Hanadee
Abu-Zayed
Melissa Dempsey
English 1200,
sec 070
Project II
8 April 2013
Hollywood: Where Women are
Objects and Men are People
“Beyonce
was so hot that she made the lights go out!” said every person on my twitter
feed.
Beyonce’s 2013 Super Bowl halftime show was when I first witnessed women
being seen as sex
objects. As Beyonce strutted the stage with only
lingerie-like clothing on, she began performing making sexual dance moves and
face expressions. This only caused men to fantasize about her, where viewers focused on her
appearance more than her actual singing talent. After
“The Beyonce Bowl” was over I was ready to watch the commercials! I have never
watched the Super Bowl; therefore, I never knew exactly what these “amazing,
hilarious and memorable” commercials consisted of until this year. I sat there
with my two younger cousins and when the commercials came on, I was appalled.
My jaw dropped as the commercials grabbed the attention of everyone sitting in
my din. While I watched the commercials, I noticed a trend where women were
sexualized in media promotions; being seen as sexual objects and focused solely
on their appearance, where most we’re half-naked and advertising the product by
only making sexual gestures.
Every
commercial was based on something different: Audis, Mercedes, Carl’s Jr., a
promo for
2 Broke Girls, and lastly a GoDaddy commercial, yet they all had
something in common. Each was
sexist and offensive, where the “object” they
used to promote their product was a woman. I use the
word “object” because that
is exactly how they are represented. A woman used as an object for sexual
passion and pleasure being either half naked or making sexual gestures with the
product they are
advertising, being drooled over by men. Although these clips
are less than a minute long, they send out
a message that a woman’s value is only
based on “youth, beauty, and sexuality.” This gives young
girls the idea that
this is the only thing they are good for and lower their self-esteem, prevent
them from
taking on more serious roles, whether its in politics or medicine.
In the journal article, “Sexual
Objectification of Women: Advances to Theory and Research”
by Dawn M.
Szymanski, Lauren B. Moffitt and Erika R. Carr, evidence is shown on how women
are
sexualized as objects in the Hollywood media, specifically in commercials. According
to this article,
“women are more often depicted in sexualizing and objectified
manners than men, for example,
wearing revealing and provocative clothing,
portrayed in ways that emphasize their body parts and
sexual readiness, serving
as decorative objects” (Szymanski et al. 5). Not only can you see the
degradation of women through the lack of clothing, but with the “use of sexist
comments, deprecating
words to describe women, sexual remarks on a woman’s body
part and behaviors such as leering,
catcalling and ogling.” Commercials have
been the main source of sexual objectification with women
especially beer
promotions. Szymanski states, “Numerous alcohol advertisers use beer
commercials to
sell their products” (Szymanski et al. 11) A perfect example of
a woman sexually objectified in a beer
commercial is the one below.
Thirsty For Beer.
Prod. Press Jesse. 2010. Youtube, 2010. Commercial.
Studies show that in Hollywood commercials “majority of women appear in either swimwear or leisure wear, while men were more often dressed in work clothes. There were also no male crotch shots, but female crotch shots appeared in five ads. Lastly, there was a 49% chance that a woman’s chest appeared in a commercial, while men only had a 24% chance.” (Szymanski et al. 11) Any time these commercials are played, they “influence women by telling her what her place is in the world- to be an object or decoration for men to admire- and this is connected with the intake of substances.” (Szymanski et al. 11)
So, what’s my
point? Sexual objectification of women in Hollywood media effect how
woman are
treated negatively in this society. This official trailer of “Miss
Representation” is an
explanation of the outcome of sexual objectification and
degrading women in the media.
Miss Representation.
Prod. Jennifer Siebal. 2011. Youtube, 2011. Documentary.
This short clip
shows that this way of selling products causes women of all ages to suffer
through self-objectification, body dishonor and given an unhealthy thin ideal.
It has lowered the self-
esteem of many, believing that women are not powerful
enough to have political roles in America. As
Ariella, a high school student in
the video stated, “There is no appreciation for women intellectuals. It’s
all
about the body and not about the brain.” Women have been women have been
influenced,
sexualized and underrepresented in commercials coming from
Hollywood media, where they are seen
as sexual objects. Welcome to Hollywood,
where women are objects and men are people.