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Objectification of Women: Who’s to Blame? Media surrounds us. It engulfs almost every aspect of our lives. Television, internet, billboards, even at school we are bombarded by the heavy hand of advertising, television, music and movies.Something is intrinsically wrong when we look at the basic way our society is structured, especially in respect to the role that women play.
Physical beauty ranks first, intelligence comes last. Isn’t that the opposite of what we should be striving for?
When we think about why our society is set up this way, and who is to blame for it, it’s easy to point fingers.
It’s easy to push the responsibility on “power-hungry” men who view women as sexual objects or the government that even allows these images to meet the eyes of the public.
It’s also easy to turn a blind eye and pretend the problem doesn’t exist. But it does exist, and no matter which way you look at it, women are objectified in the media.
Whether they are portrayed as ‘dumb blonde’ or ‘the girl next door,’ women are stuck in these stereotypes time and time again.
The main problem starts and ends with us women, though.
I’m sure somewhere far along the road that led us to where we are now, everything started out as trying to live up to men’s standards of beauty.
And yes, many men objectify women. But that’s not where the core of the problem lies.
The problem lies with us: normal, everyday women as well as those with a hand in the media.
“Not only are girls seen as objects by other people, they learn to see themselves as objects” (Miss Representation).
Women target women. Women attack women. Women objectify women. And women target, attack, and objectify themselves more than they do to anyone else.
I do not have a single friend who doesn’t complain about her hair, her skin, her weight—I’ll admit, I’m not excluded from this.
The movie Mean Girls is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. Its sole point is to critique the entire system in which women view each other.
“If girls call each other sluts and whores it just makes it okay for guys to call us that,” Tina Fey’s character said.
Gossip magazines that are run by women, criticize women who we look up to as beautiful, smart, and successful.
If those women whose lives we desire to have can’t live up to the standards raised by the media, how can we?
“The more women and girls self-objectify, the more likely they are to be depressed, have eating disorders, lower confidence, lower ambition, and lower GPAs” (Miss Representation).
We, as women, are the only ones who can make a change because no one else will do it for us.
We need to stop focusing on the sizes of our waist bands and turn our energy away from discouraging self-deprecation and gossip.
Otherwise, instead of making a difference, we’ll just be stuck in a rut, wondering how we can cut corners to lose weight.
