Women Are Not Objects

Equality of the sexes has come a long way in American culture. The domestic idea of women is starting to become a thing of the past. However, woman are still sexualized in the media, and it has become an issue because women are being devalued. In part of John Berger's Ways of Seeing, he writes about how Western culture portrays women. The major premise is that in today's society, men act and women appear. In many aspects this is quite true to our society today. Women do only "appear", especially when it comes to the ways women are dehumanized and objectified in the media, whether it be by taking away the humanness is a woman by not showing her face, or by comparing women with objects.

In many advertisements, women are defaced, and only their bodies are shown. Many companies use a women's body in order to advertise for their product. This is quite problematic because it takes away from the human qualities of a woman, and makes it so that women are not real people. The following advertisement is for Natan which is a jewelry company. 

This ad does not show the woman's face, which dehumanizes the woman, but it also shows an inanimate object controlling the woman, which is making women equivalent to an object. The fact that the woman's face is not shown only perpetuates the idea that women are not people. By defacing her, she is even less of a person. The woman in this ad is only appearing, because she is allowing people to control her, and not doing anything for herself. It is saying that a woman would practically sell her body for a ring. This ad is reiterating the fact that woman only appear and only do what others tell them to. The idea behind this ad is that woman are not real people, and can be controlled as a remote controls a television or other electronics, in this case the woman is equivalent to an electronic that simply obeys what others want. 

The previous ad showed women being objectified and dehumanized. When an ad objectifies a woman, it compares her to something that is inanimate. This is done in many advertisements without defacing a women, but it still has the vile effects of showing how women "only appear" in society. 

In the advertisement for Reebok, it states "Cheat on your girlfriend, not on your workout." This ad, while being completely insensitive to women in terms of relationships, it also objectifies women by comparing them to a workout. This devalues women, which is a major issue because it leads to many other problems such as the idea that women are not meant to work or be in charge. All of the issues surrounding women stem from the advertisements that portray women in a negative light. Advertisements like this implant the idea that women are not to be treated like humans. Media effects humans today more than ever, and when these advertisements are placed in all sorts of media, it reaches almost every person. Thus, people think that it is okay to treat a woman as an object. When Berger said that men do and women appear, he is correct in stating this. Women are only here to represent objects. 

Although women have come a long way, they are still dehumanized and objectified in the media. This causes women to only "appear" in society. The female body is used as something to look. In order to create a society where women are given the decency and respect that their male counterparts are given, the media needs to be regulated in a way that does not allow women to be automated.