Sexualization And Objectification

Is the increase in mental health issues to blame on the media’s sexualisation and objectification of female models?
“Women and girls are more likely than men and boys to be objectified and sexualized in a variety of media outlets”, according to Catherine McCall. Over time women in the media have become more and more like sex objects. Teenagers have an increased pressure of looking a certain way put upon them from a young age. There’s many social media sites circling around such as Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Tumblr and a whole lot more and every one of these include photos of unrealistic body types and expectations that trigger teenage minds to wish they were like that. Whether it’s a size 0 model or a size 20 model they all create an unrealistic
image which will be shared amongst thousands around the world. I believe that society should amend this issue and create a more realistic image of society for the younger population of females, leading to a more desirable healthier and happier generation.

“50% of mental health problems are established by age 14 and 75% by age 24”. Having a specific interest in sex, sexuality and wanting to be attractive is completely normal for young adults. However, imposing adult sexuality and sexual stereotypes that they are not ready to handle emotionally or physically can be harmful to the mind-set of the younger generation. Self-objectification on a young mind can lead to depression, low self-esteem, eating disorders and a decline in the ability to form a healthy sexual relationship when older. “A recent survey of 1,000 15-19 year-old girls found that 63% considered “glamour model” their ideal profession. One quarter said that they thought lap dancing would be a good profession. Only 4% choose teaching”. This shows us that what teens see on television or on social media is what they think the reality is. They think life is picture perfect without any mishaps. This is unfair on society and upcoming generations which will be exposed to this imperfect world from the minute they open their eyes.
Young minds don’t account for the amount of photoshop put into a photograph and how much backlash a celebrity can get for it. Models either size 0 or a size 20 all do things to make their photos look as perfect as it possibly could. No matter if it includes adding padding to their hips, chest and bum to make themselves look a more “sexy” curved women, or if they go on strict diets which allows them to eat only apples for breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper, all to make themselves as thin as possible for their next photoshoot or catwalk.
Women are constantly open to objectification even from an early stage in life, whether it’s the small children playing with dolls with inappropriate clothing on or being cat whistled at while walking down the street.
So from a young age women tend to only see themselves as a toy for boys. "Sexualisation and objectification undermine a person’s confidence in and comfort with her own body, leading to emotional and self-image problems, such as shame and anxiety." This a major problem in today’s society as it teaches the younger generations that it's normal and is allowed. "For something intangible, a glance can be a powerful thing. It can carry the weight of culture and history, it can cause psychological harm, and it can act as a muzzle" This is only one of many ways of objectification which can cause harm to a women. Not allowing women to have a voice in something that effects them has a huge impact, firstly it allows males to think it’s appropriate for them to think of women in any way they want, and secondly, it shows women no matter how involved they are in any "incident" they have no voice in what
happens.
Women are always sexualized in the media whether they feel comfortable or not. They don’t really seem to get a choice in the matter. Whether it’s having to pose half naked for a photoshoot or having their stylist pick clothes that are way too revealing or risqué just to bring media attention towards them. This applies the wrong impression upon younger girls as it tells them 'I must dress like this so I can get popular' or 'this is the way I need to present myself because it’s the only way I’ll get attention'.
Women are constantly open to objectification even from an early stage in life, whether it's the small children playing with dolls with inappropriate clothing or being cat called at while walking down the street. So, from a young age women tend to only see themselves as toys for boys. “Sexualisation and objectification undermine a person’s confidence in and comfort with her own body, leading to emotional and self-image problems, such as shame and anxiety.” This is a major problem in today's society as it teaches the younger generations that it's normal and is allowed. “For something intangible, a glance can be a powerful thing. It can carry the weight of culture and history, it can cause physiological harm, and it can act as a muzzle” This is only one of many ways of objectification which can cause harm to a woman. Not allowing women to have a voice in something that effects them has a detrimental impact, firstly it allows males to think it's appropriate for them to think of women in any way they want; and secondly, it shows women no matter how involved they are in any “incident” they have no voice in what happens.
Little to no research has been done to settle the argument of the effect of sexualisation and objectification in the media.
Even though many people believe that women in the media are the main cause of mental illnesses within the younger community some still believe that the objectification should not hinder the thoughts of the younger minds as it is so commonly used. Sexualisation in the media comes into many reports of research on the mental health of the teens of this generation, however I feel like there is more research to be done in order to come to an overall conclusion about how the objectification and sexualisation of the day media and how it affects the younger minds.
In conclusion, society in my eyes needs to learn a lesson. It needs to teach the younger generation not to compare themselves to the girls in the media and just love themselves for themselves, no matter what shape, size, race or sexuality. The world needs to come together as one and stop the amount of mental illnesses that are going around due to lack of body positivity or how women are being tackled by
objectification.