Intended Audience
This presentation is intended for persons playing supervisory roles in the media and also for the women affected by sexual objectification. The topic of sexual objectification is sensitive to this audience because it directly impacts the lives of the survivors and potential victims of sexual exploitation and also affects the careers of those in print and visual media. Furthermore, pointing out such cases that are unethical promotes the construction of a safer social environment for all genders.
Introduction
Women are often portrayed by some print and visual media to play passive roles in society. In most cases, the women in magazine advertisements or screen productions play roles which sexually objectify them with little regard to their dignity and other personal attributes. On the other hand, men play in magazine advertisements and media productions as the lead roles and the dominant characters. Some of the important aspects of the topic discussed in this presentation include the history of gender and sexual exploitation since the 1970s, its manifestation in magazines and visual media, its impact in society, and reaction towards the phenomenon by woman rights activists, and religious institutions. Through the creation of awareness and collaboration, it is possible to instill self-confidence in the female population to counter the effects and change the narrative of sexualization and exploitation in the media.
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History and Manifestation of the Problem
Sexual objectification involves perceiving or treating the victims as if they lack autonomy, as well as disregarding their feelings and other personal attributes (Brown et al., 2020). With the gender and sexual objectification of women becoming more prevalent in society, there is a growing concern about the misrepresentation of women in the media. However, there is still hope that there will be changes in the media concerning the misrepresentation of women after many activists and movements are emerging to change the narrative. Ethics, morality, and social values play a crucial role in what society considers acceptable.
The trend is witnessed in many music videos. Today, the most popular Pop, Rock, RnB, or Hip-Hop songs have images and visuals of women who are half-naked. It seems as if an expectation has already been set for females playing lead roles in the music videos and advertisements to appear thin, light-skinned, and trendy, just like the ‘perfect female’ from the perception implanted in the people's minds. According to research, female artists are more sexually objectified, held to stricter appearance standards, and are more likely to demonstrate sexually alluring behavior in music videos (Apuke & Jigem, 2019). Sexual objectification was found to be more prominent in contemporary music videos.
With the first beauty contest happening over a century ago, the objectification of women in advertisements has been there for some time. In “The Dangerous Ways Ads See Women” by Kilbourne (2014), there is evidence of women's objectification in advertisements from as early as the 1960s. Since then, cases of sexual objectification in advertising have only gone up. The image of women in advertisements is worse than ever because the pressure on women to be unrealistically young, thin, and beautiful is more intense than ever (Brown et al., 2020). Attached below is a picture of a magazine advertisement used for a shampoo company (“Pantene Shampoo Magazine Advertisement”, 2020).
Impact
The female objectification message such as that portrayed in the shampoo advertisement above leads to low self-esteem in girls and young women who are unable to achieve the sometimes unrealistic standards set by the media. Other negative effects of such portrayals by the print and visual media include gender-based violence, suicide, depression, eating disorders, and reduced productivity that result from deteriorating mental health caused by objectification. Therefore, it is the moral responsibility of the persons in media, and the society as a whole to understand the consequences of sexual objectification and to promote ethical content that will help make the social environment a better place for all.
Actions against Sexual Objectification
There have been many reactions to the issue of sexualization and exploitation of women in the media, much of which is against sexual objectification. Religious leaders and concerned citizens are some of the cultural categories that have shown their dislike towards the behavior. However, women empowerment movements have been the most dominant players in the campaign against the mistreatment of women (Papadaki, 2019). Geena Davis, a popular actress, founded the Institute on Gender in Media after she received positive reactions from fans who were inspired by her character in a movie where she portrayed a strong female who resisted sexual abuse (Lee, 2018). Jean Kilbourne, a renowned woman rights activist, is another figure on the frontline in the battle against the objectification of women in the media; she continues to contribute by conducting numerous researches on the topic and creating worldwide awareness (Kilbourne, 2014). Honored as one of the first people to become active in this movement, she produced her first film on the topic titled “Killing Us Softly: Advertising’s Image of Women” in 1979. The film succeeded in creating awareness about sexual objectification in the advertising sector. Even though the problem continues to persist in the screen and print industries, movements empowering women and educating society on the effects of sexual objectification are becoming bigger as many people and well-wishers continue to join the cause. Everyone in society should join in the movements to empower and educate people in society about the issue.
Conclusion
Through the creation of awareness and collaboration of all stakeholders, it is possible to instill self-confidence and a sense of self in the female population to counter the effects of sexualization and exploitation. Victims of sexual objectification, media players, and all members of society should unite to address the problem of gender and sexual objectification in media. Moral responsibility calls for all players in society to participate in promoting ethical and safe social environments for all.
References
Apuke, O., & Jigem, L. (2019). Portrayal and Objectification of Women in Music Videos. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335097114_Portrayal_and_Objectification_of_Women_in_Music_Videos_A_Review_of_Existing_Studies
Brown, S., El-Ansary, A., & Darsey, N. (2020). The Portrayal of Women in Advertising: An Overlooked Area of Societal Marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02729770
Kilbourne, J. (2014). The dangerous ways ads see women . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v = Uy8yLaoWybk
Lee, B. (2018). How Media Portrayal Affects Women and What Geena Davis Is Doing About It . https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2018/03/13/how-media-portrayal-affects-women-and-what-geena-davis-is-doing-about-it/#2ef25aea2962
Pantene Shampoo Magazine Advertisement. Alamy.com. (2020). https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-1970s-uk-pantene-shampoo-magazine-advert-85318566.html
Papadaki, E. (2019). Feminist Perspectives on Objectification. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy . https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-objectification/
