...3 4 5 6 End the Sexualization of Girls and Young Women in Mainstream Media Children are exposed to a barrage of sexual and violent images through mainstream and other media. As children gain more access to media through technology such as phones and computers, the time per day that children are exposed to images is increasing. The average high school student spends as much as 8-10 hours a day with some type of media, according to recent findings from the Geena Davis Institute. Studies estimate that counting all ads, logos, labels, and announcements a child is exposed to 16,000 images in one day. (Youth Media Reporter 2009). Media and Violence Against Women Often, media such as TV, commercials, movies, music lyrics, and even Halloween costumes, sexually exploits girls and young women; and it perpetuates unhealthy and unrealistic stereotypical portrayals of both young men and women. Sexually violent material can contribute to a social climate in which violence against women is more accepted. According to several studies by the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls (2007), men and women exposed to sexually objectifying and violent images of women from mainstream media were more accepting of rape myths, sexual harassment, sex role stereotypes, and interpersonal violence. Such structures of violence allow violence against women to exist and persist. This handout and activity will analyze the impact of media on the rights of girls and young women from an international...
Words: 3836 - Pages: 16
...Sexualization of Girls and Women in the United States: A Growing Epidemic Kayla Johnson Chamberlain College of Nursing Sexualization of Girls and Women in the United States: A Growing Epidemic Brittany, a freshman in High School arrives at her home after school and turns on the T.V to watch MTV music videos. She watches the T.V. as half naked girls dance in the background of male singers. She picks up her phone to get on Instagram where she scrolls through images of famous women like Rhianna and Kim Kardashian who post scantily clad images of their bodies. Brittany thinks to herself, “I wish that I looked like these girls, maybe if I looked more like them the boys at school would like me more”. Brittany’s mother gets home from work and puts dinner on the dining room table. Brittany sits down and eats only a portion of her meal because in the back of her mind she is still feeling as though her own body is inadequate, she could probably lose more weight and if only she had bigger boobs and longer legs, maybe then she would feel better about herself. She lies in bed that night and wishes that she had a better body so that she could feel beautiful and happy. If only she knew that thousands of other girls were feeling the same way, maybe she would realize that the issue isn’t her own body- the issue is the cultural emphasis on female sexualization that has become a norm in our society. Unfortunately girls all over the world are struggling with self-confidence related to...
Words: 3132 - Pages: 13
...10/23/2015 Arts 152 Final Research Paper Capitalism and Women’s Role in Modern Hip Hop Music has always had a huge impact on society; it serves as a means of expression and as a way of communicating and connecting with others. While there are positive aspects to music as it uplifts society during times of hardship it also serves as a means of reinforcing gender norms as well as upholding capitalist ideals. Since its inception, hip hop has remained one of the most popular genres with today’s youth, but it is clear that women play a different role in the genre than men. Through a study of several hip hop and rap songs it becomes apparent that hip hop glamorizes brand names, “fast money”, and women. When women are objectified they are no longer encouraged to amass wealth, instead they are encouraged to simply be with men who have money. By reviewing popular song lyrics of famous hip hop such as Iggy Azalea’s, “I’m so Fancy” and Kanye’s “Mercy”, it is clear that there is a common theme of the obsession of wealth and beautiful women. Hip hop often dehumanizes women as they are perceived as plentiful and a luxury “item”. The modern woman, and women of the working class have no representation in hip hop. Women are further oppressed through hip hop as the average life style of those who cannot afford to spend lavishly are often left out and depicted as envious. Understanding how hip hop and capitalism is related is important to understanding why modern women are oppressed through this...
Words: 2844 - Pages: 12
..."The pursuit of beauty and of its attendant features, fashion and dress, has more than any other factor bound together women of different classes, regions, and ethnic groups and constituted a key element in women's separate experience of life."-Lois W. Banner. The world lives in a generation where the image that society places upon women is crucial. The image of perfection is based on the coke bottle appearance and gorgeous plastic face. Women already feel the need to gain as much power as they can due to the lack of gender equality. Body image is very hard to ignore in this barbaric and self indulgent culture. An easy solution to fulfill the empowerment thrive, is to compete in beauty pageants. Our society teaches both women, those who compete and those who do not, that being tenaciously empowered is by looking good and appealing to the eye of the human male. The purpose of this paper is to explore the objectification of women in general; with an emphasis on beauty pageants and how the media interpretation of beauty has changed the woman's body image. Finding an exact definition of beauty is highly impossible, considering beauty is said to be have seen in the eye of the beholder. Unfortunately, in this metaphoric glass fish bowl life style; media, men, art, and fashion are the foremost most important holder. As customs, traditions and American habits expand, so does the true meaning of the word beauty. According to webster dictionary, beauty is defined as the quality or aggregate...
Words: 1686 - Pages: 7
...PROSTITUTION IS NOT A CHOICE LEARN A BOUT TH E TRA FFI CKING OF WOMEN AND GIRLS WORLDWIDE, AND FIND OUT WHAT CAN BE DONE TO END THIS WID ESPR EAD PROBLEM … Soroptimist International of the Americas-1709 Spruce Street Philadelphia, PA 19103 - 215 893 9000 - www.soroptimist.org SOROPTIMIST WHITE PAPER Prostitution is Not a Choice I think so much about what has happened to me. Why these men did what they did to me. Old, disgusting men. It was horrible. They knew I did not want to be there, but they paid their money. They used me. I was their property for the night. They destroyed me. (14-year-old girl at Casa Hogar, a shelter in Costa Rica for children rescued from the country’s sex trade1) OVERVIEW Prostitution has been called the world’s oldest “profession.” In reality, it is the world’s oldest “oppression” and continues to be one of the most overlooked human rights abuses of women on the planet today. 2 Prostitution of women is a particularly lethal form of violence against women, and a violation of a woman’s most basic human rights. While society attempts to normalize prostitution on a variety of levels (discussed later in this paper), prostituted women are subjected to violence and abuse at the hands of paying “clients.” For the vast majority of prostituted women, “prostitution is the experience of being hunted, dominated, harassed, assaulted and battered.” 3 It is “sexual terrorism against women at the hands of men and little is being done to stop the carnage...
Words: 12689 - Pages: 51
...Copyrighted Material. Not for Distribution. Sixth Edition APA Style Guide to References Copyrighted Material. Not for Distribution. Electronic Copyrighted Material. Not for Distribution. Copyright © 2012 by the American Psychological Association. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, including, but not limited to, the process of scanning and digitization, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Published by American Psychological Association 750 First Street, NE Washington, DC 20002 www.apa.org To order APA Order Department P.O. Box 92984 Washington, DC 20090-2984 Tel: (800) 374-2721; Direct: (202) 336-5510 Fax: (202) 336-5502; TDD/TTY: (202) 336-6123 Online: www.apa.org/pubs/books E-mail: order@apa.org Typeset in Sabon, Futura, and Univers by Circle Graphics, Columbia, MD APA Editorial and Production Staff APA Books Editorial Director: Mary Lynn Skutley Senior Editor, APA Style: Anne W. Gasque Production Manager: Jennifer M. Meidinger Production Editor: Harriet Kaplan APA Journals Director, Editorial Services: Paige Jackson Editorial Supervisor: Jeffery Hume-Pratuch Manuscript Editor II: Chelsea Lee Manuscript Editor II: Stefanie Lazer 1-4338-0704-1 978-1-4338-0704-6 Copyrighted Material. Not for Distribution. Copyrighted Material. Not for Distribution...
Words: 13062 - Pages: 53
...Venkatesh, 1993). People try to become the being they desire to be by consuming the items that they imagine will help to create and sustain their idea of themselves, their image and their identity (Bocock, 1993). Judgements about individuals are no longer made upon occupation or role in production but rather on what is consumed and how individuals present themselves (Firat, 1993). Through the possession of products, consumers can display their successes reflecting their personal achievement (Mitchell, 1983). Postmodern consumerism is obsessed with appearance and consumption, where style is a substitute for identity and presentation overshadows essence. This concept is part of a culture that have feminized men (Brod, 1995) and considers women and men as equally involved in the practices of consumption (Bocock, 1993). Masculine and feminine differences have been abolished by the postmodern patterns of consumption (Kacen, 2000) and these patterns of consumption are both determined and enhanced by the types of products consumers invest in (Seabrook, 1999). The construction of the male consumer of who they are, of their identity as men, is now achieved as much through style of dress, body care, image and having the right look, as do their female counterparts (Bocock, 1993). Prior to the nineteenth century, men were considered the fashionable sex and young male bodies were eroticized as much as the female ones (Tseelon, 1995). The rise of advertising and marketing aimed at young...
Words: 9857 - Pages: 40
...University of Tennessee, Knoxville Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 12-2009 Peeking Out: A Textual Analysis of Heteronormative Images in Prime-Time Television D. Renee Smith University of Tennessee - Knoxville, drsmith@utk.edu Recommended Citation Smith, D. Renee, "Peeking Out: A Textual Analysis of Heteronormative Images in Prime-Time Television. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2009. http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/10 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact trace@utk.edu. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by D. Renee Smith entitled "Peeking Out: A Textual Analysis of Heteronormative Images in Prime-Time Television." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Communication and Information. Catherine A. Luther, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Michelle T. Violanti, Suzanne Kurth, Benjamin J. Bates Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice...
Words: 33344 - Pages: 134