Media - Is 10 Years Younger an Example of Celebration or Objectification of Women - Essay Example

Media - Is ''10 Years Younger '' an Example of Celebration or Objectification of Women According to the work of (2003, pg Objectification' was first used in 1970s analyses of film, art and popular media to explore treatments of women (frequently 'images of women') that reduce us to passive, gendered objects (to be desired, exploited and hurt) rather than presenting us has fully human subjects. Objectification theory associates patriarchal and capitalist ideologies with 'male' technologies and unconscious pleasures. Related ideas include the gaze, stereotyping, commodification, spectatorship, and the learning of gendered roles." The purpose of this essay is to explain how '10 Years Younger' is an example of the objectification of women rather than the celebration of women. Brooks claims that men seek women like they see in magazines because they believe those women are the cultural ideals in today's society. This is problematic because this viewpoint is not realistic. Furthermore, as a result, men often miss out on meaningful relationships with women that are not so perfect physically, but that would make wonderful soul mates under the surface. Brooks calls this problem the centerfold syndrome. According to Brooks (1995, pg. 1): The centerfold syndrome, indoctrinated sometimes subtly, depersonalizes women, perpetuates anatomical falsities, and creates idealized and unreal fantasies about sex and sexuality; in short, it makes women objects of conquest, not people to interact with. The elements of this syndrome include (1) voyeurism (omnipresent images of naked and near-naked women), (2) objectification (women become objects to be observed), (3) need for validation through sexual conquest, (4) trophyism (women's bodies as trophies to be "collected"), and (5) fear of intimacy (insensitivity to emotional needs and issues). Levy (2005, pg. 1) agrees with the aforementioned viewpoints on the objectification of women. She boldly claims in her work that, "Despite the rising power of Evangelical Christianity and the political right in the United States, this trend has only grown more extreme and more pervasive in the years that have passed since I first became aware of it. A tawdry, tarty, cartoonlike version of female sexuality has become so ubiquitous, it is no longer seems particular. What we once regarded as a kind of sexual expression we now view as sexuality. Spectacles of naked ladies have moved from seedy side streets to center stage, where everyone-men and women-can watch them in broad daylight." Kaschak and Hill believe, like many others, that objectification of women is a form of injustice to women all over the world. They often write about it in the context of feminist theories and the like. Feminist theory states that the objectification of women is immoral and unethical and, therefore, presents a continuous challenge for women, no matter their race or background. Objectification of women can vary according to a number of qualities, such as a woman's sexual orientation, physical appearance, race, income level, social status, religious beliefs, morals, values, ethics, exposure to men, criminal background, disability status, responsibility level, and level of self-care (Kaschak and Hill, 1999). The Channel 4 TV programme '10 Years Younger' is an example of the objectification of women via the broadcast media. Its content influences women-both participants and viewers-to become more like the magazine centerfolds and ideal women described above. It teaches these women that, in order to have meaningful relationships, they need to be as close to perfect in their physical appearance as possible. This is not realistic, and can leave these women feeling vulnerable and suffering from a low self-esteem. According to Dominguez (1989, pg. 1), "Concern with objectification is both new and old. In the works of Hegel (1967), Marx (1978), Dilthey (1961), and Lukacs (1971), we find theoretical, philosophical discussions of subject-object relations, of the disputed identities of subject and object, of the 'objectivity' of nature, and of the relationship between objectification and alienation. In twentieth-century popular discourse, at least in North America, perception of objectification seems most salient in discussions of sex and gender-from the references to women as sexual objects to more encompassing treatises on the objectification of women." Host Nicky Hambleton-Jones guides viewers through '10 Years Younger', which airs on Britain's Channel 4. The show is designed to give female participants complete makeovers. Both fashion stylists and doctors are on hand to completely make over the participants. The fashion stylists and doctors aim to make contestants appear 10 years younger at the culmination of the show than they do when the show first begins. It is implied that making them look 10 years younger is widely appealing and good for them (TV Guide, 2008). People on the street-100 to be exact-guess the participant's age at the beginning of the show, and 100 different people guess the participant's age when the show ends. The average guess of the participant's age is used to set a target image. The show is known for its heavy use of cosmetic surgery and related procedures in order to make over the women, a practice which has drawn a lot of criticism from viewers (TV Guide, 2008). The extreme measures that are taken on the show in order to make the women appear to be 10 years younger are strong evidence as to the extent to which the objectification of women is taking place. The use of surgery and extreme makeovers make women appear to be objects, like dolls, that can be radically transformed in hopes that they can then get what they want. Sadly, this often includes winning a mate or catching the attention of a male. 'How to Look Good Naked' is another popular British TV series that flaunts the objectification of women. This show was so popular that it even crossed over into the United States, where host Carson Kressley guides viewers through an extreme transformation process for each participant on the show. This show is not as extreme as some of the other shows of this nature, but the basic point that it implies are the same: that women are objects and that all it takes to get what they want is to change how they look to men. According to Lifetime (2008, pg. 1), "In each hour episode, sharing his secrets from the world of fashion, Kressley guides one woman through a variety of activities-such as learning to dress appropriately for her body type, choosing the correct undergarments, and understanding the right way to style her hair and makeup-ultimately helping to change her self-image. Each episode celebrates the transformation with a glorious Hollywood-style photo shoot in which the women not only accept what they see in the mirror-they show it off!" The reason why women constantly want to change their image and care so much about the way that they look is largely cultural and social in nature. Most of it is driven by the media and political and economical influences and the images of women that are broadcasted, printed, and distributed all throughout the world. Women want to look like the images that they see. They are obsessed with being thin, just like the women that they see in the photos. According to Finally Feminism (2008, pg. 1): While the ideas behind the concept were present in earlier uses of the gaze, the introduction of the term "the male gaze" can be traced back to Laura Mulvey and her essay "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" which was published in 1975. In it, Mulvey states that in film women are typically the objects, rather than the possessors, of gaze because the control of the camera (and thus the gaze) comes from factors such as the as the assumption of heterosexual men as the default target audience for most film genres. While this was more true in the time it was written, when Hollywood protagonists were overwhelmingly male, the base concept of men as watchers and women as watched still applies today, despite the growing number of movies targeted toward women and that feature female protagonists. The male gaze is often portrayed in various forms of media-such as fine arts, television, and in print-although its roots are in film theory. They are believed to show an inequality between the sexes, as well as to show the sexualization and objectification of women. This is further believed to be a major focal point of many of today's cultures throughout the world. Finally Feminism (2008, pg. 1) claims that a man can, "'Buy' the image, 'get' the woman. In this way, the male gaze enables women to be a commodity that helps the products to get sold (the "sex sells" adage that comes up whenever we talk about modern marketing). Even advertising aimed at women is not exempt: it engages in the mirror effect described above, wherein women are encouraged to view themselves as the photographer views the model, therefore buying the product in order to become more like the model advertising it." Sadly, women are often treated as objects through the use of television, advertisements, and other forms of media. Television shows such as 'How to Look Good Naked' and '10 Years Younger' only exploit this objectification of women. Although it may appear at first glance that these shows are designed to enhance a woman's self-esteem and self-respect-and they most assuredly do to some degree-these shows also make women feel as if they are not acceptable unless their physical appearance is absolutely ideal. This is true socially, economically, politically, and culturally. It is simply viewed as normal to look as much like a centerfold as possible in today's society. This is true in the UK, as well as in Western Society and other cultures throughout the world. 50 years ago, average women were seen as the norm and as being attractive, rather than only those who were size 0. References 10 Years Younger on TLC. (2008). TV Guide. Retrieved August 7, 2008, from http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/10-years-younger/194662 Brooks, G.R. (1995). The centerfold syndrome: How men can overcome objectification and achieve intimacy with women. Jossey-Bass. Code, L. (2003). Encyclopedia of feminist theories. Routledge. Dominguez, V.R. (1989). People as subject, people as object. University of Wisconsin Press. How to Look Good Naked. (2008). Lifetime. Retrieved August 7, 2008, from http://www.mylifetime.com/on-tv/shows/how-look-good-naked Kaschak, E. and M. Hill. (1999). Beyond the rule book. Routledge. Levy, A. (2005). Female chauvinist pigs. Simon and Schuster. What is the 'male gaze' (2008). Finally Feminism. Retrieved August 7, 2008, from http://finallyfeminism101.wordpress.com/2007/08/26/faq-what-is-the-%E2%80%9Cmale-gaze%E2%80%9D/ Read More