My Road to Emmaus

Dear Girls, You are More than Your Body

Have you ever felt like your whole value was based on your weight, size, and appearance?  That everywhere you go, media is pushing products that only sell based on how bad and inadequate you feel?  Do you feel that society only values what you look like and is the only way to “contribute”?   If you answered yes to any of those, I would argue you are a) most likely a woman and b) you have been objectified. 

If you feel like those don’t ring true, you are either a man or will most likely relate to what I hear from conservative women that say things like “I have never felt discriminated against because of my gender.”  “We have every right that men do, why are feminists always protesting?”  I hope to prove that we are being discriminated against so automatically and pervasively by being objectified, that some don’t even recognize it and see the enormously negative effects on individuals and our society at large.  

When we talk about objectification and specifically objectification of women, what do we mean?  Objectification is “The dehumanizing reduction (e.g. in representation) of a person to the status of a thing, an anonymous body, or a fetishized body part.” (Chandler and Munday, 2016)

I used to be a feminist naysayer, I thought “sure I’m glad we can vote, but we’re good now, we are treated equally and anyone who says differently is a whiner who is looking for problems so they can be the victim.”  But then I started hearing this term “objectification” and I started seeing it.  I watched a documentary on the Roosevelts and the narrator described the father as courageous, full of integrity and Teddy’s hero.  It described the mother as the great beauty of her upper social circle. As I watched T.V. I would watch as the camera zoomed in up and down a woman’s body when it was completely irrelevant to the product in the ad or subject in the show.  I noticed it in my favorite movie “It’s a wonderful life” as a woman (Violet) is crossing the road and she literally stops traffic as men of all ages and marital status are ogling her as she walks by.  I noticed it as good sweet men would talk about their wives over the pulpit in a church setting and refer to her as their “beautiful wife”.   I noticed it in conversations about modesty and purity, that women’s bodies are tempting and the woman has the responsibility to cover up so as not to tempt others.  I noticed it in conversations of a woman being single or being cheated on “well, she’s let her looks go, so…”  or in pure shock “Why isn’t she married? She’s gorgeous.”   I noticed it in advertising and media where magazines like this were contrasted.  

And this:   One of these things is not like the other. Hmmm what could it be?  

Everywhere I looked I now started to see how pervasive objectification was and with it the message of “Women, you are only valued for how you look, you are not a real, competent, three-dimensional person, you are an object to be looked at and admired.” 

But this is just my opinion and my experience. Is there evidence that women are more objectified then men?  And is this really that big of a problem?

First question, are women more objectified than men? Yes, they are. The following studies will expound.  “The sexual objectification of women in the media is a significant area of study because the average individual is exposed to approximately 3,000 advertisements every day (Kilbourne). Stankiewicz and Rosselli examined 1,988 advertisements in 58 U.S. magazines and found that across all magazine categories (men’s, women’s, news and business, entertainment, teen, and special interest), 50% of advertisements with women portrayed them as sex objects. This number increased to 75% in men’s magazines and 67% in women’s fashion magazines and adolescent girls’ magazines.”  (Vance, K. Sutter, M.  Perrin, P.B.  Heesacker, M.  2015)  Dr. Caroline Heldmen a professor and activist gave a TEDxTalk about sexual objectification, she said that the of the images we see of sexually objectified bodies, 97% are women.   She continues her point by saying: “Additionally, people frequently appeal to the cliché that "sex sells." If that were true, why don't we see more half naked men in advertising? Why do we see scantily clad women in both men's and women's magazines? Heldmen asserts that it isn't really sex that sells. Men are sold the idea that they're sexual subjects who feel powerful by seeing sexually objectified women. Women are sold the idea that their value as human beings is directly determined by the degree of their sex appeal.”  (A Sexy Lie. 2014) 

            Question two, is this really that big of a problem?  What are the negative implications of being objectified?  One of the many harmful effects is it causes women themselves to self-objectify which leads to “the notion of viewing our bodies as sex objects. Studies show that the more we think of ourselves as sex objects, the higher rates of depression; more frequently women engage in habitual body monitoring--every 30 seconds; increased prevalence of eating disorders; depressed cognitive functioning; sexual dysfunction; lower self-esteem; lower productivity in academic and professional circles; a reduced voice in politics; and lower ability to get along with other women. When women see the attention of men as a finite resource to be vied for, we view other women as competition as opposed to friends, allies and resources of collaboration”.”  (A Sexy Lie. 2014)  All that just from watching a short little commercial or seeing an ad in a magazine.  One study decided to see just how impactful those ads are and compared and contrasted ads that used objectification vs. body competence.  “Our study demonstrated that objectifying images of women’s bodies elicited greater self-objectification in female perceivers than did images of women’s bodies being portrayed as competent and product-only images. The inclusion of the body-competent control group showed that women’s tendency to self-objectify is reduced when they see females using their bodies to accomplish their own goals as opposed to satisfying the sexual needs of others.” (Grey, M. J., Horgan, T. G., Long, T. A., Herzog, N. K., & Lindemulder, J. R. (2016).

Another problem is that for men, it can cause them to dehumanize women and therefore justify aggressive behaviors and sexual abuse.  A study found that “In turn, both likening humans to objects and focusing on women’s physical traits reduces neural activity associated with inferring others’ mental traits. Moreover, when males high in hostile sexism view images of scantily dressed, but not fully dressed, women, this results in reduced activation of the medial prefrontal cortex (part of the default-mode network), consistent with neural activity when viewing objects (Cikara et al., 2011).  Further, the moral concern people afford beings (human or not) is directly attributable to their perception that the beings have humanlike traits. Loughnan and colleagues (2010) asked to what extent people were willing to administer pills that caused pain to hypothetical targets that had either been sexualized or not. People were more willing to give the pain-inducing pills to the sexualized male and female targets. Further, implicit association of women with object words (e.g., tool) is predictive of men’s acceptance of sexual aggression toward women (Rudman & Mescher, 2012). Even playing video games with sexually depicted female characters increases men’s acceptance of sexual aggression (Yao, Mahood, & Linz, 2010). Additionally, when a woman is depicted in a bikini, men and women show her less moral concern; she is also more likely to be blamed for a man’s pinning her down, removing her clothing, and forcing her to have sex (Loughnan, Pina, Vasquez, & Puvia, 2013). Women themselves also assume less moral standing (i.e., they feel more sinful) when recalling instances of being gazed at sexually (Chen, Teng, & Zhang, 2013). In turn, women may encounter risks to their actual physical safety when they are literally objectified.”  (Heflick, N. A., & Goldenberg, J. L.  2014)

Also, it impacts how men and women view women’s competence/intelligence.  “In an experiment conducted weeks prior to the 2008 U.S. presidential election (Heflick & Goldenberg, 2009), participants were instructed to write about the Republican vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, or about her physical appearance. People reported decreased perceptions of Palin’s competence and reduced intentions to vote for the Republican ticket when they had focused on Palin’s appearance… In other research, purported female job applicants were viewed as less competent by men who had recently viewed images of other women who were scantily dressed (Rudman & Borgida, 1995), and women performed less well on items like the GRE (Graduate Record Examination)…after being ogled (Gervais et al., 2012). ((Heflick, N. A., & Goldenberg, J. L.  2014)

            In conclusion, women are disproportionately objectified in all forms of media and facets of society.  This has terrifying implications of making women more body conscious, take on responsibility for sexual abuse, feel less competent and valuable and more depressed and insecure.  It increases men’s hostility and discrimination, decreases their higher thinking functions and ability to see women as competent. This is an immense problem and sends the message that women’s worth is based solely on their appearance, which has tragic implications.  If we want this to change, we need to think about the words we say, our attitudes and perspectives expressed and our actions and thoughts.  Let’s change the message and tell our daughter’s, sister’s, wives and loved ones “You are so much more than your body”. 

References

Chandler, Daniel, Munday, Rod. (2016).  A Dictionary of Media and Communication (2 ed).  Retrieved from http://www.oxfordreference.com.hal.weber.edu:2200/view/10.1093/acref/ 9780191800986.001.0000/acref-9780191800986-e-1893: Oxford University Press. 

Vance, K., Sutter, M., Perrin, P. B., & Heesacker, M. (2015). The media's sexual objectification of women, rape myth acceptance, and interpersonal violence. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 24(5), 569. doi:10.1080/10926771.2015.1029179

A sexy lie: Objectification of women in media. (2014). University Wire

Grey, M. J., Horgan, T. G., Long, T. A., Herzog, N. K., & Lindemulder, J. R. (2016). Contrasting objectification and competence: Body-competent images of women relieve women of self-objectification. Journal of Media Psychology, 28(2), 88-93. doi:10.1027/1864-1105/a000159

Heflick, N. A., & Goldenberg, J. L. (2014). Seeing eye to body: The literal objectification of women. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23(3), 225-229. doi:10.1177/0963721414531599