Sexual Objectification Paper

Reichert, Tom, et al. "A Test Of Media Literacy Effects And Sexual Objectification In Advertising." Journal Of Current Issues & Research In Advertising (CTC Press) 29.1 (2007): 81-92. Business Source Complete. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.

The objectification of women in the media is an ongoing problem. This article shows a study done to show how women are sexually objectified and stereotyped in the media (advertising) and how the effect of media literacy plays a role in this issue. The article goes into the different areas of media literacy with the female portrayal in the media. They made sure to not just use one view of women. In one context, they used a music video and another was just for advertising. The researchers showed a group of men and women

A number of journalist and scholars brought this to the attention of many because sexual objectification is being seen as a part of Western culture and how things have become more “sexualized” or “pornified”. This study targets a well-known magazine called the “Rolling Stone”. The magazine has been around for more than four decades, with this being said, the image of men and women have changed. The sexual objectification of both men and women has increased, but women continue to be more frequently sexualized than men on the magazine cover. Women are increasingly likely to be “hyper sexualized” while men are not. Hyper sexualization is the combination of body position, nudity, and textual cues and more. Erving Goffman failed to examine the sexualization of women in his research because he was missing the whole point of the issue of sexual objectification towards women. Another researcher named Kang studied advertisements of women like Goffman but added more to it. Kang found that in the ads of women, the gender stereotyping of men and women disappeared but body displays of women had not. The sexualized image of women may legitimize violence, sexual harassment, and anti-women attitudes amongst men. This issue has also become a political debate and caused an uproar in the feminist

The point of this study was identifying the cause and effect of how women are affected by the objectification in the media. The study analyzed television and the numerous ways women were viewed in television. They discussed the unrealistic images of models in television and how women were portrayed in a way that would the average women feel less than. They came to the conclusion that the media is a source of education that provides insight and a very strong influence on people, therefore a woman’s self esteem could easily be affected by things portrayed in the media. The reason is because television is used as an educational resource naturally most people believe what goes on in television so women believe what they see, and if what the see is not what they are they may want to change themselves. This study