Sex Shouldn’t Sell

What if advertisers showcased men in the same way that they showcased women? I have a feeling there would be a lot more double-takes happening when flipping through the pages of magazines or when watching television. But WHY is it acceptable and “normal” to over-sexualize women in such a way that adds to the rape-culture that is becoming more and more prevalent in today’s society?

So many advertisements today simply reinforce male dominance, showing women as a means for men’s pleasure. Women are portrayed as being inferior, submissive and weak.

And let’s talk about advertisers using women’s bodies to sell men’s products.

What does this woman’s body have to do with a MEN’S cologne?! Women are simply used as sexual object to attract the attention of consumers and I think there is something very wrong with that.

Images such as these are seen so commonly throughout our society, instilling the hegemonic ideologies about gender roles. Men are in control while women are weak objects for those men to control. Over-sexualization of females is seen as “the norm,” and much of that has to do with the ways in which culture industries such as advertisers and the media portray women.

I believe these hegemonic ideologies surrounding the ways we view women are dangerous because they teach girls that their bodies are meant for men’s pleasure. This relates back to what I mentioned previously, rape culture. Rape culture is a term, “designed to show the ways in which society blames victims of sexual assault and normalized male sexual violence.” And although victims of sexual assault are not always female, it is a predominant social view that when a female is the victim of sexual assault she “brought it on herself,” perhaps by the way she dressed or because she acted flirtatiously. Many individuals, when they do experience sexual assault, do not report it. Only 5% of sexual assault that occurs on college campuses alone are reported, making it the least reported crime, and I believe the way that media portrays has something to do with this

When women are portrayed in the ways shown in the first advertisement above as well as the advertisement below, it normalizes situations where men are in charge, even in violent manners sometimes. The first advertisements showcases four men surrounding a woman, one of which is pinning her down. If this situation was seen happening in real life I sure hope people would not see it as “normal” or okay, so why does seeing it in an advertisement seem so normal? And why are we still allowing ads like this to be shown if what’s portrayed in them isn’t something we would want to happen in reality?

The women in these advertisements are shown as inferior and being in a weaker position. When girls and women view images such as these it makes it seem socially acceptable for men to be in charge, possibly making it difficult for many girls to talk out about sexual assault because they feel as if it is “normal.”

So, just because sex sells, doesn’t mean that we should stand for it.