Objectification and Exploitation of Girls and Women by the Mass Media and Social Media

Objectification of Women by Media

Women and their bodies have always been commodities and sources of pleasure and exploitation for patriarchal cultures. From the twentieth century, in television, films, commercials, and music videos, sexualization and objectification of women became an increasingly growing trend. Mainstream media has always used a false and unreal image of women’s physical appearance, body image, behavioral standards and beauty. Today, across television, billboards, glossy pages of magazines, and social media we can see hypersexualized and unrealistically perfect female forms. Advertisements, music videos, and films dehumanize girls and women and portray them as commodities. Women’s bodies are used to sell everything from car tires to entertainment. Read on this blog to know different forms of objectification of women by media and how that impacts our society.

Exploitation of girls and women by the Fashion Industry

Over the last 25 years, big clothing and cosmetic brands have started targeting young girls and women. The fashion industry hypersexualizes girls and women’s clothing. Wearing tights, extremely short, or revealing dresses are characterized by boldness. Advertisements show them wearing highly provocative dresses, make-up, and often in age-inappropriate, hypersexualized postures and body language. Trying to keep up with the latest fashions, often kids and parents become victims of these brands. Models, supermodels, beauty queens, even dolls reinforce the idea that girls and women must have unrealistic beauty and figures. Fashion brands not only target women customers but also price girls’ and women’s products much higher than boys’ and men’s products. gender-based pricing is often referred to as the “Pink Tax.” The Pink Tax costs the average woman over $1,300 a year and impacts all aspects of daily life. 

Read: From Iran to France: When will Men Stop Telling Women How to Dress?

Sexually Objectification in Different Professions 

There are many professions such as certain forms of dancing, beauty pageants, modeling, and cheerleading where women’s objectification is encouraged and promoted. In addition, many women work in environments where the main purpose is to offer explicit targets for men to objectify them e.g., exotic dancing and cocktail waitressing.

Self-objectification, Depression, and Self-harm Among Young Girls and Women

Many studies have shown that media has negative effects on the mental health of young women and girls. Women perceive that their physical beauty is a measure of the amount of love and the power they should receive, putting tremendous pressure on them to conform to conventional beauty standards. According to psychologists, women internalize people’s objectification of their bodies, resulting in them constantly criticizing their own bodies. Girls and women compulsively monitor their own body’s outward appearance. They become overly concerned about how others may perceive their physical appearance.

According to Jess Wiener, the cultural expert for the Dove Self-Esteem Project, “Viewing unrealistic and unachievable beauty images creates an unattainable goal which leads to feelings of failure. This is especially true of young girls who have grown up in a world of filters and airbrushing.”

Sense of  Empowerment in Self-Objectification

Women in many western cultures participate in their own objectification, often without realizing it. This is the result of an increasing acceptance of the pornification of mainstream media in a culture that largely embraces materialism and objectification. Thus, many women actively consent to objectification and overt attempts to gain male attention by purposefully and consciously advertising their own object status. Girls and women who think they must wear revealing dresses to look beautiful are victims of patriarchy. But, when women need to use their bodies to draw the attention of the world, it is counterproductive to empowerment.

Normalizing Violence Against Women

According to UNICEF, “The objectification and sexualization of girls in the media is linked to violence against women and girls worldwide.”

The media normalizes the act of dominance and aggression against women by constantly showcasing them as objects of pleasure. Boys and men tend to internalize that message, and it influences their subconscious biases of how they view women. They tend to legitimize violence, harassment, and anti-women views and behaviors.