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.