Our new topic in class has been about sex and sexuality in the media. Years ago sex was a very taboo subject. Men would rarely outright talk about sexual encounters and even when they did it was in the most non vulgar terms. Women were taught that it was not "proper" to discuss unless older women were preparing a young girl for what to expect on her wedding night. The female body was seen as highly sexual so clothes were designed to cover and hideaway almost everything except a woman's face and hands.
Today though there has been a big shift in how the world views and talks about sex. Instead of being sacred and an act between only a married couple it has now become a big part of the media and has gone viral across the world, especially the U.S. Now sex is talked about openly by both men and women. Women no longer have to be quiet and only ever have sex with just one man. An example of this is the show Sex and the City. Women are now allowed to pursue men for simply sex without fear of being ostracized from all of society. Women's bodies are still highly sexualized, but today it is more acceptable to show skin, especially the legs and midrift which were previously extremely off limits. Sex itself has become more talked about in society. There's a whole genre of media dedicated to it now. It is used to sell simple products like food and clothing where as before it was never talked about.
Sex becoming a less taboo subject can be seen as a good thing since more men and women receive education about the dangers of sex and diseases, but it can also be bad because it objectifies what used to be a private act.
In class we have been discussing how the media portrays gay men and women. In the past these portayals have not been particularly good. Gays have been portrayed as goofy or bad. For example, in the film we watched in class it mentioned the show Will and Grace. In this show there is a gay man who is portrayed as overly flamboyant. This portrayal gives the impression that all gay men are like this.
Recently there have been more shows that give insight on how hard it is to be gay in a very heterosexual world. For example, Glee has two gay characeters, both male and female. The gay male is slightly flamboyant, but he is not overly peppy like Jack from Will and Grace. He struggles with his sexualism and constantly gets bullied for being a gay male. Glee also has a gay female who is more accepted by her fellow high schoolers because she is a very intimitdating woman. She gets hazed for being gay as well, but she fights back with her attitude. I love this show and I do think that the teenagers in this show are represented well. They're rejected and hazed, but they are also supported by teachers, parents, and their Glee Club. I think this show is a good example for gay teens in high schools today who are having trouble coming out because they fear for their well-being or lives.
Media portrayal of underpriveleged characters is changing, but unfortunately it's changing slowly.
In class we have continually found examples of women not being in power or in charge. One woman who is always in charge is Judge Judy. She is ruler of her court room and of all of the people in it no matter what race, gender, and age. Even though she is a woman she has power because of her education and her status as a judge. She commands respect and does not tolerate nonsense. You can view this in the example below...
As you can see Judge Judy is ruthless in her courtroom. She has no mercy for those who she sees as guilty. Even the baliff is subordinate to Judge Judy's rule. Part of her power is due to the fact that she has a masculine quality which is aggression. This quality can also help sell products. For example the commerical about Crystal Light being a "woman's energy drink" and women not being good enough for "men's energy drinks" shows a woman agressively chasing two male robbers. She is running on foot while they are driving away on a scooter. The woman makes them subordinate by giving them a disapproving look and jumping at them to scare them away when she catches them.
This commerical effectively sells it's product by making women more powerful. It even ends with the saying "Girl Power To Go" and having a cop come say he'll take over, but he's late and clueless. So powerful women may be few and far between, but they do exist in media!
Many of the messages in media tell women that they simply are not good enough. TV shows, commercials, music, and movies all show an example of the "ideal" woman. In reality the ideal looking woman only occurs in about 1% of the population. The messages are everything from "You're not thin enough" to "You're not pretty enough". Now that technology is rampant in the U.S. we, as women, are flooded with hundreds of images of what we should look like everyday. Make-up commercials are one of the easiest to identify. The images we are shown have been digitally altered to make women look as if they have no pores. In order to look like the image shown to us women will buy the product being sold.
This photo is of Rhianna posing for a CoverGirl magazine. Her makeup and hair are perfect. Women are told they should look like this all day, everyday even when doing chores. Thinner models is one of the worst images shown to us. Instead of buying something to put on your face women are starving themselves in order to look "beautiful". They are dropping to incredibly unhealthy weights.
Images are not the only thing that tell women they're not good enough. Music is a big factor too. Songs about women being objects of possession and sexualization are very prominent in most popular songs today. Of course as always there is a counter balance of songs that try to empower women, but they're not as numerous as those that do not empower women. Songs that objectify women also have music videos to reinforce them.
As you can see this song "Wild Ones" by Flo Rida ft Sia is a great example of the sexualization of women. Flo Rida opens his song with
"I like crazy, foolish, stupid
Party going wild, fist pumping
Music, I might lose it
Blast to the roof, that's how we do'z it
I don't care the night, she don't care we like".
I think he is talking about how wild he likes his women. At one point he also sings to the women that he "heard you're super models" which reinforces the media message that you need to look like a model which is thin. The bridge in the song is really one of the worst parts. Sia sings...
"I am a wild one
Break me in
Saddle me up and lets begin
I am a wild one
Tame me now
Running with wolves
And i'm on the prowl
Show you another side of me
A side you would never thought you would see
Tell that body
Gotta make sure do you have enough
I can't lie
The wilds don't lie"
Not only do these lyrics compare a woman to animals that are meant to be tamed by men, but they're being sung by a woman! Which in my eyes makes it even worse because she's basically saying "Yes I am an animal...tame me please." This song basically tells women to be wild and tells men to be in charge and be manly by taming a wild woman. The video as you saw objectified women greatly. A few shots of women dancing were only of their curves or behinds. We never saw these parts of a man. The men in the video were always shown in either full body shots or in a shot being surrounded by pretty scantily clad women.
To conclude, women are told everyday that they're not good enough. Images and music in the media help encourage this belief.
