Gender Normalcy

If you turn on the television or flip through a fashion magazine, it is very likely you will presented with many displays of hypersexualization of girls and women in advertising images and in media. There are many components to sexualization. It occurs, according to the American Psychological Association, when “a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behavior, to the exclusion of other characteristics.” This person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness with being sexy. “Sexualization” happens when a person is sexually objectified- that is, made into a thing for others’ sexual use, rather than being seen as a person with their own independent actions and abilities to make decisions. Oftentimes, sexuality is inappropriately imposed upon a person without their knowing it or consent. Sometimes, researchers use the word “hypersexualization” to describe roughly the same idea. In the article, “Media’s Growing Sexualization of Women”, hypersexualization is defined as, “The act of making something extremely sexual and erotic.”

In today’s society, it seems that there has been an increase in the word slut. Girls are depicted as either good girls or prudes that “save themselves till marriage” or bad girls or sluts who are very sexual and promiscuous. They are either labeled as prude or sluts, which are both derogatory terms. We have begun to take away the idea of someone being a victim, and this idea of victim blaming stops. Films have helped embed this within our culture. In horror movies women, are killed for having sex; in comedies, women are called sluts and whores for being too flirty. This has caused society to believe it is okay to call women sluts. Slut shaming in movies turns high schoolers into bullies and college men into perverts. This causes negative effects on all women. This also creates a rape culture that we have been hearing about in the news, dealing with main actors/actresses, movie producers, politicians. Women are not allowed to be sexual human being, so that’s when they are labeled as sluts and men use that idea of them being a slut as their chance to rape a women and victim blame the women for being sexual.

The issue being addressed is woman’s participation in applying double standards culturally set up by men to one another in the form of slut shaming. Women are internally persecuting one another and basing one another’s status on such with a disregard for any other social structural roles held in society. Furthermore, this judgment

The mass media is another source that has contributed to changes in the identities of gender; especially among the younger generations; teenagers. In the media over the last 50 years, certain images have been portrayed as the ‘correct’ image to have; more

In the book, Slut!—Growing up Female with a Bad Reputation by Leora Tanenbaum, she collects a multitude of testimonies from women who have been subjected to sexual harassment, physical abuse, rape, incest and slut-bashing from all ethnicities and locations around the globe. One astonishing truth approaches you at the beginning of the book. Tanenbaum enters a table that shows the positives and negatives of being a sexually active man and a sexually active woman, unfortunately the truth is absolutely ludicrous. The table states a total of two positives of being a sexually active woman; hot and sexy. On the contrary, it states three negatives for sexually active men, compared to the twenty-eight negatives for sexually active women. This list consists of names from “slut” and “Jezebel” all the way to “prostitute.”

Sexual assault and violence is increasing due to advertisements misinforming people into believing that such behavior is acceptable. “In the 1960’s Kilbourne found that she received more recognition for her looks rather than her intelligence” (Grean and Lidinisky, 490). Perhaps this is why Kilbourne wrote her book, Deadly Persuasion, analyzing this problem. Kilbourne found herself in the environment bubble the media is creating where the objective analysis of people is acceptable. Kilbourne’s book is an attempt to bring awareness towards how much harm the media’s portrayal of people is generating. Kilbourne’s book is mainly targeted towards women, and is trying to spur them towards action in an attempt to change the world and, more

The sexualization of women and girls surround Americans and is damaging to females as well as to American society. Females receive the sexualized messages regarding their appearance and how they should act via the media, retailers, and American society’s acceptance of these behaviors. As a mother, Girl Scout Leader, and school paraprofessional I cannot help but to question are these messages inflicting psychological damage on girls? Whom can I hold accountable for sexualizing female youth? What can I do to prevent sexualization from affecting all of the young girls in my life? The sexualization of girls is unacceptable because it is degrading to females, can cause serious life-long psychological damage and sexist attitudes, and may lead to violence against women and girls.

Despite the fact that many men continue to deny that women are objectified, being viewed as an object created solely as a means of pleasure for men is a reality for anyone who was born biologically female. Proving that women are considered less valuable than men is the statistic that women make only 70% of what men in a similar career earns (Ravelli & Webber 214). The sexaul double standard contributes to this idea as well which means that women who engage in sexual activities are “promiscuous” (Ravelli & Webber 237) or “whores” (Ravelli & Webber 237) while men who behave similarly are “Studs” (Ravelli & Webber 237) and women who do not engage in sexual activities are “virgins” (Ravelli & Webber 237) or “Madonna’s” (Ravelli & Webber 237). There are only two portrayals of women and both of these refer to her sexual activities. There are also outrageous definitions of beauty portrayed in the media to

From this point in the discussion we turned to Nicole’s chosen academic publication on sexual double standards and sexting. The article asserts that boys accumulate positive ratings by possessing and exchanging images of girls’ body parts. Such images operate as a form of currency and value for guys, but for girls the images they hold of boys do not hold similar status. Girls develop a negative sexual reputation in which they are seen to be dirty and promiscuous if they sext whereas guys are praised for essentially perpetuating masculine

Women have won small victories, but other battles are still being fought. With our current culture one cannot help but notice that many women displayed in ads, music videos, movies, fashion have been degraded and turned into a mere sexual object. I decided to read on both articles by author Bob Herbert because it discusses the crimes that to this day still affect women. The author makes incredible points that I can agree on. One of the many topics that I agree on is when the author stated, “The disrespectful, degrading, contemptuous treatment of women is so pervasive and so mainstream that it has just about lost its ability to shock”. (Herbert, Why Aren't We Shocked?, 2006). I agree on this because with the current “rape culture” as it’s known, many rape victims especially on college campuses that have suffered injustice because their rapists have not been stopped. Rape is not shocking anymore because our standards of women have been over sexualized, and we don’t stop and think that rape is a serious crime and the horrendous effects it has on a victim. When I see a new music video there is always a deep sexual meaning to it or there is a degrading message towards or about women. We have become so accustomed to this that we no longer view this as something wrong, but as the norm of society. Human trafficking happens every single day and there are many victims that are sold to prostitution, but yet the media does not focus on the atrocities faced by women every single day, but rather glorify the “pimps” through scandalous song lyrics. Another statement by the author is, “Now Mr. Solid Citizen can come home, log on to this $7 billion mega-industry and get his kicks watching real women being beaten and sexually assaulted on Web sites with names like “Ravished Bride” and “Rough Sex – Where Whores Get Owned.” (Herbert, Why

The sexualization of young girls and women in society is a prevalent theme in mass media. Presently, the sexualization of females is commonly seen in various consumer items like clothes, dolls, and even in Disney movies, according to “The Sexualization of Girls Is Harmful” article. The author says that sexualization occurs when “a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behavior; a person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness with being sexy; a person is sexually objectified- made into a thing for others’ sexual use; and sexuality is inappropriately imposed upon a person (AboutKidsHealth).” Furthermore, the author provides statistics on how girls are being sexualized by the products they see and use

The push for de-sexualizing women in ads can be a part of this third wave of feminism. Even though women have been seen as sexual objects for years, the problem hasn’t been solved and is shaping into new forms that continue to reintroduce this way of thinking. In the context of a school environment, a female student can get sent home for showing collar bone whereas a male student could simply get away with a tank top shirt. In this situation, the boys education is being prioritized more than hers. The idea that the collar bone being visible is offensive or a distraction, is just another way of sexualizing a young girl. The same problem occurs within the work environment and women’s jobs have been put in jeopardy because of the sexualization of their

In today’s society it seems that there has been an increase in the word slut. We have began to take away the idea of someone being a victim and instead slut shaming them. Films have

On all platforms of media, women and even young girls are oversexualized; thus leading to men viewing women as no more than breasts, vaginas, legs, or any other body part they prefer. Even in current television shows, movies, comic books, and advertisements, women are still depicted as sexual objects, which can damage a woman’s confidence. The oversexualization of women 's bodies can degrade a young woman’s confidence, and when girls try to boost confidence by dressing or acting like the women they see in the media, they are reprimanded for it. Girls cannot be blamed for their sexualization; they are just emulating what they see in the media.

In all aspects of the lives we live, normal can not ever be defined as a single idea. If normal is such a thing at all, it is a subjective opinion and can only be defined on an individual level. Everything we interpret is relative to our upbringing and our environment. Not one person had the same upbringing or lived in the same environment as another person for even siblings who have lived together their whole lives have different nurturing experiences. The differentiation between normal and abnormal is a topic of much debate. The meaning of normality varies in many ways such as by person, time, place, situation, culture and set of values. Normality is usually seen as good and desirable by society and what society thinks while abnormality may be seen as bad or undesirable (Boundless).