National Post Scandal

The hypersexualization of females is fairly prevalent across different cultures. The media seems to be bombarded by it; magazines are plastered with risque images of barely clothed woman and even young girls. In 2011, a French issue of Vogue featured females as young as ten years-old as models, “Stretched and slinked on an array of animal furs.” Their clothing was low cut and revealing. This prompted the French

Women are sexually exploited in the media. In today’s society if people watch television programs such as Chingy featuring Snoop & Ludacris – Holidae; Charlie's Angels; the Z100 commercial with Britney Spears; or Baywatch they will see that the feminine image is presented differently than the masculine. In these programs men are typically placed in sexual situations fully clothed, while women are presented in provocative clothing or less. The camera will frequently zoom in on body parts to focus on the woman’s buttocks, midriff, and legs. Society is still dominated by men who control what people see. As a result women are increasingly portrayed as sex symbols as a way for a media company to turn

Media influence has caused beauty to evolve into ideals that can’t actually be attained. In addition to this, women are objectified and seen as sex objects, being sexualized by men without consequence due to the normalcy the media has created for genders. In fact, men are even encouraged to sexualize women. During her TEDTalk, Kilbourne presented a photo of an adolescent boy wearing a shirt that stated “pimp squad,” showing how our society is comfortable with men sexualizing women from a very young age. In contrast, women are labeled as sluts or whores without even engaging in sexual activity. I, for example, have been called a slut for wearing leggings, merely talking to a guy, and even wearing shorts— in the summer.

Society is okay with the mistreatment of women in the media because it has been seen as an accepted form of communication within the past. Whether it is through sexualizing a female in a Karl’s Junior commercial, or calling Taylor Swift a “slut” for dating men, there is a lack of understanding of why the media is problematic. As society becomes more progressive, it should be expected that the perceptions of females should also change as well. It is completely unfair to criticize someone is such a powerful position because she may have messed up in the past, human beings are not perfect, and they are flawed. Except in this culture, we accept the flaws that males make but make a huge scene whenever a female does something that might not be inherently right. Donald Trump, another contender in the 2016 Election, is seen on multiple instances mocking women for their appearance and completely stripping all females’ attributions when he sexualizes them. If Clinton were too make such crude comments about males to the media, she would be torn apart but because Trump is a white rich male, he holds himself as if nothing can affect him. These double standards are not only problematic because they continue to objectify women, but they are problematic because the feed into the systematic oppression that the United States holds so closely. Of course, I acknowledge

In today’s society, concepts of gender roles and body images plague the minds of young ladies and men of the millennial generation. These are enforced by popular culture in song, video and magazines that are published. These roles and images are seen by and influence the minds of mainly young girls but not more popularly seen, young men. Magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Vogue and Sports Illustrated flaunt slim women and very muscular men with “perfect” bodies and hair on their covers and give no thought to the readers and how it may influence their minds. Also, the artists of this generation also have a large influence on how young men and women see themselves and perceive their gender roles to be. These affect the minds of persons in ways such as they end up having a lower self-esteem as they cannot live up to societal image standards, young men and women tend to follow the gender roles that they see and young girls and boys ultimately turn to drastic measures to fulfil the body images that they feel they should obtain.

In “Blame Photo Thieves, Not the Female Victim,” columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. expresses his perspective that while it is biologically natural for heterosexual men, regardless of occupation or personal beliefs, to find scantily clad women attractive, it should be a woman’s choice of whether to pose naked for the public or not. Pitts believes that a violation occurs when women are denied that choice and have personal nudes leaked over the internet, such as in recent cases involving Jenifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Kirsen Dunst, and other high profile celebrities. Pitts claims that blaming the females for taking the photographs or placing them on an unreliable cloud would be similar to blaming the rape victim and the fault therefore lies with the perpetrator. Here, Pitt’s comments on the shrinking of the public sphere and

Visualize living in a society where slut-shaming occurs every day and someone's mistake is publicized to the point that everyone knows what happened. Some people would believe this would be referring to the Puritan society that existed during the 1600’s, but unfortunately, this is common situations that appear in today’s society. A “famous” person's error can show up on social media, covers of magazines, and every talk show throughout America. For example, recently the break up of the beloved Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie appeared everywhere in less than a day. The breakup sparked news on twitter, talk shows such as Wendy Williams, and prevailed to be the lead story on every tabloid by the following day. Even though our society did not devise

But one of the most common controversial topics is related to body image. There are many media outlets that say that people should aim to be skinny, but then they also say the people should aim to be curvy. The media constantly contradicts itself by pitting curvy models and ideals, against skinny models and ideals. The fact is that one is not more desirable than the other, “there was a fashionable ideal (skinny) and a sexy one (curvy)” (Kimball). This message is inconsistent because it has two “ideals”. When one ideal starts to become more prominent in the media than the other, the public takes action to bring back focus to the other. Social media dictates the world of body image with such viral messages such as #curvepower and #Iamperfect. People try to support the one they find the most desirable, but the fact is they are both desirable in different ways. In some people’s eyes the media creates, “blurred boundaries between skinny and sexy” (Kimball). For some people skinny is sexy. Everyone has a different idea of perfection, some men prefer skinny and some prefer curvy. The media uses doublethink by invariably supporting two vastly different body types as being perfect and

The nature of celebrity has undergone a dramatic transformation in the last century, particularly in the qualifications necessary for becoming famous In Daniel J. Boorstin’s The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America, he argues that in previous centuries, notable individuals were “heroes” who were celebrated for their “greatness in some achievements” (49). Eventually, due to the rise of mass media, a “celebrity” was created in which the credentials for merit all but disappeared. Instead the celebrity became “a person who is well known for his well-knowness” (Boorstin 57). Currently, there is no other celebrity in the world who is more famous for being famous than Kim Kardashian. Kardashian did not rely on traditional accomplishments to achieve celebrity status; instead, she exploited her renowned beauty, particularly her curvaceous figure. However, that is not to say that she is any less impactful. Her highly publicized and controversial actions, most of which relate to her free expression of sexuality, are criticized and praised by millions of people every day. Indeed, it is Kardashian’s ability to generate so much feedback that makes her such an influential pop culture icon, and this has only increased since she became a mother. The controversies surrounding her famous body showcase the many opposing attitudes that society has on the relationship between motherhood and female sexuality.

Sexual content of any nature was considered devils play in the highly Catholic society that was North America, up until early to middle 20th Century (Noble, 2013). There has been a fast swing in the Pendulum of Life as now today’s society has become extremely sexualized. This has lead to negative affects on both males and females in numerous ways. As various aspects of culture have primarily targeted females over the past several generations, this has been used to expand multiple industries. Males have predominantly contributed to this, but just as very well been negatively affected by this as well. Developing from past generations of media tabloids, advertising and twisting the cultural views on sex taboo and symbols, have

Celebrities are like demi-gods for fans. Anything they do, say, or wear is copied by their followers insanely. Being a powerful figure and an icon for the people, they fail to realize that their act, words, or attire may drag them into the centre of storm. Though they do so inadvertently, their conduct becomes an issue for debate. Priyanka Chopra has become the hot topic of debate recently when she shot for a cover page of a travel magazine, Conde Nast Traveller.

Hello, this is Reviya Elhadad reporting live from Dignity Health California Hospital where yet another car accident has occurred between paparazzi and celebrity. Humanity has fallen. Our ethical behavior is misconceived. Due to what, you may ask? There is all but one answer: Social Media. We are constantly looking at other people’s lives instead of focusing on our own. People’s voyeuristic and insatiable nature leads them to spend hours on Facebook, Instagram and twitter searching for pictures and information on celebrities, for what? To be like them? To see where they travel? What they eat? What they buy? Who they date or marry? It is the paparazzi that are consumed by the desire to feed people’s inquisitiveness.

As a society, why do we click when a celebrity gets involved in a scandal? Why do we enjoy the misfortune of others? What does this tell us about our society with the perception of truth and representation through the media? Today we have this tremendous dependency on the media in order for it to influence the way we think and to form an opinion. Composers control the audience’s perception of truth through manipulation of textual features to represent their critiques of modern culture through the drama television series “Unreal” created by Sarah Shapiro and Marti Noxon to criticize the ethnics of reality TV and Monica Lewinsky’s TED talk, “The Price of Shame” talks about her experiences with media exploitation and cyberbullying. These two

The pornographic industry has not lost their viewers, and the constant leaks of female celebrity personal pictures demonstrate that society has always sexualized women’s body for their pleasure. McRobbie states that there is a modern movement where women are free to choose for themselves. Females are choosing to go topless to prove breasts are merely body parts. Celebrities such as Bella Hadid and Rihanna walk the streets with see-through tops, making the appearance of their breasts nothing but a fashion statement. Many allegations are made saying self-exposing breasts comes from a lack of self-respect. The question arises, is it only acceptable for women to be topless for the pleasure of others? Not in the current pop culture world. Women are free to make their decisions, and they have decided their breasts are not to be sexualized. If a woman’s breast is out, she is doing it out of choice and for her

Society follows a norm that requires a general agreement between groups in order to function as a whole. Human beings are social “group animals” (Lessing 1) and need each other to survive with the intention to get along or fit in. These desires to conform “influence our idea about ourselves” (Lessing 1) and people lose a sense of their inner self based on these insecurities. The false concept of ideal beauty of body image is displayed in the media and it pressures young women and men to accept this particular notion of beauty. The role of the media comes into play because it pressures individuals to give in, since they appeal to our need, which is to be accepted. Although, people oppose to media pressuring individuals to conform, it is clear