Throughout world, and particularly in mainstream media, women and girls are depicted in a sexualizing manner. I know that this exists because I have grown up in a society that objectifies women and it has had a negative effect on my whole life as well as the lives of all my female friends. Sexual objectification is vicious and it needs to stop because it is harming women everywhere; women are essentialized as sex objects rather than individuals with personalities, thoughts, emotions, and their own desires.
So, what exactly is objectification? It is treating an individual (in this case, women) not as a person with emotions and thoughts, but as a object. In most cases, it means thinking of the person as a sexual object, who is only there to provide pleasure to others. It suggests that women are objects to be ogled at, or used, things to be…
We as a society got to this place of disrespect and general disregard for individuality as it pertains to a woman’s importance outside of the bedroom. It does not take exposed genitalia or sexual presentations of a woman’s body to objectify women. Objectification does not just objectify the individual person in question: the model, the singer, the porn actress, etc. It objectifies all women and girls. It sends the message that this is how women and girls can be viewed, and used; it is a commentary on women’s value as a whole. I do not have to be depicted in an obviously objectifying ad to be objectified by people; I am objectified simply by being a woman in a society where images like this are normal, accepted and prevalent. The same is not true for men; of course some people may argue that men are also objectified, and this is true. However, the majority of objectification of men in our culture is different from how women are presented; the main difference is that men are given…