Sexual Exploitation of Women in the Media

Sexual Exploitation of Women in the Media

Women are sexually exploited in the media. In today’s society if people watch television programs such as Chingy featuring Snoop & Ludacris – Holidae; Charlie's Angels; the Z100 commercial with Britney Spears; or Baywatch they will see that the feminine image is presented differently than the masculine. In these programs men are typically placed in sexual situations fully clothed, while women are presented in provocative clothing or less. The camera will frequently zoom in on body parts to focus on the woman’s buttocks, midriff, and legs. Society is still dominated by men who control what people see. As a result women are increasingly portrayed as sex symbols as a way for a media company to turn a profit.

The Internet has grown to be the biggest exploiter of women. Through pornographic chat rooms and on-line “dating” services, women are commonly depicted as nude in images that has them submissive to men. In a world dominated by patriarchy, with men exercising authority over women and children, the Internet has capitalized by evolving from a million dollar business for a few to a multi-billion dollar business for many predators. Donna M. Hughes, a writer for the Technology and Society Magazine, explains the influence the Internet has with promoting women’s exploitation:

The sex industry is among the top five groups buying state-of-the-art

computer equipment. Sex industry businesses were the first to buy

and use expensive T3 phone lines that transmit compressed,

high-resolution images. One of the largest Internet companies in the

world, Digex, whose largest customer is Microsoft Corporation, has a

sex industry site as its second largest customer. One of the Web site

des...

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...like watches, shoes and posters of actors, all made possible by commercial pandering.

Beautiful women and their sex appeal are used in the media to sell many company products. When people see these women, the men want them and the women want to be like them. Women want to become the ideal goddess for the common man. Why do women have to be ideal, while a man can be common? Under these conditions, I can only conclude that women need to be more independent instead of turning to today’s media in search of an identity. When the media sends impressionable young women a message that they need to show more skin, these women then show skin. However, if women were independent, they would try not to fit such an image, an image that shows women as having no “brains” and only a desirable body. This image merely perpetuates patriarchy with its horrifying exploitation of women.