Before we dive into the implications resulting from the objectification of women, we must first have a factual basis that there is indeed an objectification of women used by media outlets. As a study performed by Erin Hatton & Mary Nell Trautner of the Sociology Department at the University at Buffalo, over 1,000 cover pages of the popular magazine, Rolling Stone, were examined spanning the years from the magazine’s first fruition back in 1967 until the end of 2009. To give perspective, “Of the full set of 1,046 covers, we excluded 115 from our analysis for a number of reasons: they did not portray people . . . they showed crowds with no discernable image to code, or they featured collages of covers that had previously been published. Of the remaining 931 covers, 651 featured only men and 205 featured only women (either alone or in groups). In those covers that showed groups of either men or women, we coded the central figure in the image” (Hatton). Media outlets often showcase popular celebrities and other well-known figures of the time in order to attract the audience, which in Rolling Stone’s case, advertise these idols on the front cover of their magazines. This inherently has implications due to these figures becoming idolized by people of all ages, however, more concerning is the impression, made by the media, of these figures that influence our youth. When examining the numbers of this study we find that “In the 2000s, 17 percent of men were sexualized (an increase of 55 percent from the 1960s), and 83 percent of women were sexualized (an increase of 89 percent). Among those images that were sexualized, 2 percent of men and 61 percent of women were hypersexualized” (Donovan, 2011). As concerning of numbers as those are, it confirms the idea that the media does in fact objectify women, most likely as a tactical use for viewership. As the viewership increases, however, the implications of this objectification and the impressions that it leaves are startling as you begin to understand the affects it has on human behavior. The media has created a perception of women through its various outlets that has, for many years, objectified women, so in my paper I will examine the false standard that the media creates for a majority of females in regards to natural, physical, and social appearance.
A woman’s natural appearance is purely genetics, however, the media fantasizes females in a way that creates a false standard for how a woman should look. For instance, when a media company labels certain individuals as “perfect,” they create this false goal for women, that are mostly in their youth, to achieve. At impressionable ages in one’s life, the depiction of their idols or just similarly gendered figures largely dictates the way that person believes him or her self should be depicted. In the case of such a huge company like Walt-Disney, who especially takes pride in its family oriented audience, should arguably be held to a higher standard in regards to what and how their narratives are being written. Dr. Justin Lewis, in a documentary titled Mickey Mouse Monopoly, states that “I think it is a mistake for us to imagine that the only way that the media affects us is through an immediate impact on the way we think. The way the media influences the way we think is much less immediate . . . and is much more a question of creating a certain environment of images that we grow up in and that we become used to, and after a while those images will begin to shape what we know and what we understand about the world. And that’s not an immediate kind of whiz-bang effect. That’s a slow, accumulative effect and much more subtle.” (Picker). As we take a closer look at the way that Disney depicts females in their animations, we notice that they are caricatures of gender rather than realistic depictions of women, which might seem obvious since after all they are just cartoons. However, the artistic genre of a caricature is designed for an often times Meta, exaggerated representation of both real or fictional characters and things, ultimately intended to have a satirical or comedic affect. Disney’s animation caricaturizes voluptuous bodies with petite waists and perfect facial features for their “good” female characters such as Snow White from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella from Cinderella, Anna from Frozen, just as a few examples. Take note that, based on the examples, the same technique and depiction that was used for the 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs animation is also used for the 2013 Frozen animation, just to illustrate the lack of change that this corporation has shown in terms of their depiction of females. Now looking on the flip side of that, Disney’s animation caricaturizes imperfect facial features with deformities and also obesity for their “bad” characters such as Ursula from The Little Mermaid, The Evil Queen’s witch form from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and The Queen of Hearts from Alice In Wonderland as a few examples. The mixture of this artistic style that, as said before, is intended to be satirical or comedic and that of the role taken in order to develop youth through emotional and engaging story telling can be very problematic with serious implications. Important to take away is that Disney, even though it has a massive reach in comparison to others, is just one company. However, similar depictions are used across all media outlets expanding through animation but also real actresses leading to somewhat terrifying implications. Eating disorders, depression, and overall dissatisfaction of one’s body beginning all at a startling young age may be several of these resulting implications as a study at the University of California may have found. In this research study, they find that around fifty percent of girls and undergraduate women claim to be dissatisfied with their bodies, but what is more alarming is that these perceptions begin as early as seven years old (Grabe). Through experimental and correlational studies, the researchers ultimately link these concerning social issues, all revolving around how a woman believes she should look, to the images of women presented by today’s media.
When looking at a woman’s physical appearance, different from their natural appearance, we relate it more towards how a woman thinks she should dress or how a woman thinks she should use her body – as examples. With that being said, pop culture media has a direct relationship to the pop culture trends of any given time. Consumers dictate their clothing style, the types and ways they dance, their hairstyle, and the way they speak largely based on the types of media they consume. Behavior, in these regards, then can also be directly related. So as we see that women are being sexualized more now than ever, it is startling to see the repercussions. Taking for example, Disney’s representation of women; Dr. Carolyn Newberger points out that, “In Beauty and the Beast, you have Lumiere, the candlestick, and the broom, the feminine broom, acting those male/female themes, where he’s the aggressor, and she’s saying, ‘Oh, no, no, no,’ and then by golly, he sweeps her off her feet after she said ‘No, no, no, no.’ . . . So it’s a replication of the woman as holding back, woman as being coquettish, or even woman as saying, ‘No, I don’t want this,’ but what she really means is, ‘Yes I do’ “(Picker). Messages like this, whether created purposefully or not, influences behavior a great deal and, therefore, companies like Disney should take large amounts of responsibility at what they put in their films and other media. Study’s that looked at the Newspaper’s articles of criminals (cross-referenced with LexusNexus) found that 28% of inmate partner homicides are related to domestic violence (Lloyd, 2016). With this huge amount of domestic violence cases, you have to give some credit to the media for the huge amount of women objectification. Introducing net neutrality at the advent of the Internet also introduced pornography, which can be contributed to these violence tendencies towards women, as well. “Sexualized portrayals of women have been found to legitimize or exacerbate violence against women and girls, as well as sexual harassment and anti-women attitudes among men and boys” (Hatton). Lastly, when looking at music videos, especially with the availability of YouTube, you see what the affects of these explicit videos has on our youth who can have no problem getting access to even explicit content. “The media have been described as a system of racialization that defines race and ethnicity; for example, by portraying African-American women as name-less sex objects in music videos” (Straubhaar, 2016). When watching the music video Fade by Kanye West you can see a clear objectification of women through the filming of performer, Rihanna with an arguably bad message for the viewers (YouTube). As you see in the video, a half naked Rihanna, who is soaking wet, dances with the camera focused on her. Provocative and controversial dancing ensues as Rihanna, for example, showcases the movement of her bare butt cheeks for the camera and eventually is joined by a male performer and the two begin a shower scene. The whole video is extremely inappropriate for younger audiences, especially the shower scene, in which Rihanna and this male dancer imply and illustrate sexual content. The problem, however, lies with YouTube not having a very good way in preventing younger audiences to view this and the argument starts with where the responsibility should lie in protecting the younger audiences so their future behavior does not affect in any way their viewpoint and treatment towards women in negative ways. With the Internet so accessible to all audiences on so many different platforms, the responsibility cannot lie all on the parents especially with these artists and performers directly being able to choose what material they put out to the open that influences their younger audiences, therefore, the responsibility inherently also falls on the entertainers.
Lastly affected by the objectification of women in today’s media outlets, is the social appearance that this causes for women to have. This is in regards to where a woman believes she fits in and belongs in society. With the media’s take on this particular issue, an outdated reflection of woman’s role in society is present across most platforms. Although, we have diverted as a society a great deal away from a male-dominated society, the lingering affects are still very present today. The woman being portrayed as secondary characters/damsel in distress, the traditional housewife, or the seductress are poor representations of where women fit in society. Dr. Elizabeth Hadley feels that, “Jasmine in the Aladdin film, in which there is a scene where she becomes the seductress to distract the person who is after Aladdin . . . This I find very dangerous because you have, again it gives young girls the idea that that is the way that you get what you want. You use your body to manipulate people into, specifically men, to get what it is that you want” (Picker). In addition to that, the representation of women in powerful positions of or in media compared to men is extremely low. This all causes a huge social issue because you now have women limiting themselves subconsciously and creating misperceived notions that can be used against women by men as it takes up our media culture.
In conclusion, there is indeed a lingering objectification of women through forms of media. These preconceived ideas and perceptions created by the media have serious repercussions for our impressionable youth. Responsibility must be taken by our media providers in regards to creating a fair representation of females through their outlets. Based on these perceptions, women are given and hold false standards as to their own natural, physical, and social appearances. Although we are not where we want to be with woman being marketed as sexual objects, in recent years, however, woman have also been depicted as intelligent, capable persons with positions of authority and leading roles (Perenti, 173). As a culture, the right steps must continue to be taken, in order, to create an accurate and equal representation of women and prevent this unfair objectification.