Men throughout history had no problem sexually assaulting and raping women when they wore corsets and made sure their knees and elbows were covered. Therefore, the argument that women going out in booty shorts and form-fitting tank tops is invalid. The clothing of 21st century America and the mindset of Americans, however, have contributed to the ease of sexually objectifying women and men in the media and in everyday life.
Our media shows us pictures of our favorite celebrities in sexually suggestive poses and wearing revealing dresses, all of which have been Photoshopped to enhance cleavage, increase thigh gaps and reduce blemishes.
Men are shown topless or in skin-tight shirts with their muscles prominently displayed. Women are topless when their hair, hands or a product can cover their breasts in advertisements.
It’s not just gossip magazines that focus on the sexuality and promiscuity of people. Advertisements use celebrities in the aforementioned positions to better promote their product. Using anyone as an object, something that is inanimate and incapable of being human, causes people to dehumanize him or her, and see him or her as an object – just something to be played with or used.
Women’s faces are either covered by the product or words, or completely cut off, nowhere to be found in the advertisement. Sometimes, only one part of their body is shown (usually the legs, butt or breasts). In most advertisements, female celebrities in photo-shoots with men are leaning on the man, being dominated by the man, more scantily clad or naked than the man.
In advertisements with just typography, even the words can elicit a sexual image. Men are becoming this sexual object in more and more advertisements these days. Kraft released a commercial and ad campaign last year for their Zesty Italian Dressing. The commercial has a man making a salad. When he enters, he removes his jacket to reveal a white shirt hanging loosely on his body. He speaks in a hushed, sexy tone, like most women do in perfume commercials, and talks about a tomato. When he adds the salad dressing for a third time into a frying pan, the flames cover his figure and then disperse to show him shirtless and with defined muscle tone. A few of the print ads show him naked on a picnic blanket with a small corner of it covering his penis, laying on a kitchen counter in just an apron while licking his finger and laying on the counter with his shirt unbuttoned over tight boxers.
There are more examples in advertisements, gossip magazines and movies I could rant about that display this objectification of men and women as things to be lusted after, but that would take longer than I have in this column.
So why is this important to be aware of? Because it affects everyone. Men are used to women being objectified in the media and, especially in cases where the man is dominating the woman, it could influence him to objectify and try to assert dominance over the women in his life. Women see this objectification of themselves and how men have no qualms about it and don’t try to stop it but are told to not breast feed their child in public and to “cover up” when they go out so they aren’t assaulted or gawked at by 10-year-old boys. Children are exposed to underlying sexual themes and may start being aware of their sexuality long before they are ready to handle it.
As students of Longwood University, students who are being shaped into strong citizen leaders, we need to be aware of the issues in our society. Sexual objectification is one that we can work on now. I don’t suggest boycotting products or magazines or the actors who bring you great television because, not only are most products connected to each other, but also most media uses objectification in some form.
Because females have been the center of this objectification for so long, women can find revenge and a sense of relief in the objectification of men. But this isn’t right, either. We can go forth into our careers with a different and better path for advertising and portraying women in movies. We can ask the world to stop objectifying anybody. We are humans. Our boobs are not replacements for headlamps, our faces aren’t a place for you to rest your car magazine while you have sex with us. We have faces and our bare skin and muscles don’t have to sell your salad dressing. Play to other emotions. The ASPCA commercials make us sad, the military commercials make us proud and the Geico commercials make us laugh. Our car commercials don’t need to give us boners, and our female leads in movies don’t always need to be introduced by starting at their legs and panning up.
Our campus is predominately female, and we might like to know that the men around us respect us. Show us that and call out your friend when he objectifies a classmate; tell your friend she shouldn’t have to put up with a controlling boyfriend or girlfriend. Help change our society.
