Sofia Vergara

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

Now-a-days, you can’t find appropriate clothing for your children because all stores are selling short-shorts and crop tops for 12-year-olds. This issue is contradicting; girls are being sexualized by being told not to wear clothes that show their skin, yet the only clothes that are currently being sold are clothes that only sexualize girls even more by showing too much skin that doesn’t fit their age group. Orenstein also argues that, “ For today’s girls, sexy appearance has been firmly conflated with strong womanhood.” Meaning, instead of having a princess birthday party at the park, preschoolers are now having mani-pedi spa birthday parties; or how the Elementary school cheer dance routine is more provocative; or when 9-year-olds are taught “all the ticks of beauty.” In our defence, when society depicts young women as sexual objects, they make young girls think that their beauty is more important than their brains(hence the reason why you can easily mistake a 13-year-old for a

Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. At least, that’s what is taught to believe at an early age. Elline Lipkin, however, holds fast to the understanding that as true as that saying may be, there are outside forces that are intent on readjusting our vision to “true beauty”: the kind that can be bought off the shelves. In her article, “Girls’ Bodies, Girls’ Selves: Body Image, Identity, and Sexuality”, Lipkin employs several different external resources to help demonstrate her belief that young girls’ (“Before they even abandon their teddy bears…“ (Para 2)) definition of their own appearance is polluted and distorted by the vastly massive world that is the American media. Besides pulling from other articles and fact sheets, she also effectively utilizes a clearly logical train of thought, an operative tone, and countless examples of emotional appeal.

Hanes addresses many specific issues in her article. The first topic she discusses is how Disney refuses to admit that the way they portray their female characters is often sexist and stereotypical. Parents worry that the Disney princess phase is only the beginning of girls adopting an unhealthy body image and self-objectivation. However, the negative effects of Disney princesses is still controversial because some parents claim that the princesses teach girls to be kind, love animals, and to persevere. Another worriment is that many studies show exposure to unwanted sexual material is happening at a younger age. The fear is that early exposure will cause girls to grow up too fast and lead them to have erroneous views of sexualization. Since Disney and other media emphasizes that girls should be ultimately feminine girls are now dropping out of sports because they think it brands them as unsexy. To make matters worse, marketers are now playing a role in the hypersexualization of women. The marketers target little girls by using the sexualization of women to persuade little girls into buying their products at an even younger age. There is now a new challenge to face- the internet. Along with the internet and social media; social media is now the hub for self-objectification. Girls are now posting scandalous pictures of themselves on social media, and are receiving praise as a result. However, adults cannot blame girls completely for their actions because they do not know any better because they are growing up in a culture that celebrates superficiality. The author stated that there is no realistic way to avoid sexualization that the only way to get rid of the

It would be nearly impossible for one to try and count the amount of products in today’s market aimed at bettering one 's self exterior. The Millennial’s are often dubbed as the ‘most selfish generation’ because the majority is preoccupied with its self-image and with receiving praise in return for working toward perfecting this self-image. Media sexualization is guaranteed to spark a response and has become common to the point where viewers are becoming desensitized to the obvious extremes. Advertisers take note of this and the evidence is conspicuous.

In other words, young girls are dressed in clothing and wearing makeup and accessories that try and draw attention to sexual features that they do not necessarily possess yet. In the article, Innocence Fetish: The Commodification and Sexualisation of Children in the Media and Popular Culture, Joanna Faulkner explores the various foundations of oversexualization and the effects on young children and the potential dangers. She explains, “The suggested danger is that sexual or proto-sexual imagery and signification viewed by children can lead to their ‘premature sexualisation’” (Faulkner 107). For example, when walking through a department store and browsing through children’s clothing and especially preteens, there are certain items and styles that usually leave a person wondering, “why would anyone dress their child in this?” They have push-up training bras, thong underwear, “booty” shorts and some quite provocative swimwear out that aim to create a visual of what an adult woman may look like wearing the same types of clothing. This differs from the expectations of boy’s clothing because there aren’t trends to enhance or create images of sex to portray them as older or “more

Social media and advertisements continues to shape the bodies of girls and women. They are targeted through all aspects of their lives when they are viewing advertisements, television, and body care products. So if unchecked or unchanged, it is likely that current and future females will continue to have a lack of self-confidence, self-esteem, and wont define their own image. Teens that range from four to nineteen, are influenced by the images of Barbie’s and the television show Toddlers and Tiaras. Eighty percent of these teen girls are dissatisfied with their image. Woman that are twenty or older also view different media that sway their images through the show Kardashians, Victoria Secret, and the beauty line Dove. Therefore, all forms of media need to change how they portray females. This way, women have a chance to be proud of who they truly are and can live to express themselves. Girls and women will seem guilty when they do not see the ‘model’ figure when they look in the mirror. This is not how society should be in the United States. The

There has been a growing trend of hypersexualization of women over the span of all forms of media. The women within these images are made to look perfectly flawless. They are extremely thin without a trace of fat or cellulite to be found. The people who consume this media are exposed to the idea that the women they are observing are models for true physical beauty. These standards are accompanied by an alternate message from the media that pushes the idea that women’s value comes from their beauty. While some women may understand that the messages about the ideal woman are unrealistic and false, it is found that adolescent girls are vulnerable to the media’s strategies due to their lack of media literacy as well as the search for their own identity during this developmental stage in their lives. The exposure to these standards of beauty can have several negative effects on the girls such as lower self-esteem, higher body dissatisfaction, depression, and eating disorders. SPARK and 4 Every Girl are two of a growing number of campaigns that are working to fight against the sexualized images of women in the media and the negative effects it can have on the viewers.

“The media has taken many celebrity appearances into their own hands, many times without permission” (“The Objectification of Women” par.2). Because of the media photoshopping women 's beauty on TV, social media, and even advertisements, it began to create a high rate of accusations of teenage girls’ all over the world. “In a recent study, the University at Buffalo sociologists found that the portrayal of women in the popular media over the last several decades has become increasingly sexualized, even pornified"( Donovan par.1). Due to this, women have been treated as sexual objects everywhere. Objectification comes from the lack of confidence and media 's portrayal of beauty; Due to this, the portrayal of men is not the same as females objectification is when women are treated like sexual objects. ‘Objectification is often defined by physical appearance, rather than personality” (“The Objectification of Women” par.2). As a result, women should not struggle to keep up with these trends today. “In order to achieve a ‘perfect’ look, the media manipulates photos using unnecessary editing in Photoshop to completely contort the original, creating an unnatural image” (“The Objectification of Women” par.2). The media is the dominant cause of these actions of teenage girls insecurities, high rates of surgical treatment, and males creating these fictitious assumptions. Objectification in social media should end because it causes teenage insecurities,

The idea “sex sells” is largely influential for celebrities like Beyoncé to deem it necessary to objectify their bodies for they're so called image. The repercussions of this behavior, however, are the lasting affects it will have on both female and male children and young adults of this generation. Behaving in a sexualized and objectified manner has the potential to corrupt young minds and manipulate their views on sex, body image and their role in society. Beyoncé Knowles-Carter is a powerful and influential woman in today’s generation. Her audience ranges from boys and girls

The manipulation of photographs creates an unrealistic beauty standard that no one can achieve, not even those in the images. 98.3 percent of images we regularly see in magazines and in advertisements, are digitally altered to make the subject more desirable. Too often the subject is a woman objectified in order to promote a product. In turn, teenage girls see the pictures and compare themselves to them. They want to be the ‘ideal’ woman seen so frequently in the media, but because the image has been manipulated this results in an ideal that can not be naturally achieved. Consequentially, 53 percent of thirteen year old girls feel unhappy with their body. This increases to 78 percent by the age of seventeen. It is unfair that people are forced to see these pictures and learn to associate them with beauty. As a result, women are

We as a society are also sending out mixed messages to our youth. On one hand, we present images of young, scantily-clad girls being the epitome of style and fashion, yet we simultaneously discourage this behavior in our nation's youth. We lock away pedophiles in institutions, and strictly prohibit

As a child and even an adult now, I have constantly heard “you’re so skinny. You need some meat on your bones. Do you eat?” In today’s society, children as young a five experience negative comments and thoughts about their body image. According to an article written by Olivia Ferguson and Hayley Mitchell Haugen, entitled “The Sexualization of Girls Is Harmful”, “in child beauty pageants, girls as young as five wear fake teeth, make-up, and hair extensions” (np). They are purposely motivated by their parents to flirt with the audience by batting their false eyelashes and walk with their hands on their hips. As stated in the same article, “the sexual, ideal body image of a woman comes from the media and marketing” (np). Shows, movies, magazines, and music videos usually portray the ideal woman as being fit, in “perfect shape”, beautiful skin, and long, healthy hair. This article suggests that “the average child views over six hours of media per day” (np). Actually, in sports, “female athletes are more likely portrayed as sexual objects than male athletes” (np). Women are considered, by men, sexual at an early age. They try to make themselves look “perfect” just to please a

These objectification trends are on the rise and are creating a low self-image for our young children. This will continue to spiral downward as they mature into grown women.

Today’s cultural standards play a major role in how people see us, especially in young female teens. Two women, authors Pamela Abbott and Francesca Sapsford write, “Clothing the Young Female Body” and argue that the fashion industry and the media are imperative to how a young female chooses their clothes. Abbott and Sapsford begin their argument by first giving readers examples of where young teens are influwenced, they state that advertisements and media paint pictures in teens mind on how they should dress and look like. Throughout the article they provide readers quotes from experts and give us an even bigger insight on how teen females