Sexualization In Women

In the American culture today, women are becoming more sexualized at a younger age due to the influences of the corporate media. Corporate media and society form the perfect idealistic body that women should have and is constantly being promoted making younger girls start to compare themselves to them at a young age. Certain shows and movies, such as Disney, influence young children and teenagers through their characters as to how a woman is supposed to be accepted. The way the corporate media and society make this body image they want women to have starts in a very early stage in a woman's life without them knowing. There are these childhood movies, such as Disney, Barbie and Ken dolls, programs such as Netflix, teen

Teenage girls are at an impressionable time in their lives. Mass Media is a key idea in one of the factors of socialization that become important to teenagers. Teenagers look to the media for a sense of entertainment. Whether it is movies, magazines, or even some aspects of social media, teenagers get a lot of influence from the media’s message. The problem with this is the media has a specific way of doing things and can be negative to a susceptible teenage girl. Media’s way of portraying a woman can be skewed and unrealistic way from what reality is. Teenage girls then have a desire for this look or way. In this essay the three ways I will describe as to why the media can negatively affect a teenage girls body image is by showing

The sexualization of women and girls surround Americans and is damaging to females as well as to American society. Females receive the sexualized messages regarding their appearance and how they should act via the media, retailers, and American society’s acceptance of these behaviors. As a mother, Girl Scout Leader, and school paraprofessional I cannot help but to question are these messages inflicting psychological damage on girls? Whom can I hold accountable for sexualizing female youth? What can I do to prevent sexualization from affecting all of the young girls in my life? The sexualization of girls is unacceptable because it is degrading to females, can cause serious life-long psychological damage and sexist attitudes, and may lead to violence against women and girls.

The documentary Miss Representation shines a light on the overwhelming impact the male dominated media has on the development of females. Women cannot grow up emotionally happy in our culture due to the overwhelming pressure they are given. As girls grow up and become women they are constantly being judged by those around them and are given a high standard compared to their male counterparts because of the media. Being strong, smart, and accomplished isn’t important as being beautiful and skinny. Today in America you are seen physically and not intellectually. With the media portrayal of women as sexual objects has come with severe consequences. According to the video fifty-three percent of 13-year-old girls are unhappy with their bodies

The sexualization of young girls and women in society is a prevalent theme in mass media. Presently, the sexualization of females is commonly seen in various consumer items like clothes, dolls, and even in Disney movies, according to “The Sexualization of Girls Is Harmful” article. The author says that sexualization occurs when “a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behavior; a person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness with being sexy; a person is sexually objectified- made into a thing for others’ sexual use; and sexuality is inappropriately imposed upon a person (AboutKidsHealth).” Furthermore, the author provides statistics on how girls are being sexualized by the products they see and use

This study examines sexualized representations of women in fashion advertising through a theoretical structure identified as visual rhetoric. Documented findings on explicit images of women in advertising have focused on content analyses of these visuals and how they affect women. This investigation asks how sexualized imagery of women utilities rhetorically as part of a branding message designed to sell

“The media have 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 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, it

(Heubeck 2006) For many young people, especially girls, the ideal continues to chase them as they grow into young women. Young girls begin to internalize the stereotypes and judge themselves by media’s impossible standards. The power that the media holds in impacting the lives of young girls is detrimental and eventually affects their body image, their satisfaction of their own body, and portrayal of their body as an object.

In “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect,” Stephanie Hanes argues that the portrayal of women in media has proliferated the premature sexualization of young women. The author analyzes the effect of media’s portrayal of women on young girls to raise awareness about over-sexualization and to hopefully convince parents of young women to pay attention to not only the media that their daughters consume but the media they consume as well. Hanes uses various rhetorical strategies to legitimize her argument and address the corruption of girlhood caused by the relentless coverage of sexuality in media.

On all platforms of media women, and even young girls are oversexualized, which leads to men viewing women as no more than breasts, vaginas, and legs or any other body part men prefer. Even in current television shows, movies, comic books, and advertisements, women are still depicted as sexual objects. Everyday billboards portray women in a suggestive manner for people of all ages to see. The over-sexualization of women's bodies causes girls to have little confidence and causes boys to believe that girls are only sexual objects for their enjoyment. Girls cannot be blamed for their sexualization; they are just emulating what they see in the media.

In addition to allowing their daughters to wear sexually provocative clothing, some parents will pay for their daughter to get plastic surgery, some of which include breast augmentation and nose jobs. The APA states that in 2006 the American Society of Plastic Surgeons reported that they performed close to 80,000 surgeries on teenagers younger than 19 years of age, the previous year (15). One can only assume that the teenagers that get plastic surgery have their parents’ approval because insurance does not cover the costs of cosmetic surgery. However, the research report does not state how many of the plastic surgeries performed in 2005 were elective surgeries. Parents are also contributing to the problem of the sexualization of female youth by competing against other parents. Author Meg McSherry Breslin quotes family therapist and author William Doherty, in her article as saying that parents contribute to girls’ sexualization by using “competitive parenting.” Parents will compete against each other to prove that they are the better parent, by allowing their daughter to appear and act older than she is. When parents act this way, they are in a sense asking the media and retailers to keep coming out with new more grown up trends so that they can stay ahead of the other parents (qtd. in Breslin 15). Additionally, there are parents that enroll their toddler daughters in beauty pageants that encourage the young girls to act flirty to win votes. Breslin continues her

Women are sexualized, and have been sexualized, in and out of the public’s eye, for decades. Sexualizing women has had a huge impact on the entertainment industry, especially for men. Many retail stores use sexual appeal to sell their products and other companies, like Playboy, thrive off the money made from under clothed models. These companies have made millions, if not billions, of dollars because people (mostly men) are willing to pay for a still photograph for certain (unmentionable) pleasures. Now, to each their own on their opinion to stop sexualizing women, however, unless some drastic influence happens, sexualizing women might stop but, it is not very likely because of the many other influences that it has on our society.

Parents can contribute to the sexualization of their daughters as well. For instance, there are parents that purchase or allow their daughters to wear sexually provocative clothing. In addition, to allowing their daughters to wear sexually provocative clothing, some parents will pay for their daughter to get plastic surgery, some of which include breast augmentation and nose jobs. The APA states that in 2006 the American Society of Plastic Surgeons reported that they performed close to 80,000 surgeries on teenagers younger than 19 years of age, the previous year (15). One can only assume that the teenagers that get plastic surgery have their parents’ approval because insurance does not cover the costs of cosmetic surgery. However, the

This over sexualization of female heroes is also addressed by Jessica Andrade (2003) when her findings showed that male viewers choose to watch shows with female leads based solely on the attractiveness of the actress. Continued viewing of the show may be due to various reasons, but the initial hook for males is sex appeal compared to women who watch these shows in order to relate to strong female characters. Hillary Pennell and Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz (2015) focused on the effects that these oversexualized heroines have specifically on the young women that are watching. The use of these astronomically beautiful women that are sexed up can have very negative effects on the body image of a young woman. The super sexualized women in media also dampens young women’s opinions of equality and changes views of how far women have come in their fight for

On all platforms of media, women and even young girls are oversexualized; thus leading to men viewing women as no more than breasts, vaginas, legs, or any other body part they prefer. Even in current television shows, movies, comic books, and advertisements, women are still depicted as sexual objects, which can damage a woman’s confidence. The oversexualization of women 's bodies can degrade a young woman’s confidence, and when girls try to boost confidence by dressing or acting like the women they see in the media, they are reprimanded for it. Girls cannot be blamed for their sexualization; they are just emulating what they see in the media.