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Holistic Behavior

The overuse of sex in the Media.

By Kourtney BartholomewPublished 6 years ago 8 min read
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Women's roles in the world have always seemed to be somewhat straying from the line of equal representation when compared to men. They attend the same colleges, work the same jobs, yet somehow they are degraded into being sex objects and thought of as lesser than equal beings. They are seen as inferior due to their femininity, especially when represented in the media. For a country that supports the phrase all are equal under God, America seems to be doing a great job of turning a blind eye to the sociological prejudices placed upon women.

There are many aspects as to why the sexualization of women is an important subject of our country’s sociological being, however many believe the most overrepresented aspects of life are in the media. There are so many misconceptions about women, not just to those in our country, but because of how we present ourselves, to those in other countries as well. America has developed a mentality, especially in mass media, that degrading and oversexualizing women is in fact acceptable, without understanding that they violate the sanctity of all being equal, the Constitutional phrase we have all known since birth.

The thing about the subject of sexualization in media is that it addresses a common core issue that affects a great number of people. It is not a sociological factor that only affects a certain group in society, but rather it affects everyone; no matter if they are below the poverty line, right above it, middle class, or the top 10% of the country, all are affected by this social issue and all need to be addressed of its constituent corruption of our country.

Sex in the media has been a controversial topic since its inception, which brings into question, what is too much, how derogatory can it be, and how degrading can something become before it is questioned. The use of sexiness in the media has more substance than just simply put, a scene in which an actual act of love takes place. The media has portrayed sexual behavior in a manner that constitutes women as prizes, nonetheless property that men have at will, oversexualizing them and causing the audience to see them as the weaker sex.

Misogynistic advertising is just one example of the corrupted media portrayal of today’s modern woman. It seems as if commercials feel they must use women to their advantage to assess the situation of what they are selling and how to use that femininity successfully. Women can be seen laying across the hood of a brand new car, half naked as they parade down a runway selling lingerie, even food ads have gotten sexualized by having a woman seductively bite into whatever product they are intending to sell. Victoria’s Secret and perfume ads seem to be two of the biggest culprits. Victoria’s Secret is scandalous no matter what the situation, however their biggest night seems to be the night of the “Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show”, bringing in millions of dollars in revenue while the models parade more than half nakedly down the runway. Understandable, it is for a lingerie store, however, what makes it necessary to throw a huge show in which a different country hosts it each year and tickets cost hundreds to thousands of dollars? This is not the Olympics, it is an oversexualized state of women being paraded around as something nice to look at.

Perfume is another demeaning issue. Whether it be a women’s perfume or a men’s cologne, the woman always seems to be inferior; being held down by the man, surrounded by a group of men simulating a rape scenario, and the confusing part is, why does society not only allow, but accept it? Men and women alike seem to have adjusted their mindsets to accept the advertisement as just that: an advertisement simply selling a product for a harmless company. Obviously that company is not planning a rape scenario or forcing the woman to be there against her will, however the way they are positioned may suggest otherwise. Yet we as a society are programmed to view it as normal and nothing to fret about.

This leads into another topic that revolves around the sexualized woman known as rape myths; the old “she deserved it”, or “she had it coming” ideologies that if any thought whatsoever is put into them, can be seen as absolute garbage. However, people, mostly men, in our society do believe these myths. Men who agree with these rape myths are the ones who commonly associate rape with the idea that the woman deserved it because of what she was wearing, how she behaved, or her reputation. News flash: just because a woman wears a skimpy blouse does not mean she is deserving, nor begging, to be raped. Yet this is the hypocritical world we live in. Social media presents women in a sexy way, wearing little clothing and acting promiscuous, yet when placed in real life situations, those actions can cause a woman to get herself into places she did not desire.

Besides being an extremely degrading physical problem, sexiness in media also causes an emotional issue to women of America. As a woman watches another on TV, she can tend to idolize her, wishing she could be like her, seeing her as an object to become, not a real life person who probably does not want to be there in the first place. Our society is one based on societal and cultural views, so when we see one person having or doing something, we desire the same. When women view these idols, they can begin to experience body shame, since most likely they do not live up to the supposed model of perfection they see before them. Little do they know, that model is coated in makeup and heavily edited before she is placed on the big screen.

Women are barely seen anymore on television as how they truly look, especially in ads for clothing and makeup. The corporations want the models to look as flawless as possible, therefore, they create a fake image, edited with the help of Photoshop and a team of editors, to create the perfect model for their customers to look up to, then wonder why their results are not the same. Women everywhere can buy any brand of makeup, from the $7.00 foundation to the $65.00 foundation; it will never be as flawless on them as it is on the model. Because of this, they think something is wrong, so they spend more money trying to become this perfect being that does not even exist. Furthering the idea of women becoming nothing more than objects to copy. Even women are not innocent for the social problem our society is currently facing.

Another aspect of modern society that is frightening to our moral standards, is the sexualization of the female child. When previous generations were children, they wore awful outfits that did not match in any way, wore their hair some odd way they assumed looked presentable, and behaved as any other pre-teen would behave. However, with the growing media industry and the oversexualization of women, pre-teens and teenagers have begun to feel the pressures of the modern day adult woman. Children are being prematurely sexualized and pressured to match the mold of the “sexy woman” in society. The exposure to media is beginning to cause a loss of sexual innocence among children and also an increase in their sexuality at young ages.

One of the most controversial social constructions in America seems to be the gender wage gap. Women make up 54% of those attending college, they are accepted into the same schools as men, they attend the same classes, they graduate with the same degrees, yet why do they face discrimination in the workforce? Why is the gender wage gap even existent? Why is the United States 22nd on the World’s Economic Forum for Women? The questions do not seem to be accompanied by an answer. America seems to thrive on the ideology of sex roles, with women completing their expected roles and men doing the same. Which is where it connects to the sexualization in America.

Women are seen as objects, therefore they are given sex roles that are usually feminine and bearing towards assisting the male. The workforce seems to be a great example of hostile sexism in America, as in the workplace, when women apply for jobs. Not only are they accepting a lesser pay than their male counterparts, but they are accepting the degrading workforce manners from the men around her, if she even gets the job in the first place, furthering men viewing women as objects to look at rather than to work with.

Furthermore, women in America in general are discriminated against and oversexualized in the media by both men and women throughout the country. Our culture has developed an immunity to the degrading issues, falling emotionally and physically for the tricks of the media.

feminism
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