The Self-Objectification of Women and its Effects:

The Self-Objectification of Women and its Effects:

            The woman in today’s society stare a seemingly insurmountable obstacle in the face almost every waking moment of their adult lives; the objectification and sexual exploitation of their bodies. Women must often endure or resort to one of the two choices in order to accomplish seemingly minor goals. Media and advertising send these signals in barrages through television shows, movies, music, magazines, billboards, computer sites, along with many other subtle outlets. What isn’t widely discussed is the effect that this objectification actually has on the women in our society. Studies have shown that the objectification and sexual exploitation of women have a psychological effect and can lead mental health issues and disorders. This is a growing, yet looked over, issue that must be addressed and reverted in a timely fashion, or we risk further pressuring and scarring our women.

            “Objectify: to treat as an object or cause to have objective reality” (Merriam-Webster). This definition has been used to change the view of the general public that a certain group of people are less than human, as property. Most notably and blatantly is the objectification of African slaves brought over by the Europeans, but on a slightly more subtle scale is the ongoing objectification of women in not only America, but worldwide. From the most flagrant television ad to the slightest sexual comment, women are exploited daily and it has become so degradingly prevalent today that women perpetuate these exploitations themselves.

Sexual Objectification experiences can lead to self-objectification, which could lead to psychological consequences such as: appearance anxiety, reduced flow, diminished internal awareness, body shame, and anxiety about physical safety. These psychological consequences often leads to mental health risks including but not limited to sexual dysfunction, depression, and disordered eating habits. 

“Objectification theory posits that SO of females is likely to contribute to mental health problems that disproportionately affect women (i.e., eating disorders, depression, and sexual dysfunction) via two main paths. The first path is direct and overt and involves SO experiences. The second path is indirect and subtle and involves women’s internalization of SO experiences or self-objectification” (Dawn M. Szymanski).

What is widely understood is women are objectified in any arena that has to do with a predominantly male audience; car magazines, football commercials, tool ads are all examples of a mainly male audience. Many people would be surprised that women are just as objectified in predominantly female audiences as well. “In predominantly male magazines, women were personified as sex objects 75.98 percent of the time, and in predominantly female magazines, women were personified as sex objects about 55.71 percent of the time. The mean is 51.80 of the time.” (Rosselli). These numbers are staggering when you take into the consideration that every American picks up a magazine at least sometime during their lifetime, or that the average American sees at least 37,000 television commercials a year. “We watch an average 31 hours of TV in a week, listen to 17 hours of music, and have 3 hours dedicated to movies, creating an average of 10.45 hours a day of media influence” (Dawn M. Szymanski). With these number rising exponentially with the added influence of the internet and it’s various forms of exploitation, the future remains grim for women across the world.

Some women downplay their intelligence in order to save relationships with men who they may be attracted to, or in a business setting, their superiors. Women have been known to go as far as taking educational degrees off their resumes in order not to look “too smart”. “‘There is a dearth of quality men around and these women know that if they play smart, they will not have as many men as they would like. Hence, they are willing to compromise,’ explains Varkha Chulani, clinical psychologist and counselor. According to her, this symptom is not restricted to just dating, one also finds women cutting themselves short in the corporate world. ‘They'll compromise and allow the man to have an upper hand so as to not lose him, especially if she realizes that he has a fragile ego. This is mainly a relationship-saving tactic,’ Varkha says. According to clinical psychologist and psychotherapist Seema Hingorrany, it's mainly insecure women who fall prey to this syndrome. ‘Though these women know they are intelligent, they are aware of the fact that they are lonely. Also, in an earlier experience, the woman would probably have been told that the man is intimidated by her knowledge, position, behavior, etc.’” (Fernandes)

            The sum of all these components has already negatively affected the society views and treats our women, and due to fact that there is less regulation on what comes through the media, this situation is simply spiraling out of control. Documentaries such as Miss Understood have attempted to open the public eye about these issues, but too many brushes the situation off their shoulders like an unwanted piece of lent. The sad part is that the sexual objectification of women is one of the most lucrative concepts in the world money-wise, so there is little hope that this trend won’t continue to snowball out of control. Starting with women, the public must take a stand and refuse to continue this exploitation any further. Only then will women be seen as human beings and not trophies.