Sexed-up Society

After two days off school due to the rare sighting of snow in South Carolina, going back to lessons at 10am yesterday morning was a bit of a struggle to say the least. But as my fellow class mates slowly pondered into our lesson, frozen and sleepy, everyone seemed wide awake when our teacher announced that our lesson was going to be on ‘sex’, focusing especially on how women are portrayed as sexual objects in the media.

The media obsess about women’s bodies and how we’re supposed to preen ourselves to look a certain way. Every product in the cosmetics aisles promises clearer skin, shinier hair and fuller lips. Society tells us that if we don’t look a certain way we won’t be successful and we won’t end up with the ‘right’ kind of man.

It wasn’t that long ago that the fashion industry started using computer-generated mannequin bodies with real women's heads to advertise their products online. Each model had the same curve in the waist, the same arc of the hand, and the same wash-board stomach. Only when you line them up alongside one another does it become blaringly obvious that they are actually unnatural computer-generated mannequins with the heads of real models. Makes us all seem like dummies really! But the scary fact is that society kind of just accepts it, somehow it’s become ‘normal’ to use artificial images of women. Because, after all, don’t we all strive for that impossible perfection?

Beyonce has become the ultimate portrayal of this ‘perfection’. But what message is she really sending out to young girls? At the 2014 Grammy Awards on Sunday, arguably the biggest night in the music industry, Queen Bey chair danced alongside her husband, rapper Jay Z, in one of her hottest outfits yet. But leaving little to the imagination in a skimpy, strappy, extremely seductive tight black thong bodysuit, made me (the rest of my class) question why?.... Simply because sex sells! And not only this, even if we don’t have Beyonce’s body, vocal skills or swagger – she teaches young girls that the only way to be successful is to dress provocatively. In stark contrast, hubby Jay Z was dressed in the most expensive looking suit I’ve ever seen. Why is it that men don’t have to dress the same way as women in order to be seen and heard? This power couple dominates the media, sending alarming messages to young girls, but also showing men that if you dress a certain way you can get a girl like Bey.

I feel like complaining about the sexualisation of women in magazines and the media is as common as complaining about the weather. But if it’s such a hot topic, why is nothing being changed? It’s been drilled into our society that girls have to be beautiful and sexy in order to get above the rest. Women have always been portrayed as sex objects, but just far will the media push this? Celebrities posing semi-nude on the front of men’s magazines looks like straight up porn! When are we going to be seen as something other than our exterior?  Just some food for thought.