Sex Sells at the Cost of the Value of Women
Today in American society, one is potentially exposed to over 5,00 advertisements and commercials (SJ Insights). One may not realize this because of the constant exposure to advertisements through media, and other daily things. It is almost like the people today are so used to these advertisements that they just acknowledge it on a subconscious level. However, because all of these ads are acknowledged at a subconscious level, one does not realize the messages some of these ads are conveying. One specific topic in ads and media that sometimes goes unnoticed is the sexual objectification of women. Some examples consists of commercials that advertise burgers but contain women in sexualing outfits and poses. Because these kind of women are shown so much in media and television, it conveys the message that this is how a women should be, that a woman's worth is based on how sexual she can be. That is not what the future women of America should define their worth as. The Body Image Movement is an organization that disaproves of such sexualzation and strives to make a change. The sexual objectification of women in media is conveying poor messages to the women and girls of America and should be recognized and stopped.
Caroline Heldman, chair of politics department of Occidential College in Los Angeles, published an article on everydayfeminism.com called The Sexy Lie, which provides readers with a thorough explanation of what sexual objectification is in media and some of its impacts on modern women. The article clearly explains the increase of sexual objectification of women over the years and how it has become so common due to technology, we may have lost the ability to detect this. The article transitions to the idea that women exposed to sexual objectification in media are being sold the thought that this is what gives them value. This then leads to self-objectification which has been shown to have “pretty severe effects” such as habitual body monitoring which in turn can lower self-esteem and GPAs. The article then goes on to explain ways to possible stop the negative effects of girls, women and those around them.
Body Image Movement is a movement encouraging positive behaviour surrounding body image. The founder, Taryn Brumfitt, began the movement in 2012 after deciding not to go through with plastic surgery. The main idea of the movement is to “redefine and rewrite the ideals of beauty”, with the goal to reach women all across the world to help them embrace and love their bodies. Brumfitt gives seminars about various subjects including the sexualzation of women and girls in media, and one can join the movement by doing something as simple as entering his or her email. The website also allows one to make donations in order to support Brumfitt in making a documentary to help raise understanding and awareness of this subject.
Sexual objectification of women clearly has its negative affect and is something girls and women should not have to deal with. Sexual objectification can lower the self esteem of women and teaches girls the wrong values. The Body Image Movement is just one of many organizations that one can support to help stop the objectification and while there are many groups one can support, the easiest way to put this era of sexual objectification to an end is the start with one’s own mindset. Do not let the subliminal messages of the media let one change the outlook one has on life negatively. The sexual objectification of women is just another tactic to help things sell, but in the process degrades the value of women. Once society can realize that the objectification of women is wrong, the tactic is of no use. Help change the mindset and refuse to support the sexual objectification of women and girls.
Works Cited
Bumfitt, Taryn. "Body Image Movement." bodyimagemovement.com. Accessed February
22, 2016. https://bodyimagemovement.com.au/.
Heldman, Caroline. "The Sexy Lie." everydayfeminism.com. Last modified February
9, 2014. http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/02/the-sexy-lie/.