact, the years spent overcoming this gender hardship was to ultimately come back to square one. With television programs such as “The Bachelor” presenting a dozen women competing for the attention of one man and television commercials highlighting a woman's thigh to sell sneakers, it is difficult for society and especially the youth to not to be influenced by the overpowering message to objectify women (Coleman). Television shows portraying woman in explicit dogmatic behaviors like “Flavor of Love” or “The Bachelor” make it difficult for the everyday women to process exactly why the media allows such depictions of women to be viewed and accepted around the world. According to author Breanna Coleman, “Television programs show slender, unrealistically curvaceous, and vulnerable young women, who are dependent on male figures for strength and survival, not their own sense of empowerment.” This media stereotyping of women as objects and helpless beings creates an impracticable example for the million of young teenagers watching these programs. Young women watch these programs assuming that using sexuality to compete for attention of one man is ultimately ideal and having...
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...Psychoanalytic Objectification of Women – When Women Literally Become Objects (Revised) The story “The Babysitter” is fraught with sexual language, addressing sexual behavior directly and nonchalantly in discussing characters’ interactions with non-sexual objects. Psychoanalysis relies on the Oedipus Complex; the assumption that male behavior is a result of a deep-seeded unconscious “castration anxiety,” whereupon a young boy loves his mother and wants to have sex with her and competes with the father, resulting in an unconscious fear that his father will castrate him. In adulthood, a male “fetishizes female beauty as a way of defending against the anxiety brought about by the spectacle of woman as representing ‘lack’ or castration” (Gabbard, 161). This fetishizing female beauty, or in other words, objectifying women, is a defense mechanism against castration anxiety. Psychoanalysis offers multiple explanations for the objectification of women. Objectification is also considered to be a result of the disturbance of the relationship between mother and baby. Objectification is a compensation for the loss of “the blissful relationship with a mother who has no autonomy or otherness but exists only to serve the baby’s needs” (Gabbard 166). Objectification, then, is a result of the male trying to recreate this perfect maternal symbiosis in which the mother serves the baby’s needs, and is essentially used as an object of need-fulfillment in this way. Thus, the characters’ objectification of...
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...depict stereotypical gender roles and displays have long been a major concern in the field of gender studies. Before beginning research of gender display in advertisements, it is imperative to understand that advertising is a significant agent of socialization in modern industrialized societies (Kang, 1997), and is often used as a tool to maintain certain social constructions, such as gender. According to Rohlinger, the bodies in advertisements represent an ideal that individuals seek to achieve, and thus create the foundation for a masochistic relationship with one’s own body (Rohlinger, 2002). This statement is confirmed by the increasing rate of body dissatisfaction, greater weight concern, the development of eating disorders and lower self-esteem. Moreover, gender is a routine, methodical, and recurring accomplishment that actually surfaces in everyday human interaction (West and Zimmerman, 1987), and gender relations are learned through these advertisements, which essentially serve as a distorted reflection of the real world. These sexualized and stereotypical gender images are teaching the viewers a vast array of social cues, a certain way to interpret social reality, and are eventually reconstructing the definition of femininity and masculinity. Various studies have been done regarding the covert ways that magazine advertisements construct masculinity and femininity. Assuming that significant differences in the portrayal of men and women would be found in terms of magazine type and its target...
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...their identity, social relationships, and value as an athlete on how they believe society expects them to look and not based on the objective truth of what a healthy body image actually is (Birbeck & Drummond, 2006). While adolescent males experience struggles with body image and self-objectification as well, females experience these things on a much larger scale. For example, girls experience teasing from both genders, while boys usually only receive it from other boys. One of the most common responses from girls regarding barriers they felt kept them from wanting to participate in sport were negative reactions from peers that included weight criticism and criticism related to body changes as a result of puberty (Slater & Tiggeman, 2011). In a study by Deborah J. Rhea (1998), the conclusion was reached that lack of involvement in sport for girls age 10 to 15 years old was directly linked to body conscious issues. In this age range females begin developing breasts, broader hips, and experience an increase in body fat. These changes can cause a severe lack of self-esteem, leading to one of two outcomes, either excessive workouts to...
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...Jane’s request, they should be based on the ethical and social implications thereof. In this scenario, Jane’s faculties were impaired as a result of her intoxication, and her sexually explicit behavior following the prodding of males was not made in a state of sound mind. Joe’s decision to take pictures of her and other women in sexually compromised positions was made as a result of the freedom Joe had....
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...Cultural and gender norms are ever present in the modern world, which creates social constructs for women. This determines the way people perceive them and the way they perceive themselves. Media today tends to judge women based on the way they dress or their physical appearance (Breger 39). Furthermore, mainstream media portrays women as sexual objects, or entities, specifically when they are required to bring sexual pleasure to their male counterparts through the way they look or act. Such media, therefore, is implying that women’s sole purpose is to bring men sexual gratification (Wright and Tokunaga 956). This increases the sexual objectification of women, specifically in magazines, television, and social media platforms, demonstrating...
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...Media’s Sexualization of Our Daughters English 101-B13 Abstract This paper explores the ways media productions have become the main culprit in the sexualization of children. The Bratz Doll itself is a device of the media and all the media images posted on her demonstrates the extent of influence that media hype has on children. Kids are inundated with marketing to sell sex products, including but not limited to provocative clothing which interferes with the healthy development of kids. Harmful images embedded with media misconceptions objectify girls and woman. Children are being transformed into miniature adults with the Media assuming the role of guidance counselor. With both parent’s working in the majority of households, the Media also serves as a substitute parent. A lost childhood is a formula for disaster and long-term issues on all levels of functioning in society. Education, communication, and setting boundaries are essential in creating a reality mindset regarding media ploys. Teaching girls and women that they are not mere vessels of sexual pleasure; rather daughters of God designed to project intelligence and virtue (Proverbs 31:10). Understanding technology, including social media is imperative; however, it is a matter of discernment and balance. Sexy Too Soon: The Medias’ Sexualization of Our Daughters One of the epidemics in the world is the Medias ’sexualization of children. Women and teenage girls are sexualized and objectified more than men...
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