Objectification In Media

Today's media is increasingly pornographic, and the notion that 'sex sells' has infiltrated the advertising of virtually all products and services. Both men and women are sexualized in contemporary media, but the extent to which women are sexualized is far greater that men are. Jean Kilbourne states in her talk, The Dangerous Ways Ads See Women, "There are stereotypes that harm men, of course, but they tend to be less personal, less related to the body." The stereotypes that drive the portrayal of women in the media lead to the repeated objectification, particularly sexual objectification,

She begins the essay by pointing out the use of porographic themes in advertisements, which use sexual fantasies, such as bondage and domination, to appeal to the desires of the audience. However, as well as promoting the advertiser’s product, these advertisements send a message about men and women that Kilbourne identifies as harmful to society. She connects that these advertisements promote the idea of male domination and female submission, and the sexualization and objectification of women. She provides many examples of this to prove her point, describing one horrifying ad after another. Kilbourne speculates that these ads, as well as objectifying women, also promote rape culture, and the idea that women are responsible for their own assault. As though these messages were not enough, ads also sexualize children, and teach them that objectification of women is normal and accepted. Kilbourne addresses these issues in advertisements, stating that they are promoting the dangerous ideas that today’s culture already has. She connects female addiction to

What do you see when you look in the mirror? Do you like what you see? In Jean Kilbourne’s article, “Two Ways a Woman Can Hurt,” she discusses the sexualization of women in advertising and how it plays a role in violence against women. Elline Lipkin discusses the causes and effects of negative body images in her article, “Girls’ Bodies, Girls’ Selves.” Although I agree with Kilbourne that advertising and violence can be related, it is important to consider Lipkin’s argument about how advertising shapes body image in a negative way because while a lot of women experience violence, everyone experiences the effects that advertisements have on body image.

Sexualizaton and objectification in the advertisements we see and the media we watch has become a very strong issue in our society. With the idea that “sex sells”, consumers don’t even realize that they’re not viewing the advertisements for what they are, but for the women (or men) that are being portrayed in a very erotic way, posed with whatever product they were hired to sell. Many articles have been written so far to challenge and assess this problem, but one written by Jean Kilbourne (1999), “”Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt”: Advertising and Violence” holds an extensive amount of authority. Using her personal experience with the subject, as well as studies she has conducted herself on the topic of sexualization, she talks about how the amount of sexualization in advertising affects how society views the culture and products consumers buy. She also notes that because of the quantity and prevalence of these ads, the rate of all forms of sexual assault, specifically rape (mostly towards women of all age), increase, as well as other forms of assault. It is important to examine Kilbourne’s use of rhetorical devices, such as ethos, pathos, and logos, and how effective these devices make her article. This way, it can be examined for its validity and her understanding of her own research. Kilbourne’s article is very effective through her uses of pathos and ethos, but at the same time, it loses its effectiveness through her absence of a counter-argument, as well as a lack

Since the invention of television, the media and film industry has contributed to sexually exploit, and oppress woman of color, not only in America but also around the world. There is a great focus on women of color as sexual targets. This is deleterious to society because the media are creating social stereotypes for women of color that can occur in unhealthy social and physical habits. For example, Women of color are sexualized in particular forms perceived as animalistic and sexual with a firm focus on body appearance mainly the posterior. Sexualization has given women an ideal version of who they are supposed to be.

The documentary “Miss Representation” deals with and discusses the sexualization of women within the media. It showcases everyone from movie stars to political leaders, and broadcasters to fifth graders. With such a wide range of women being showcased in the documentary, it goes on to prove that all women (and men), are affected in some way by this major problem within our media. The documentary showcases the sexualization of women in the media, the lack of powerful and independent women role models in the media, and the constant advertisements of sexual women throughout the world.

In society, women are held to a very high social standard. The pressure to look as perfect as all the models in magazines have driven many girls to an impossible fixation. Not only is it seen as a social norm, but also people do not even realize the degrading images of women in our everyday surroundings. After watching “Killing Us Softly”, this ideal was brought to my attention more that almost every advertisement piece that involves women promotes sexualization, objectification, and reinforces the feminine gender roles in America.

In 2016, the United States spent 190 billion U.S. dollars on advertisements, almost double the amount of money on advertising than the next largest ad market (Statista). These ads advertise a multitude of different products. The ads are exposed to society in many different ways, from the breaks in between songs on the radio, to the ads shown online. Ads are targeted to a specific group of people, usually, the target demographic the brand wants to buy their product. Brands will often use women’s bodies in a sexual way to get people to stop and look at their ads. Over the last few decades, speakers and activists have seen advertisements becoming more sexual and more demeaning towards women. Activist Jean Kilbourne has been analyzing ads and has been bringing awareness to this issue for years through her four documentaries. In her documentary, “Killing Us Softly 4,” Jean Kilbourne asserts women’s bodies are often dismembered, portrayed with an unattainable, “ideal” body type, and despite advances in the women’s movement, the objectification of women in ads have gotten worse. The two images below illustrate these ideas.

Do you remember the last ad you saw in the past 24 hours? Do you remember what they were selling? It was definitely not the item that was mentioned at the bottom of the ad. For years, marketing has been using people 's temptations to make them interested in the ad, or commercial; not necessarily in the product. In Judith Lorber’s piece, “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt”: Advertising and Violence, it becomes evident how many different ways a woman can be negatively affected by the media’s idea of how a sexy woman is supposed to look and be treated. Lorber’s research explains how women are negatively affected in the workforce and within their daily lives due to the constant objectification of women in ads and commercials. Women are forced to

The theory provides an understanding about the sociocultural idea that sexually objectifies women’s bodies and limits a woman’s worth with her appearance and sexual features rather than her intelligence and creative ideas. This study informs the readers about there is evidence of this theory, and how it is predominately everywhere, including the media. It mentions that the “review of studies examining depictions of women in the media including commercials, prime-time television programs, movies, music lyrics and videos, magazines, advertising, sports media, video games, and Internet sites revealed that women more often than men are depicted in sexualizing and objectified manners” (10). Eventually, these provocative images leads to woman becoming more likely to endure sexist comments, unwanted attention, and harassing behavior. It also even evolves into more dramatic and terrifying consequences for women which include rape, murder, kidnapping, and in some cases,

This article, written by Melanic R. Salome , is about the women’s misrepresentation of in media . Salome considers media as an important tool that affects American women in a negative way. Media has become of paramount interest in our lives, despite the fact that its negative influences on us are increasing at a rapid pace. Media promotes unrealistic and unattainable images that result in depression and dissatisfaction among people. Therefore, media reflects the image of society and the way people think about themselves. Moreover, The writer strives to show the portrayal of women as depicted by media, stating that historically women are more likely to suffer from marginalization and stereotyping than men do . She claims that women are mostly represented as sexual objects and marriage oriented. She highlights that it is unfortunate that this marginalization of women is still continuing, but it is being exploited through a different way by media. Women beauty is used in advertisement on purpose to sell products while men are usually represented as elegant leaders and decision makers. Media, according to Salome, tries hardly to convince American society believing in inaccessible and nonsensical goals. The author believes that women should be accepted as they are without being incorporated into the picture of what the ideal women are. Furthermore, she claims that the American society is a society that cares just about appearance as an important part of the human existence.

Engdahl’s article closely examines the physical self-assessments of young adults who are influenced by advertisements. The research conducted includes the way women are consistently exposed negatively to the ideal female physical appearance, which causes them to self-evaluate themselves. Unrealistic and impractical standards shown in fashion advertisements leads to feelings of discontent with their selves, especially weight related. Furthermore, Engdahl’s analysis on this topic shows a greater depth as it continues describe more in detail about how women are taught to conform at a young age about physical attractiveness in order to be accepted, treated well by others and valued as a person. In a study, advertisements with attractive models

Media images of women, regardless of race, are often stereotypical, negative and degrading. Mass media disseminates these images via electronic, print, visual and audio

Everyday we expose ourselves to thousands of advertisements in a wide variety of environments where ever we go; yet, we fail to realize the influence of the implications being sold to us on these advertisements, particularly about women. Advertisements don’t just sell products; they sell this notion that women are less of humans and more of objects, particularly in the sexual sense. It is important to understand that the advertising worlds’ constant sexual objectification of women has led to a change in sexual pathology in our society, by creating a culture that strives to be the unobtainable image of beauty we see on the cover of magazines. Even more specifically it is important to study the multiple influences that advertisements have

In terms of women and sex appeal, the world of advertising has changed a considerable amount. Many of the advertisements which are seen in newspapers, magazines, and television fail to portray women in a more positive light. The image of females in numerous advertisements are merely viewed as fascinating "objects" while they are also being displayed in a fashion that is supposed to appeal only to men, i.e. exploitation of the body. Though these types of advertisements are very effective at selling their products to consumers, it seems as if the minds ' of women, especially younger women/teenage girls are being corrupted as they are pressured to live up to the ideal image: sexy and thin with a little extra curves.