The objectification of women in the media is still such a prominent issue, yet very few people actually talk about it. Whether it’s being used in advertisements as a provocative label for a product you don’t really need, or being promoted as the personification for something which can be taken advantage of and used before being discarded, women aren’t portrayed favourably. It isn’t limited to the TV though – we see it online, too, with seductive images of women being plastered on sites and on your sidebar. As a culture, we accept this as normal. Likewise, we accept impossibly think women as the norm – from the nameless models in brochures to the celebrities which crowd our TV and cinema screens every night, they’re everywhere.
The danger of this kind of sexualisation goes beyond simply demoralising women – it helps to promote a new generation of malleable children who are being influenced to believe that it’s fine to be used and abused, whether its emotionally or worse. Take the recent New York store, Barney’s, who last year chose to sexualise a group of Disney character who suddenly aspired to be models – take Bratz dolls, who promote the idea that make-up and revealing clothes are all you need to be happy. A new generation of young girls are growing up not knowing the meaning of feminism, and believing it to be fine to be treated this way. And why? Because the media is filling everyone’s minds with this very notion.
It isn’t until you stop and notice that you see this kind of behaviour going on – so, how is the media going to take responsibility for it’s actions? Advertising plays a large part of the problem, with women being used in an entirely different way to men. More campaigns such as Dove’s ‘real women’ advertising promotion help to place women in a better light and promote the fact that women are not simply sex objects. With better advertising methods, and less importance being placed on the looks and figure of women, culture may well change it’s views on how women are represented.
Comments are closed.