The Negative Effects Of Sluts In Movies

The media is such a large part of the United States, and the world in general. The media and all of its components can be a rewarding part of society, like entertainment and staying well-informed, but it can also paint a stereotypical and degrading image of women. In the early 1900's, around the 1920's to be more precise, women in movies and on television did not have the creative boundaries they have today. Women were able to control their own sexuality, but in the mid-1900's Hollywood set up two major roles women could portray; the “innocent ingenue or the threateningly sexual vamp (pg 18).” Although media has changed over the years since 1950, the limits still remain. By today's standards, women typically play the love interest of the protagonist who can be used by the antagonist as leverage.

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

In the book, Slut!—Growing up Female with a Bad Reputation by Leora Tanenbaum, she collects a multitude of testimonies from women who have been subjected to sexual harassment, physical abuse, rape, incest and slut-bashing from all ethnicities and locations around the globe. One astonishing truth approaches you at the beginning of the book. Tanenbaum enters a table that shows the positives and negatives of being a sexually active man and a sexually active woman, unfortunately the truth is absolutely ludicrous. The table states a total of two positives of being a sexually active woman; hot and sexy. On the contrary, it states three negatives for sexually active men, compared to the twenty-eight negatives for sexually active women. This list consists of names from “slut” and “Jezebel” all the way to “prostitute.”

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.

The theory being tested in the article is that women participate in slut shaming as a way for them to distance or separate themselves from other women. The reason they separate themselves is a way for women to categorize other women into different statuses and a way for themselves to maintain their own status. The status classes women are categorized in are linked to the social class they are a part of. Slut shaming among women is not necessarily based on their sexual acts, but of the way they act as a woman. The theory also states that slut shaming is also a result of male dominance and female submission. The slut label was created by men due to a double standard created by society. The double standard is that men are expected to act upon their sexual desires regardless of being in a relationship or having any emotional connection with the person they’re engaging that sexual act with all while women are only allowed to participate in sexual activities if they are in a loving and committed relationship. However, if

Society has told women that when a man takes you on a nice date, you owe him something in return and that something is your vagina. Traveling back to the young girl’s at York University story, for the police officer to say “women should not dress sluts…” is mind-blowing because how exactly does a slut dress? Women are “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” in any aspect of life especially with the way they choose to dress and sex. Believe it or not, a woman can choose to be conservative or revealing with no intention of pleasing a man. When giving her speech, she encouraged women to speak up and out about rape.

One in five women and one in seventy-one men will be raped in their lifetime. This type of statistic is nauseating. Senator Sanders states in his article “Man-and-Woman”, “Many women seem to be walking a tightrope now. Their qualities of love, openness, and gentleness were too deeply enmeshed with qualities of dependency, subservience, and masochism.” Within this article, sexual abuse and gender normalities are the big topics. Some men see women as an object or a toy that they can play with. However, women are needed so much more than just to fill the desires of a man. Another problem that not only grown women, but young girls face everyday is the event of cat calling. The Huffington Post’s Joan Marie states, “The first time I was catcalled, I was ten, at a family friend’s barbeque in a swimsuit, It was a drunk dad, who thought he was funny.” The woman in this article explains that she still remembers every inch of her body feeling hot with shame as everyone at the party looked at her. Women are blamed for these types of incidents. The man should have been the one who was ashamed, as a father of a child close to her age. Women continuously blame themselves for the traumatizing things that are said and done to them. Furthermore, there needs to be more support for women and help them to understand that they have a right to their body and it is not something to be ashamed

Violent sexual scenes in movies and television shows have normalized sexual violence, and these scenes are increasingly made more available to children at younger ages. Sexually violent scenes in mass media contribute to myths that circulate around rape. Instead of rape scenes showing the true emotional impact on the victim, they are geared more towards sexual arousal of the audience. One writer argues that “as long as the public is being seduced by the myth that rape is about sex and not about power, and that rape is about lust and not oppressive violence, then the rape culture can continue to thrive and to destroy women” (Pearson 13). Violence in the media is a longstanding argument in America about how much is too much and whether normalization of violent acts has resulted in a more violent culture. This topic alone can be written over the span of many textbooks, for the purpose of this paper it is important to acknowledge that mass media and the portrayal of sexual crimes committed against men and women greatly contribute to rape culture. If sexual violence is portrayed for what it really is to the perpetrators and to the victims, this may change the perceptions Americans have and ultimately contribute to an anti-rape culture that treats rapists and victims far differently than they are treated

In the article Good Girls'': Gender, Social Class, and Slut Discourse on Campus sociologists Elizabeth Armstrong and Laura Hamilton conducted a research at a Midwestern university in order to better understand the use of slut discourse between woman. Slut shaming is the act of criticizing a woman for her real or presumed sexual activity. It also includes criticizing her for behaving in ways that are associated with her real or presumed sexual activity. Slut shaming exists within a society because of the society sexual double standards. Traditionally men are encouraged by society to engage in sexual promiscuity but women are forbidden in engaging in sexual promiscuity. If a woman dares to engage in any behavior that could be interpreted as sexually promiscuous then she is branded as a slut or a whore.

The movie “Spring Breakers” is not just a horrible movie, but it boosts rape culture. This movie turns young women into sex objects. In the beginning of the movie, we get a slow-motion shot of breasts as the college students’ dance and drink on the beach. Despite the fact that men are also involved, the camera only focuses on the females. The message is clear, the females are the ones “letting loose.” Even a scene in the lecture hall shows two of the female protagonists imitate “blow jobs” in the middle of their boring class. In the book “Language and Sexism” by Sara Mills, explains, “Language does indeed reveal to us the values of groups and institutions within our culture in the past who were instrumental in

According to the Mothers’ Union and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Young Girls (NSPCC), Kim Kardashian selfies’ are putting young girls in a risk of abuse by encouraging young girls to post explicit sexual images of themselves and exposing young girls to sexualization (Cox. 2015). One of the major limitations of the study was the NSPCC also criticized that the show ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’, as well because it incident young girls images on social media as self- developed (Writer.2014). Kim Kardashian has been posting pictures of herself daily on the internet. Furthermore, the NSPCC also its dissent against Kardashian for introducing Breaking the Internet recently. The hashtag stems a picture on the cover of

Everywhere you turn, there are magazine covers, movies, reality TV shows that portray woman in a sexual light. When was the last time that we as a society sat down and realized the effect that this is having on young girls, teens and even grown women. The portrayal of women as sexual objects in these and many other types of media have greatly affected the mindset of society. What affects has this had you ask? There are there main effects that we will explore. First, is the effect it has on their self-image. Second, is the effect on how they portray themselves in their relationships. Third is the effect it has on their mental state.

During my English period, I've been analyzing a speech and some articles on the topic of slut-shaming. While I read the articles, I was shocked to discover that this was an issue in our school systems. In case you weren’t aware, slut-shaming is the act of insulting a young woman (or girl) for being sexual. In this act, people use obscenities such as slut, whore, and slag, to shame women for their supposed “crime”. This, of course, doesn’t end well for the victim. In other words, this concerns you because this is an issue that not only spans San Luis High School but the entire district. This must be resolved because it has had dire consequences for many students and it has connections towards rape culture.

From a young age, we are exposed to gender stereotypes. Television, the Internet, and books define what is “feminine” and “masculine” for a child. Feminine is defined as “having qualities or appearance traditionally associated with women, especially delicacy and prettiness”. Masculine is defined as “having qualities or appearance traditionally associated with men, especially strength and aggressiveness”. Media takes this a step further and dictates exactly what girls and boys can and cannot do. In television and movies, women are mainly portrayed as homemakers and damsels who need a man to reach their full potential. They are often uneducated or seen as less intelligent than their male counterparts. Oppositely, men are portrayed as breadwinners and authoritative figures. They control most aspects of their lives and have more opportunities. According to Common Sense Media, these depictions cause “false assumptions and harmful conclusions”. Little girls learn that are worth less without a man and little boys boys learn that they are above women. The media also feeds into rape culture. Rape culture is the normalization of rape in societies. Rape culture is taught to young girls and boys. Girls are taught tactics to avoid rape and boys are taught that

In our time, women (as well as some men) are attempting to re-appropriate the word to “take the sting out of it” and “reclaim” the word in order to remove the powerful negative impact that it has on women. While past words of similar meaning may have lost the power and control that they’ve had on women in history, ‘slut’ has managed to become a known, everyday word. The word is short and easy to say, but, most importantly, has never truly deviated from the roots of the its (unknown) origin. Like plenty of words today, ‘"it was definitely a pejorative reference… but it wasn 't always used in that way" (Westcott). The term had at one point been used playfully, as described by Westcott, when people in the 1400’s called their lovable kitchen maids and servant girls “admirable slut[s]” (Westcott). The latter usage is, and has never been, as popular as the primary usage ― a slanderous term slurred at women by men and other women passing in the street.