Women and the Media

The portrayal of young girls and adolescents in advertising is increasingly sexual and inappropriate. Many girls in advertising are made to look like women and many women are made to look like girls with ruffled panties or pig tails. In addition, teenage models are put in playboy like ,positions while wearing little clothing. In an effort to attract men and give the illusion that it’s okay to look at girls and teenagers as sex objects. The girls who see these ads think they need to dress more provocative and need to be thin and beautiful to attract men. The Book, Women in popular culture has a chapter addressing the Lolita look, most ads that feature teenagers use this look to attract consumers. Whether the advertiser is selling clothes to teenagers or cars to men, teenagers are often dressed to look like “jail bait”. 

Specifically, sexualizing young girls and teenagers leads to the unobtainable goal of being a size zero as well as promotes the idea that it’s okay to have sex with teenagers. In addition, it makes young girls feel unwanted and ugly when they cannot obtain the perfect body or the perfect man. As a parent of two young daughters I struggle with these images on daily basis. The shows and music my children consume are filled with these images. As much as the Disney channel tries to sell wholesome shows, most of the young women are rail thin and with prefect skin and make-up. Even in cartoons such as the Winks club, all the fairies are skinny with big boobs and tinny clothes. My daughters love Lady Gaga and, she does nothing for female empowerment. We never see her in jeans and t-shirt, Lady Gaga is always done up in full make- up and costumes. What are we teaching our children?’

I took a class in my last semester of college that changed my life. This class opened my eyes to the representation of women and girls in the media and it has become a passion of mine. Manly because I have two girls raise and I struggle with body image as well. One main theory I took from that class is as long as women are worried about looking hot and finding a man we will never have real power… Just something to think about the next time you look in the mirror. More to come on this topic as I have some extensive research on the representation of women J