Wednesday 24 September 2014

The objectification and stereotyping of women.

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A debate that is thoroughly talked about within the media, and one that I have to now discuss because it is my chosen topic for my coursework in media.
There is still no EQUALITY in society. It pains me to say it, but there isn't... yet the year is 2014 is it not? A modernized world, why is something so simple as equality not relevant to some, not noticed to many, not visible to all?

Men and women are the same, just a different gender, that is all it is. Even so, why are we letting gender take recognition of who we are, surely men and women have the same capabilities, just because we are a certain gender does not mean we HAVE to have certain hobbies/interests/qualities/skills etc.

THE WORK FORCE, for example. The fact that males are on a higher wage than females in most jobs is brutal, but brutally honest. We have laws for this, yet someone will still find a reason to pay the woman less, 'oh, you have, er, less, er, experience...', NO NO NO.
This needs to be stopped, we are all human beings we are all good at things, why is it that women can't be plumbers, or builders, or footballers, or all these jobs that men are stereotyped for doing. I would love to bring my children into a world where when we call an electrician a woman comes to the door, or when we go into a beauticians a man runs over with the eyebrow pluckers...

Advertisements are crucial. They are so very influential and persuading, yet can they simply not influence us without using women in objectifying ways to do so? I have been looking at alcohol adverts and utterly been disturbed from what I have watched, the Carlsberg 'flatmate' ad, where we see a stereotypical man's ideal flat, where there is an unlimited supply of beer, no cleaning for them to do, an attractive woman who is in the kitchen and 'doesn't let anybody else cook', and lastly a perfect woman to suit his everyday needs, one who doesn't watch 'chick flicks' who instead, opts to watch the football game on TV, and even reads him to sleep with a book about football.
The bierbitzch advert is also no exception, using harassment in a humorous way? That is not funny in the slightest, portraying women with expletives and thinking it is comical, just disgusting.

If I haven't frightened you enough I'll give you another example, this one goes back into the past (1900's), the Gold Dust ad, a cleaning advertisement, with, guess who on the front? A WOMAN.
This woman is shown as all she does and has to do is clean, she works 14 hours for an 8 hour man, showing that men do not need to over work themselves they can sit back and relax... It also says 'To enable them to get through work as early as their husbands', this is showing that men are reliable, time keeping whereas women are messy and cannot be on the same level as a man. Yes, this was in the past where women were seen to stay at home and men went out to find work, yet has it changed? Even in the society we are trapped in now, I still see cleaning adverts with women in, women are seen as housewives, and are seen as the cookers, the cleaners, the ones who have to look after everything including their husbands... IT'S APPALLING!!

Women in perfume adverts for example can sometimes be exposed sexually, they can be nude, in positions that show them to be objects of sex, why can't a perfume ad be persuasive without objectifying women? I am positive I would still go out and buy a perfume if it didn't include a naked girl on the ad, that doesn't make me think oh wow, I might be as attractive as that woman if I buy the perfume, the media tries to influence us that way, using the Hypodermic Syringe theory.

We need to wake up and realize what the media is doing to our lives... it doesn't have to control us as much as it does, we do not need to buy these cosmetic beauty products, they are not going to magically transform us into these beautiful women. We do not need to see attractive and slim models in the magazines, why can there not be an average sized woman, or a larger woman, promoting the product, wearing the brand, showing off her body, every one is beautiful, it is personality what counts, that is what makes you YOU.
The media can cause so many problems, problems that lead to illnesses, such as depression, anorexia, we do not have to be like the women we see in the media, because in reality, they're just like us. We are all the same, they just have benefits like Photoshop, where institutions will airbrush their skin to look flawless, make them appear slim, banish any spot or mark, they will alter them and show them to us as if they are some magical, wondrous being that we have to look like in order to be accepted. 
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