Objectification Of Women In The Media Essay

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The representation of women in the media is in many ways also exploitative. The way the media portray women throughout the years reduced a woman’s body image to being nothing more than an object to be won, prizes to be shown off and playthings to be abused (Swami et.al, 2011:366). Although the influences of the media might include a variety of personal purveyor of the objectification theory is undoubtedly the mass media (Fredrickson & Roberts,1997:175). The next section will explore the negative results of female objectification in the media. 2.6.1 The Objectification Theory Sexualised body images of women permeate the Western society. The most conspicuous method of distributing these sexualised female body images is through the mass …show more content…

The result thereof is the development of several mental health risks, eating disorders, depression and many times sexual dysfunction (Fredrickson & Roberts, …show more content…

It is evident from above mentioned literature that women compare their bodies undeniably with those of other women (media imagery, fashion models, friends and family members). The result thereof is that they often found their appearance wanting, leading to lowered body satisfaction. Wolf also argues that women’s dissatisfaction regarding their body images is also actively encouraged by the fashion and beauty industry. She states that women need to support each other’s beauty choices and body types to help build body satisfaction. Women must also encourage one another to develop a “women-orientated” body image ideal and to accept the variations in bodies of women of different ages, rather than trying to conform to the unrealistic “above average” slender body image ideal promoted by the media, fashion and diet industries (Wolf,

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