Jean Kilbourne Women

“Rape is unique. No other violent crime is so fraught with controversy, so enmeshed in dispute and in the politics of gender and sexuality… And within the domain of rape, the most highly charged area of debate concerns the issue of false allegations. For centuries, it has been asserted and assumed that women “cry rape,” that a large proportion of rape allegations are maliciously concocted for purposes of revenge or other motives.”

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

One cultural remnant of slavery within our society is the social idea that black bodies are hyper sexual. This can be seen in many forms throughout the media, including sexual images of black women in rap videos or the image of the black male as rapist construction. In both of these examples, their sexuality is perverted and presented as being overly aggressive and sexual, existing outside of the normalized engagement. This idea of black women being hyper sexual stems from black women being reduced to the racial caricature of the Jezebel, and this has its construction rooted in slavery, while the caricature was meant to justify the repeated rape of black women by their slave owners. For the black man, hyper masculinity in mainstream media and

Women have always faced oppression and unequal rights. In the early 1800s, women were treated as “slaves” and their purpose was to please the men in their lives (Smith, 2002). In the 1930s, Kellogg released an advertisement stating, “so the harder a wife works, the cuter she looks!” which sexualized women for their husband’s enjoyment (Heilpern, 2016). One would think over seven decades things would change, but unfortunately, similarities from both the 1800s and the 1930s are still present today. These similarities are present in advertising today as women are sexualized and demoralized for men’s enjoyment. Portraying women as objects to satisfy men’s needs contributes to a decreased view of women in society and for the female population

We have all heard the story of the drunk or drugged college girl that was allegedly raped at a party or elsewhere; the sad part is the story never changes no matter the year, college, or background of the victim. Yet, there is such an enormous amount of mistrust when the topic of college rape is brought up. Doubt is often in the forefront of people's minds before the full story can even be told. When we look back at the high-profile rape cases of Kobe Bryant and Derrick Rose, both men during trial wanted to bring up the victim's sexual history; victim blaming at its best. It was the officer's job, as well as the prosecutor's job to remain neutral in their handling of both of these high profile cases; their jobs do not allow for personal biases

The main reason we will examine is “Rape Myth Acceptance” (Stahl, Eek, & Kazemi). According to Stahl, Eek, and Kazemi, rape myths are beliefs that are mostly untrue but widely accepted as a means to justify sexual aggression towards females (2010). Some examples of rape myth acceptance include: the belief that a women is lying about the rape and the belief that the woman did something to provoke the rape. The public uses these beliefs to make victims feel ashamed about the crime that took place. As a result of this, women are “highly reluctant to report that they have been raped” (Stahl, Eek, & Kazemi 2010). As well as very unlikely to testify in a court of law against their attacker. There is an underlining belief that there is always some way that the victim could have prevented the crime which proves detrimental when attempting to get the victim to

Studies have shown that women are targets of sexual objectification more often than men. Sexual objectification is a ubiquitous phenomenon whereby women are reduced to the status of “mere instruments” to such an extent that sexualised evaluations of women separate a woman’s body, body parts and sexual functions from her personal identity and mental life (Bartky, S. 1990).

These kinds of perspectives are exactly what build the rape culture. Our rape culture ensures that every fifteen out of sixteen rapists walk free. It creates a fear of being ridiculed, dismissed and viewed as broken, in victims. It stops future victims from coming forth and gives off the overall message that rape is okay. In fact, RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) reports that in America alone, someone is sexually assaulted every hundred nine seconds and estimates between 50-90% of these rapes and sexual assaults go

The objectification of women is one of the deepest rooted issues of the world. Mass media is the most powerful force of social influence in the world. "The average American sees or hears more than 1,500 advertisements a day," (CWID, 1997). Mass media and advertising affects the way everyone thinks. The problem with this is that the majority of media we view reinforces traditional gender roles and perpetuates the sexualization, commodification, and objectification of women. Consequently, this leads to the public's familiarization with the female body as a source of visual pleasure, which perpetuates the belief that "sex sells" (Brennan, 2014). Not only do sexist forms of mass media affect the way men see women, they affect the way women see themselves. "A seventh grade student attending one of MEDA's classes wrote: 'You want us to buy

pervasiveness of sexual objectification in society gradually socializes women to internalize this perspective of themselves as sexual objects to be valued mainly for their bodily appearance and sexual

Brinson (1992) reported that “rape myths allow our culture to rationalize the prevalence of rape by offering explanations for its occurrence” . Further she states rape myths actually influence whether or not an assault will be considered “real rape.” Researchers have found evidence that the “greater acceptance of rape myths is associated with greater willingness to attribute blame to the victims of sexual assault” .

Objectifying women is obviously common in mainstream media and the each industry shows no signs of letting it go. It has been argued that the use of women as a sexual object has a great number of negative effects on individuals and societies. (Berg, 38) There has been growing concerns about the usage of women as a sexual instrument in marketing practices. Parents are complaining about the common use of sexuality and trying to prevent their children from being exposed to it.(Maas, 25) Pro-women associations are voicing their concerns by arguing that these kinds of applications devalue women’s place in a society. Religious groups are

“In the United States, rape is the most frequently committed but least reported violent crime” (Newman 205). According to the FBI, rape is defined as “unlawful carnal knowledge of a woman forcibly and against her will” (Futter, Mebane V). Seeing as though the legal definition of rape is limited, it makes it difficult for victims to prove that there was in fact a crime committed. In turn, this causes an influx of victims, as well as attackers. Society has distorted the true image of rape and made it into a social construct, per say. The issues of rape that need to be addressed are victim blaming, the frequency of the crime, and the way that America has made rape humorous.

In the Western society, the status of women is degraded due the persistent cynical effects of patriarchy. The presumption that women cannot stop a rapist gives men enormous power over women who in this discourse are framed as utterly helpless (Angus 2015). McCaughey implies that “violence against women depends upon the myth of male strength and female weakness” (McCaughey 2000, 160). Hence, the sexist beliefs held in regards to women are both socially and culturally. By reading Mackinnon’s and Cornell’s work, I was able to not only think critically about the impact that pornography has on a woman’s life, but I was also able to come to a better understanding of the term. Pornography not only plays a vital role in determining women’s status, but it also “turns sex inequality into sexuality and turns male dominance into sex difference” (MacKinnon 1988, 3). That is reflects an analysis of the idiom, a woman could say not, but she means yes. Living in a patriarchal society, one has to keep in mind that pornographic industry has caused damage to women’s status and power (MacKinnon 1988). That is, the pornographic sphere plays a vital role in sexuality of women and has a negative impact their body image.

Women are not sexual objects for the sheer pleasure of a man. There are people in the world who say that objectification and catcalling are harmless, natural, and a compliment. In reality these acts are dangerous. There have been cases where a man, reducing a woman on the street to a sexual object, has done acts of violence against her for not reacting the way he wanted her to. When a man calls out to a woman on the street to do something, or telling her what he wants to do, he is indicating that he sees her as an object for his pleasure. This leads to violence. When objectified women tend to try and be an object, and feel uncomfortable and harassed. This leads to mental illnesses, coming from when objectifications takes over a woman’s