Girl Watching: A Form Of Sexual Harassment

Gender inequality has been in existence for centuries and is still apparent throughout any given society. This leads up to the topic of feminism, which addresses the issues of systematic discrimination against women and the belief that men and women should be equal. In countless television programs, women are commonly sexually harassed and no one generates a remark as well as society deeming it acceptable without a second thought as they consider it conventional. In order for the characters of Boy Meets World to grasp the topic of feminism, participant observation was an effective way for them to serve it. There are numerous sociological components used within this episode such as participant observation which highlights the theme of feminism within this episode by displaying how Shawn felt as he responds to the situation that women experience due to the lack of understanding that men have in this show.

Sexual objection and non-sexual objectification were mainly measured in body exposure and body movements. The different areas of a woman’s body being displayed were used to operationalize the idea of sexual objectification. Similarly, camera angles such as panning down bodies and shots down shirts were tallied to create a solid definition of “sexualizing” for the purpose of this research. (see Appendix A and B)

Objectification according to the Merriam Webster Dictionary is “to treat (someone) as an object rather than as a person” from the feminist perspective objectification is “a notion central to feminist theory. It can be roughly defined as the seeing and/or treating a person, usually a woman, as an object.” Sexual objectification is prominent in television; from commercials to movies sexual objectification is widely known and generally accepted and considered to be “normal”. Women are commonly sexually objectified against in the media in numerous ways. The thing that most people do not consider when creating television shows, commercials, and movies is how it makes women feel about themselves. It is natural that a women looking on a television

Most the images shown in Girl Culture view woman as nothing but just for use of sex. For example, on television a simple burger commercial turns to porn with having half naked models eating the hamburger. “... The appearance of pornographic material creates a hostile environment in the workplace,”( Schaefer 2015: 194). With some commercials

Harassment, specifically sexual harassment, is one of those challenges faced by businesses and employers as of a result of workplace diversification. Inappropriate conversations, unwanted advances and uncomfortable physical contact are some of the ways sexual harassment can occur. According to Hellriegel and Slocum, “Sexual harassment refers to unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.” (p.52). To be clear, sexual harassment can, and has, affected both women and men over the years however up to half of all working women have reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment in the career (Vijayasiri, 2008, p.1). It wasn’t until 1986 though that the Supreme Court recognized sexual harassment as a violation of Title VII in the case of Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson (O’Brien, 1994, p. 1). Before the high court’s ruling, however, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had begun to address the issue by drafting hostile work environment guidelines that included sexual harassment (O’Brien, 1994, p. 4). These guidelines would serve later to guide the high court’s decision. There are many more cases like this one we could look at. In 1991, sexual harassment became a household term as Anita Hill testified before congress stating she was sexually

The gaze deals with how the audience views the people presented in visual culture, in this case, adverts, magazines and Cinema. The ‘male gaze’ is the male ability to exercise control over women by representing them in visual means as passive, sexual objects of male desire. The power of men over women has always existed. They are seen as the more powerful and clever species. This control over women has been seen predominately in linguistics senses in past times. It is clear that there are more derogatory terms for women than there are for men. Men can also wolf whistle or cat-call in order to harass a woman but

One great example presents itself in Hardees commercials. They portray attractive women eating their food while wearing provocative outfits. The CEO of Hardees, Andy Pudzer, stated “The promotion was aimed specifically to attract 18 to 34-year-old men — hungry young guys.” Their are hundreds of other ads and movies subjectifying women and making them seem inferior to men, which leads me to agree with John Berger when he said: “men act and women appear.” 2.

Work place policies regarding sexual harassment is the main issue discussed in this article. Sexual harassment has continued to be a challenge within the workplace. According to a recent review of sexual harassment related resolutions, employers have paid over $732,976.00 in sexual harassment fines (Hobson, Szostek, & Fitzgerald, 2015). The EEOC has issued written guidelines for appropriate strategies employers should use to handle workplace sexual harassment and specific ways to address it. It is the employer’s duty to proactively work to protect all employees from any type of sexual harassment by following sexual harassment policies and procedures that are put in place. Failure to implement and follow the policy and procedure in the workplace can and most likely will lead to liability should an EEOC investigation or lawsuit occur. The employer needs to disperse copies of the policies and procedures and post them in central locations throughout the organization and address sexual harassment in the employee handbooks. The policy and procedures need to clear

Gender inequality has been in existence for many centuries and is still apparent throughout any given society. This leads up to the topic of feminism, which addresses the issues of systematic discrimination against women and the belief that men and women should be equal. In many television programs, women are commonly sexually harassed and no one makes a remark as well as society deeming it acceptable without a second thought as they consider it conventional. In order for the characters of Boy Meets World to grasp the topic of feminism, participant observation was an effective way for them to do so. There are many sociological components used within this episode such as participant observation which highlights the theme of

The development of visual media has introduced the concept of The Male Gaze Theory. The Male Gaze Theory is defined as how women are depicted in the media from a male perspective, such as presenting women as sexual objects for men’s pleasure (Loreck). The article, inexplicitly, talks about the male gaze: “Up to 81% of music videos contain sexual imagery, the majority of which sexually objectifies women by presenting them in revealing clothing, as decorative sexual objects, dancing sexually, or in ways that emphasize body parts or sexual readiness.” The article talks about how women are sexually presented in the media which is what the male gaze encompasses the “male gaze” is a harmful contribution to the sexualization of girls and is also seen throughout the music video. The beginning of the music video shows 50 Cent walking into a brothel-type mansion where the camera pans to focusing on the writhing, half-naked women in the foyer of the mansion. This scene is viewed from a male’s perspective because the camera focuses on their sensual movements and physical assets instead of their normal facial expressions or more appropriate places on their body. Also, since 50 Cent is the only male in the mansion, the camera is only coming from a male perspective because brothels are only truly for a male’s pleasure. The other women in the video are objectified from their revealing clothing

This provides a satirical look at work place relations between men and women in the 1950s. The video is blatantly sexist and is meant to tell the viewer that the sexism of the twentieth century, as well as sexism today is unacceptable. As Peacocke asserts, “The message of the clip denounces and ridicules sexism rather than condoning it” (305). As Peacocke asserts, the creators of the show are not intending for sexism to be viewed as acceptable. While she makes a good point that the particular instance is purely satirical it is rather limited due to the credibility of a show such as Family Guy.

Sexual harassment in the workplace is a huge problem in recent history. It can happen to anyone and it can happen everywhere. It can affect all types of races, gender and age. Statistics today shows that more and more sexual harassment has become an issue due to the large number of cases presented. Mainstream media becomes consume covering sexual harassment because of the high profile cases. Sexual harassment becomes a topic on various TV shows, and on some major morning radio talk shows mostly everyday. Sexual harassment laws must be strengthened in order to fix what has become a serious problem today in the workplace.

Theorist, E. Ann Kaplan in her work, “Is the Gaze Male?”, analyses the portrayal of women in film using Laura Mulvey’s “Gaze’ theory and psychoanalysis. In addition, Kaplan states that historically, females have been the central focus on only the melodrama genre, and while melodrama exposes the constraints and limitations that the family places on women, at the same time, gets women to accept those constraints as inevitable and normal. Kaplan argues that our culture is deeply rooted in “masculine” and “feminine, and dominance-submission patterns. In the end, she concludes that the exclusion from male culture provides an avenue to affect change in film and society. I partially agree with Kaplan that some women take pleasure from being the object of the male gaze as I think that is not entirely true, and specifically, this generalization does not apply to lesbians.

Over the years, many people have believed that the issue of sexual harassment should not be discussed in public. Sexual harassment was to be discussed behind closed doors. In spite of this, the social and political systems have changed instantaneously. This social problem has affected men and women throughout time; however, it seems that the women of our society more closely look at this issue. This social topic has encouraged women to establish organizations in order to help them discuss the issues more openly and to demand equality including fairness and justice throughout the workplace and in their social lives as well. In recent years, sexual harassment has been one of the most serious and widespread problems

Unlike the majority of men, women are often over sexualized by their male coworkers and end up being treated in ways that are degrading and disrespectful. The sad truth is that if these women were in fact male they would have to put up with next no harassment, proving the unequal treatment of women in their places of work. Sexual harassment in work place first gained national attention in 19191 when President Bush nominated Clarence Thomas to US Supreme court. Thomas’s former assistant testified that he had sexually harassed her by making a series or sexually inappropriate comments, overtures and solicitations while acting as her supervisor. (Issues and Controversies) This is not the only sighted case of sexual harassment in the work place. It is reported that 81 percent of women are verbally harassed and 44 percent have encountered unwanted toughing and sexual advances (__) This form of harassment is degrading to women, putting them in a place that men perceive to be below them and shows the inequality that is present in the life of an everyday working