Objectification Against Women: Video Analysis

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.”

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)

"Sure God created man before woman. But then you always make a rough draft before the final masterpiece." Author unknown. It is indeed hard to imagine or comprehend such a quote in a society where women are often portrayed as sex symbols and sex objects. Media is one of the major sources for gender depictions in our society and it has played a major role in placing unfathomable gender roles on women in regards to how they are to behave, and address themselves within a society. The gender depictions of women in our society are truly very saddening and mind-blowing!

Women’s history is a history of oppression. Throughout time, women have faced systematic domination, which has ultimately informed women’s identities and shaped their roles in society. However, the oppression of women is not uniform and different groups of women have experienced sexist oppression to different degrees and in vastly different ways. This is largely due to intersectionality, which is the idea that the convergence and interaction of various oppressed aspects of one’s identity uniquely affect individuals and social systems. As Kimberlé Crenshaw discusses in “Intersectionality and Identity Politics: Learning from Violence Against Women of Color”, women of color are situated in such a way that they belong to at least two subjugated groups. Their particular position exemplifies intersectionality because they are victims of overlapping patterns of sexism and racism, leaving them completely marginalized. Furthermore, intersectionality highlights the interconnectedness and multiplicity of oppression in society. In her essay “’Intersectionality’ is a Big Fancy Word for My Life”, Mia Mingus explains how the oppressed can also contribute to oppression. This concept in culmination with discrepancies in discrimination within communities leads to a fraught and complex dynamic that has lasting impacts. Societies must recognize intersectionality in women’ history in order to fully comprehend and rectify the oppression of today.

Have you ever been walked down the street and had a random stranger whistle or comment about your sexual features? If so then you have experienced what many would call cat-calling. Cat-calling is when a person yells or whistles to attract attention from another person in the hopes of achieving their goals. The gender that experiences this form of harassment the most are women. For the example the Onion did a satirical article on how weird it felt for Caitlin Levy when she was not harassed. In many ways this satirical article can be viewed as humorous but it diminishes the seriousness of this form of harassment. When one female is not verbally harassed, could this be considered funny especially when many woman are fighting to end this form of

Movies, magazines, advertisements, television, music videos and even music lyrics are just a handful of media sources where I have noticed an increased focus on women being viewed as sexual objects, instead of women proposing an empowering message. Many people in our society are not aware of the extent in which sexualisation of women in the media is occurring every day of our lives; this is because we live in a culture where sexuality is more accepted; this is is having negative effects on the social aspect of our society. So, has the media and society pushed sexualisation too far? It is believed that women are hyper-sexualised in the media and this is changing the way women are looked at; but what are we actively doing as a society to reduce this issue?

The concept that all oppressions are inherently linked underlies the theory of intersectionality that implies interactions of multiple systems of oppression, discrimination, and exclusion. Although we have been exposed to an extraordinarily wide variety of literature throughout the semester, with various standpoints, from very different regions of the world– the one unique concept in which they share is this underlying theme of intersectionality. In their own way, each author points out that we must recognize race, class, and gender as interlocking categories of analysis that together create profound differences in personal identity. The implications of this study provide a new and innovative and effective way in analyzing and understanding the intricacies and power dynamics that play out in not only the United States but on an increasingly global scale. This theory also lends itself to understanding the continual and perpetuating marginalization of women around the world, and how complex and interconnected their experience of oppression is, and why as critical thinkers we cannot discuss gender as stagnant or one-dimensional or merely continental.

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

Catcalling is the act of whistling, shouting, or commenting at a woman passing by in a sexual nature. In October, 2014 a video named “10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman” was released addressing the issue of catcalling and it went viral. In this video, a woman filmed herself walking the streets of Manhattan, New York for ten hours, simply wearing a t-shirt and some jeans. In that 10 hours, she receives over 100 instances of verbal street harassment. This video truly shows what millions of women all around the world have to deal with every day. These men claim that what they’re saying are merely “compliments” but this behavior is anything but complimentary. By making these comments, they are suggesting an interest in sexual behaviors which is demeaning and objectifying to women, not at all flattering. Women do not appreciate this behavior, it feels frightening, perverse, and degrading. Catcalling is a form of sexual harassment that needs to

My personal definition of Intersectionality is the study when society or someone classifies a person as race, gender, sexual orientation, class, etc. After viewing the video, it’s sad to say I was not really shocked at how the onlookers reacted to each person. In the video each person was categorized differently and had somewhat different experiences and reactions. In this case I believe the main intersectionality results that the three people experienced were race, gender and class.

Looking back over this course the most valuable reading I learned was about persuasive writing and the different types of writing to use with a particular audience. I found myself in the beginning to be a cognitive writer, but now I think I have implemented all the views of writing during this course and have learned a lot. My favorite activity or essay I wrote about was the argumentative essay in written assignment 8. I wrote about, Sexual Objectification of Women" it is here where I learned through research and facts to persuade and educate the reader about human sexual objectification.

Objectification, what comes to your mind when you think of that word? When I think of the word objectification I think of something as an object. If you were to clearly define this word it would be to treat someone or something as an object, giving it a sense of reality that might not be there. So, if we were to look at Florence 'Cléo' Victoire from the movie Cleo 5 to 7. I personally would say she’s a woman that contributed in a big way to herself being objectified by men.

In the past, women have faced many forms of discrimination to a point where they weren't considered to have a role in the society. Females were often treated as “objects” and were forced to live in a controlled environment. They had to struggle and fight for the respect of their rights and freedom. In modern day society, the perception on women has changed vastly and people have learnt to acknowledge them. However, the question as to whether the stereotypes on females have eliminated still remain. Recently, an article called “Islamism put women’s rights on ice” by Toronto Sun talked about a female who received criticism from the Islamic society for the conventions she follows on ice, and the reasons were all connected to the fact that she

How is man’s treats woman in different countries? What should women do to protect themselves? Women experience sexual harassment in every street in the world. Can we blame woman for wearing conservative clothes? What about man who are ineffective to control and behave themselves? Is the solution woman covering her hair and their bodies? Last month, when I want to The Avenues I witnessed a woman in black abiya covered all her body get harassed as much as women in jeans. We should take a step back and thinks about who we blame. The problem is not what women wear, but it is about the men's feeling of entitlement to women's bodies. An artist identifies herself as a female, Muslim, Egyptian draw a comic that talked about the same issue and problem and the stories were based on real experiences it called Qahera. This analysis of Qahera takes a particular look at the issues in the Qahera comic’s about street harassment because it based on the relationship between men and women.

Catcalling is a serious social issue encountered today especially by women. It is a harsh or shrill call or whistle expressing derision or disapproval according to the dictionary. Today, it may sound more like a compliment rather than disapproval. But, catcalls are not compliments at all because they are usually done by strangers in an aggressively sexual manner. They are creepy and can cause fear because they tend to grab an unsuspecting woman’s attention for fun and entertainment. It may depend though on one’s delivery and intention due to the difference between a polite greeting and a catcall (Aquino, 2014). Catcalls are usually ignored by women today to prevent the cause of tension between them and catcallers. However, awareness about its damaging effects is being raised because of the portrayal of