Female Sexploitation

Sex Sells. One of the many coined phrases of 20th century pop culture. The sad thing is, it's not just a phrase, it's a fact. Whether we're observing sex driven movies or an ad for deodorant, sex drips off the page like rain from the gutters, but more often than not, this sex comes with a price tag far heavier than the cost of the product. This price lies in the subliminal messages relayed through these products. Products that habitually portray women in compromising and impossible roles. As young women face the daily onslaught of stick figures balancing their various acts of femininity, a pregnant pause occurs. One might ask, why don't I look like these women? Why can't I manage to be a sex goddess and a lawyer? Where is my 10 carat diamond ring?

Sex in advertising is not just about nudity. It's about stereotypes and expectations. The way that the media depicts women translates into the very model that women strive to achieve. If the newest brands reveal petite women with blonde hair and big lips, those images will begin to manifest in the public. Suddenly more women are dying their locks and getting silicone lip injections. If Pepsi says it's cool to be tan, then IT IS cool to be tan. The line between advertisements and reality is waif thin (like the models who star in them), and more young women are consumed with a role-model that hardly exists.

Women are not simply exploited as sex objects, they are divided and compartmentalized. They are stripped of their individuality and placed into a narrow category, such as: virgin, whore, tease, home-maker, business woman, ice queen, or some other female pigeonhole. Women observe these depictions and scramble to alter their life to fulfill them. They struggle to reach a weight that less than one percent of the population can achieve. They load up on anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds to enable the grinning contentment of motherhood to never leave their faces.

It's hard to say what the exact impact of female sexualized advertising is. As a woman, I can absolutely relate to the feeling of unrealistic expectations of body image, relationships, and aspirations. But the results of these images impact much more than teen angst. According to the Renfrew Center Foundation for Eating Disorders 69% of girls in 5th to 12th grade reported that magazine pictures affected their idea of the perfect body weight and size, (http://www.renfrew.org). Eating disorders can lead to a host of other health problems and for some are fatal. The expansion of advertising targeted at children only increases the likelihood of younger girls developing eating disorders and negative beliefs about their bodies. In the book, Body Wars: Making Peace With Women's Bodies, Margo Maine points out that 81% of ten year olds are afraid of being fat. 81%! Not only are these girls at a greater risk of developing eating disorders, their thoughts impact those around them.

In addition, to female perceptions of advertisements, the male reaction to these images can also have harmful outcomes. Just as super skinny women play into ideal body weight for young girls, super sexy women set the bar for young men. Boys grow up with images of women in sexually permissive positions. It is basically implied that men are in control and that women are pleasure sources. This can influence male expectations in everyday dealings with women and on dates. Date rape is a potential outcome of these misconstrued ideas constantly streaming into homes. Doesn't it seem likely that men who are bombarded with female sexually suggestive icons will be more likely to make sexual advances? Many ads convey women saying "no," but acting yes. These pictures send very mixed messages to impressionable minds.

These are only a few of the long list of potential impacts that female sex specific advertsing has on both women and men. As television becomes an progressively popular method of in-home babysitting and teenagers flock to the internet, advertising begins to play an increasingly important role in both ideas and behaviors.