Sexualized Imagery of Women in Popular Culture - Essay Example

Sexualized Imagery of Women in Popular Culture For a long period of time, women’s appearances and sexuality have played a huge role in the significance of popular culture. In fact, popular culture seems to go hand in hand with the sexualized imagery of women. In the olden days, sculptors, painters and other artists used women’s appearances and sexuality to demonstrate to their audience certain aspects such as fertility or the human anatomy. These were in form of nude or seminude sculptures for example; the Sheela na gigs carvings, which were associated with deities. In the contemporary world, sexualized imagery of women has intensified especially with the prevalence of the mass media due to various reasons such as marketing, therefore, reaching a larger audience. This makes these ideas, pictures and notions about women to penetrate heavily into the everyday lives of people in the society, thereby influencing trends in popular culture. This has resulted to a lot of criticism from some women and other opposing groups, which has led to many heated arguments over the message that the sexual imagery of women has on the masses. They claim that the over-emphasis on women’s appearances and sexuality has led to the misinterpretation of women’s value as people judge and evaluate them according to their physical attractiveness. Other people, including some musicians, photographers and other artists claim that a woman’s appearance and sexuality symbolizes women’s power, which is perfectly illustrated in popular culture (Szymanski, Lauren & Erika 7). This paper will argue different points from different perspectives to show whether a woman’s appearance and sexuality represent her power and if it is wrongful to portray women as sexual objects in popular culture. I disagree with the notion that a woman’s appearance and sexuality represent her power; therefore, showing that it is wrongful and demeaning to portray women as sexual objects in popular culture. Popular culture is mainly influenced by the mass media. Mass media influences many people’s perception through the music, films, pictures and advertisements that it features. These are the some of the things that primarily influence the different trends that popular culture takes. Taking a quick glance at music, many artists seem to feature women who are normally slim, scantily dressed and wear a lot of make up to enhance their beauty. This promotes a certain image regarding women; therefore, influencing many people to base the value of today’s women on their physical appearance and sexuality. A lot of mainstream popular stars incorporate these themes of sexuality and physical attractiveness of women to assist them in making higher sales from their music. They tend to attach women’s success with physical attractiveness and sexuality by depicting successful businesswomen or corporate women leaders as sex symbols. As many people across the globe watch these music videos, they acquire the mentality that women’s success is based on their appearance and attractiveness (Szymanski, Lauren & Erika 20). It is apparent that women have to work hard to acquire good jobs and play significant roles in the society. However, popular culture and its trends have made them feel the need to look attractive so as to realize the full sense of success. This has influenced the young girls negatively as they grow up basing women’s success with their appearances, therefore, limiting some women to achieve their full potential. Recently, Robin Thicke came under heavy criticism for the music video to his popular song, blurred lines. The music video stirred some mixed reactions due to the naked women featured in the background, as a fully clothed Robin Thicke sings. As Ann Friedman states in her article, the song’s video and its lyrics only invoke a certain sexual image about women in the viewers’ minds (Friedman). To a lot of women, this is demeaning and cannot be used to showcase women’s power. The fact that the women have to take off their clothes for men who is fully clothed, demonstrates a demeaning image to many women. In the article, Thicke reveals that the idea to the controversial music video actually came from a female director, Diane Martel. Many people did not expect such a sexually explicit video that is demeaning to female gender, to be directed by a woman. The sad truth is that, some women have also conformed to the popular culture’s trends as they attempt to emulate popular music stars such as Rihanna and Madonna just to mention a few. In an article by Genevieve Field, Rashida Jones is surprised by Rihanna’s video where she is dancing on a stripper’s pole. Jones is flabbergasted by the image that Rihanna portrays and is amazed by what people are accepting as the norm. She recalls that as a child, her role models were popular stars and she tried to emulate them. Jones challenges these female stars to act like role models to the young girls and try to change their mindset to assist in empowering women. Rashida Jones clearly demonstrates that a woman’s power does not lie only in her physical appearances and sexuality. She hints that there are other aspects apart from physical features that define a woman’s power (Field). Taking a quick glance at music, art, films and advertisements, many artists seem to deprive women of personal independence and promote vulnerability by showcasing a certain image that depicts the ultimate woman’s body image. Popular culture has promoted certain ideas about the ideals of the female physique by showcasing tall, lean, and light skinned women as a symbol of beauty in the contemporary world. This promotes a skewed image regarding women’s beauty; therefore, influencing many people negatively as they evaluate a woman’s beauty through her physical appearance and sexuality. The trends that follow popular culture have programmed the masses to ignore features such as intelligence as the key to women’s power and instead have lured people to believe more in physical appearance and sexuality in women. Women’s mode of dressing and their appearances have been influenced by popular culture, as they attempt to keep up with the latest trends by wearing revealing attires and applying a lot of make-up (Szymanski, Lauren & Erika 14). I think that this has been over-emphasized by the entertainment and fashion industries, which portray revealing attires and flawless beauty as ideal to the women. Through the cosmetics, clothes, shoes and other accessories, women have been convinced that they will look beautiful, therefore, opting to enhance their physical appearances. This has even resulted to the popularity of cosmetic surgeries as self-esteem issues rise among the masses. Other people have developed anorexia nervosa as they try to acquire a skinny physique similar to the one endorsed by the popular culture. It is unfortunate that popular culture has led women to go to such extreme measures to acquire beauty. This is because popular culture has depicted women’s power to lie between their appearance and sexuality, thus forgetting other aspects about themselves that actually matter and embracing demeaning activities (Szymanski, Lauren & Erika 16). I also think that a woman’s appearance and sexuality can represent her power; hence there is nothing wrong with the sexualized imagery of women in popular culture. However, this depends upon how the woman expresses her sexuality and the context. Popular female stars for example, Madonna are physical attractive and display a lot of sexuality in their music videos and films. However, they portray the message that they are strong women and they can carry out activities as skillfully as men can. They show that women possess an additional power in their physical attractiveness and sexuality, which can be used to empower women (Weitz 4). Their main aim is not to showcase physical attractiveness and sexuality but to empower women by making them realize that they have an additional power. This is quite different from the female stars that do not have any other talent to show and they have to use their physical attractiveness and sexuality to get ahead. Artists such as painters, photographers and sculptors have also used women’s appearances and sexuality to portray a woman’s power. Artists have been able to express themselves and pass messages to the audience through paintings, photographs and sculptures that capture women’s appearances and sexuality. The artists are able to capture or incorporate a message that empowers others through their art by familiarizing them with the human anatomy or other significant subjects. It also happens to be that the female body is aesthetically pleasing to observe, therefore, both men and women enjoy watching these forms of art. Some forms of art such as carving and painting women have been practiced for a long period of time, therefore, some people in the contemporary society find them rejuvenating. In such cases, a woman’s appearance and sexuality can be used to represent her power; hence nothing wrong with the sexualized imagery of women in popular culture (Weitz 109). CONCLUSION Popular culture involves the attitudes, ideas, images, perspectives, and other developments that form the prevailing current of thought in a given culture. In today’s society, the mass media has played a significant role in portraying a sexualized imagery of women (Field). This has led to the belief that women’s power lies in their physical appearances and sexuality. This paper has determined that popular culture has brought the misleading thoughts that imply that a woman’s appearance and sexuality represent her power. Popular culture has normalized the demeaning portrayal of women as sexual objects. However, in certain cases women’s appearances and their sexuality have been used to empower others. Therefore, the paper tends to disagree with the notion that a woman’s appearance and sexuality represent her power; thus making it wrongful and demeaning to portray women as sexual objects in popular culture. Works Cited Field, Genevieve. "In Pop Culture, Is There Such a Thing as "Too Sexy"?." Glamour. N.p., 7 Feb. 2014. Web. 25 Feb. 2014. http://www.glamour.com/inspired/2014/02/is-there-such-a-thing-as-too-sexy-poll Friedman, Ann. "Blurring the Lines: How to Enjoy Maybe-Sexist Music." The Cut. N.p., 7 Dec. 2013. Web. 25 Feb. 2014. http://nymag.com/thecut/2013/07/blurring-the-lines-enjoying-maybe-sexist-music.html Szymanski, Dawn, Lauren Moffitt, and Erika Carr. "Sexual Objectification of Women: Advances to Theory and Research." The Counseling Psychologist, 39.1 (2011): 6-38. Print. Weitz, Rose. Politics of Women's Bodies: Sexuality, Appearance, and Behavior. S.l.: Oxford University Press, 2013. Print. Read More