Women as Sexual Objects Essay Example

physical appearances, instead of their mental capabilities, shows how society demeans the value of women as nothing, but an object.

The Current Situation

In today’s world, society’s acceptance of “regarding women primarily as sex objects” is extremely threatening, demeaning and offensive towards the female community. Many advertisements showcase women performing sexual poses as a way to market agencies’ products and lure men into purchasing more products. Women are used as ponies through which more customers get to come in and increase the business profitability. So far this has been the reason why advertisement agencies choose women featuring that are sexually appealing to men to be part of their ads. These women are portrayed to be vulnerable, fragile and beautiful, and they also depict an image of being dependent on men. (Lundstrom and Sciglimpaglia, 72)So together, we can bring an end to this threat and support for women power.

Despite the many agencies claiming to want to empower women, there is still a big threat to women and young girls participating in the advertising business. In our modern and brave new world where technology is a click away, there has been a constant increase in the trend of women portrayed as sexual objects through advertisements. (Lundstrom and Sciglimpaglia, 72). How? Advertisers encourage models to dress and pose provocatively, so as to sell more magazines of those “sexy” poses and sell more products.

There are several examples of large enterprises using women to sell their products. A few of these advertisements include;

Advertising 1 (Tomford): The company’s fragrance product is placed in the middle of a woman’s breast. We are unable to see her whole body because the advertisement crops the body

from her lips to breasts. The size of her breasts is bigger than the fragrance product placed between them while her mouth stays open. So what does this imply? The act of oral sex? The body positioning is symbolic and expressive of women’s social identity. This image reflects a woman who is powerless and out of control, therefore clearly exhibiting a sex object. The fragrance product is specifically placed in the between her breast to represent a sexual position whereby a woman was submitting by holding her breasts together. The display of the breast does not relate to the spray, but the fact that it is there shows how women are used as sex objects. ("Tom Ford Sexual Advertisement - Google Search")

Advertising 2 (Dolce & Gabbana): We can see how the woman is lying helplessly on the floor as the man is aggressive pushes her arms down. There are also three additional men in the advertisement staring at her like a lion staring at its prey. Why should we be concerned? This is because it shows how the man wearing the brand’s clothing has won the battle to get the girl. The fact that the woman is lying helplessly implies that she is just an object used for competition. The men around her show dominance and hunger as they look at the man on top of her. The woman is wearing a lingerie and stilettos while three other men are just looking as if waiting for the half naked man to be done so they can engage the woman too. It almost gives one a sense of gang rape. ("Dolce Gabbana Sexual Ads Analysis -

Google Search").

Advertising 3 (Gucci): The brand is presenting its new fragrance product called “Gucci Guilty.” The advertisement shows the top half of a naked man and woman. The man has a confident grin on his face as the woman presses her body against the man as she deeply inhales the fragrance. The advertisement showcases a fragile, submissive and dependent woman craving for the man’s attention. It also shows how women are dependent on men and ho men treat them with cruelty and never pay attention to them. ("Gucci Guilty Ad - Google Search")

Concerns

It is these types of advertisements that create a social misrepresentation of women and what they can do. Young girls start adopting to such advertisement and dressing to look like the models and women in an ad and then we get to a point that they are treated as prostitutes. The problem that this ideology creates is the fact that society not only degrades the value of women as an inferior class but also influences men to increases aggression towards women.

One of the impacts of advertisements portraying women as sexual objects is social degradation. This is because “the power of advertising to persuade, manipulate, and shape behavior has long been recognized,” and therefore influences society to see women as the inferior class (Katherine Covell). The “widespread overt depictions of women as sex objects can be expected to have an impact on general beliefs and attitudes” towards them and therefore, “promote rape-supportive attitudes and beliefs (Lanis and Covell 639-649)The article indicates that “males who see print media advertisements, in which women are presented as sex objects are more likely to increase sex role stereotypes

and rape myth beliefs” (Lanis and Covell 639-649). As a result of such advertisements the society is left to suffer from increased “current struggle for sexual equality and the existing power structure” (Lanis and Covell 639-649). It can be concluded that advertisements that portray women sexually places them at the bottom of the social structure and therefore supports society to treat women as the inferior class.

Another consequence resulting from advertisements that contain women as sexual objects is aggression towards women. Men are becoming more violent as they want to dominate both at work and home. The “connection between exposure to sexually violent media and the development of thought patterns” supports “violence against women.” There are “nearly 2000 advertisements from 58 popular U.S. magazines found that women were portrayed as sex objects (Malamuth and Check 436-446). Men are constantly exposed to content that relates women to sexual objects; so, therefore, treat women violently with disrespect. There is a correlation between the effect of advertisements and how men treat women poorly. Statistics have shown that “North American women have been raped or sexually assaulted at some point in their lives (Malamuth and Check 436-446).” Advertisements that display women enjoying sexual actions “correlate positively with men’s beliefs that women enjoy forced sex when in reality women have felt too and forced sex is rape, which is painful and wrong. Furthermore, this causes “a greater acceptance of violence against women … and greater rape myth acceptance (Malamuth and Check 436-446)

Solutions

To help solve this problem there have been several suggested solutions and in that effort the online feminist community has come together to help with this problem. The women’s Media

Center’s “Name It. Change It” has been pushing campaigns against sexism in political sexism. Women have a voice in the media through “Women In Media and News” campaign. These campaigns encourage women to understand the difference between “sexualization and healthy self-expression of sexuality.” Another organization that has empowered women is SPARK (Sexualization Protect, Action, Resistance, and Knowledge) which educates women on the difference between being used as marketing tools and healthy sexuality. SPARK has made women part of the organization so as they advance their knowledge about their bodies, organize events about women empowerment and conferences. This is a way to give young girls and women their voice at a young age and encouraging them to speak up. (Dove-Viebahn)

Other campaigns that are and have helped women from being used ad sexual objects and escape violence include Orange Your Neighborhood, which is championed by the United Nations Secretary-General. The Autocomplete Truth campaign which was based on Google searches was also launched by the UN Women in 2013 to challenge advertising on women empowerment, gender equality, and women’s rights. (Hamling).

Another solution to reduce women as sexual objects in mass media is through the creation of advertisement restrictions for sexual content. Some of the regulations that have been in existence are to deny access to underage children, but this is not a solution for reducing women being perceived as sex objects. The Advertising Standards Authority has been receiving over 37,000 complaints which have forced them to ban some ads. Last year alone 3,500 ads were banned because of gender and sexual stereotyping. Some of the ads that have not had a good reception include Protein World’s Beach Body

Ready” which portrays a woman in a bikini and tends to objectify her. (Sweney). With such regulations being passed across, women will regain their feminity and sexuality back. The regulations will not only protect women who are displays as sexual objects without their consent, but also limit those willing to be paid so that they can appear on the ads.

In conclusion, advertisements have changed the world’s view regarding women. They have tainted the beauty which goes beyond the physical traits, and that has caused more damage to the self-esteem of many women. Women have also faced violence, harassment and degradation from their male counterparts due to the role they play in various ads. Through various campaigns of empowering young women and girls, we can be able to change the world’s notion of the female society. Putting a restriction on advertisement agencies as well as practicing gender equality will discourage women from being treated as sexual objects.

Work Cited

1. "Dolce Gabbana Sexual Ads Analysis - Google Search". Google.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.
2. Dove-Viebahn, Aviva. "Future Of Feminism: No More Media Sexualization Of Women".Msmagazine.com. N.p., 2012. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.
3. "Gucci Guilty Ad - Google Search". Google.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.
4. Hamling, Amie. "Eight Inspiring Campaigns To End Violence Against Women". Amnesty Australia. N.p., 2014. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.
5. Jan, Kurtz. ""Dream Girls: Women In Advertising" By Kurtz, Jan - USA TODAY, Vol. 125, Issue 2620, January 1997 | Online Research Library:
6. Questia". Questia.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.
7. Lanis, Kyra and Katherine Covell. "Images Of Women In Advertisements: Effects On Attitudes Related To Sexual Aggression". Sex Roles 32.9-10 (1995): 639-649. Web.
8. Lundstrom, William J. and Donald Sciglimpaglia. "Sex
   

Role Portrayals In Advertising". Journal of Marketing 41.3 (1977): 72. Web.