The Double Standard of the Objectification of Bodies Between Men

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Reflection

I think that focusing on this topic has helped me view myself differently. I have always had body issues and looking at how others interact with their bodies and how other people feel about their bodies has helped me accept myself. I also think that this was helpful to learn about how women are affected by the objectification of their bodies.

I also think that this will be helpful for others who are curious about the objectification of bodies. This does not just affect women, or men and women. This does not just affect white people, or just people of color. This does not just affect cis-gender people, or able-bodied people. This affects everyone, because everyone has a body, and no one should be made to feel less than another because of their body.

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Analysis of a Second Scholarly Source

This article, titled “Women’s Intentions Regarding, and Acceptance of, Self-Sexualizing Behavior”, is  study of media portrayals of sexualized women and women’s personal attitudes and beliefs.  The hypothesis was that women who watch or view media that have women portrayed as sexual objects would be accepting of this type of behavior, and may exhibit the same behavior.  The hypothesis was correct, there was a correlation between viewing media of this type and women who were more open to self-sexualizing behavior, such as taking a pole dancing aerobics class.  There was also a correlation between viewing this media and women displaying hyperfemininity, or using sexuality to control men or keep them in a relationship (Nowatzki and Morry, 103).

I agree with the fact that media does have a strong influence, not just on women but on people in general.  Television, movies, magazines, and advertisements are all showing people who are deemed noteworthy, or they are the epitome of being a certain way. While media is now starting to portray people of different types, change is happening slowly and there has been a portrayal of having a certain body type and acting a certain way for too long. One thing that the study does list is that there is not a causality for media and women’s self-sexualizing behaviors; in other words, it may be that women’s behavior and beliefs are actually influencing what media they watch or look at.  This was listed as a possible limitation, but I would disagree that this could be the causality. Media has become pretty encompassing in most people’s lives and I do not think that women would develop these ideas and attitudes without outside influence (Nowatzki and Morry, 103).

How does hyperfemininity affect women?  I could see the positives, that a woman wants to use her body and receive adoration from men in return. It is her body and her choice. However, does this affect anything else in their lives? Do they not attain as much education as they would without these ideas? I think that just as hypermasculinity can be harmful to men and women, hyperfemininity can be harmful to everyone as well.

Reference

Nowatzki, Janet, and Marian M. Morry. "Women's Intentions Regarding, And Acceptance Of, Self-Sexualizing Behavior." Psychology of Women Quarterly 33.1 (2009): 95-107. Web.

[objectificationofbodies-blog]

Suggested Solutions to the Problem

I think that one step that can be taken to help alleviate the problem of body objectification is to inject more people with a variety of body types into media and advertising. This would help create a more open and accepting image of what bodies are and what bodies can be. Not only different body sizes, but differently abled bodies and gender fluid bodies. These depictions also need to be as regular members of society, and not as marginalized people who exist only in small pockets of society.

Another change that would help would be dress codes. If there are dress codes, they need to be the same across all genders and inclusive of however people want to dress instead of forcing them into specific gender expressions. Otherwise dress codes should be eliminated completely. Dress codes can sometimes blame women for men being distracted. If they are eliminated this will stop the victim blaming culture when it comes to how people dress.

Changing the idea that certain bodies should be constricted by laws, such as transgender people and which bathroom they can go in. would help. This would help with the idea that some bodies are better or more valid than others. Laws should not constrict how people want to express themselves or how they feel inside. As long as no harm is being done, people should have complete bodily autonomy.

[objectificationofbodies-blog]

Summary

The research that I have done on the objectification of bodies shows that this is an issue that does not just affect women, but all gender identities and body types. Even if someone feels this issue does not affect them directly, it does. The objectification of bodies affects how people shape an ideal body images, because you cannot escape it. Body objectification is in media, language, dress codes in schools and businesses, and a variety of other areas.

I think that body objectification affects how transgender people feel about their bodies and how they identify what specific gender they are. I think that these male traits also help to reinforce the gender role that men should be strong. This in turn helps to reinforce hypermasculinity, and how these men should present themselves physically in order to be taken seriously as a male.

[objectificationofbodies-blog]

Discussion of a Real Example

I read about Scout Willis’ experience with Instagram and their removal of her profile because she posted a photo of herself in a sheer top. Since female nipples are sexualized it violated the terms of use on Instagram. However, male nipples are not sexualized. She then decided to walk around New York City topless and record her experience on Twitter, since it is legal to be topless there (Willis, 1).

It seems that this experience incited Scout to take action. She questions why the female nipple is still sexualized and taboo, since the male nipple was also treated the same way in the 1930′s, but views on the male nipple have since changed. She wants more bodily freedom for women in general, so that women are not treated as sexual objects and not objectified (Willis, 1).

She also wants freedom of choice of how to represent your body. Scout is not pushing for mandatory nudity, but for the right to choose how women show their bodies and clothe their bodies. She also feels that some people may judge her for her actions or try to marginalize her ideas since she is a child of a celebrity couple and white, but she tried to use this platform she has to start and/or continue the discussion on body positivity (Willis, 1).

Reference

Willis, Scout. "I Am Scout Willis And This Is The Only Thing I Have To Say About Walking Topless Down The Streets Of New York Last Week." Http://www.xojane.com/issues/scout-willis-topless-instagram-protest. Scout Willis, 2 June 2014. Web. 1 Apr. 2016.                          

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Analysis of a Web Source

This article on thought catalog by Aaron Chang discusses the objectification of men in the movie Magic Mike. He questions when it became acceptable to start objectifying men’s bodies when women do not want their bodies objectified. He points out that there are now ads objectifying the ideal male body (rugged, chiseled men lie Brad Pitt) while ads for women depict more of an average body type, or a multitude of body types of women.  He points out that these ads and objectification of men have negative effects on men, just as very skinny and airbrushed ads of women have negatively affected many women’s self-esteem. He also points out though that if men raise these complaints about men in ads they are told to “man up” and essentially should not be affected by these ads (Chang, 1).

The way the argument was framed was somewhat poor I thought. He posed the question when it became acceptable to objectify men and not women, and pointed out how that is hypocritical. He does acknowledge how there has been objectification of women for a very long time, but to me the argument it seemed like he was making was that if we cannot objectify women, we cannot objectify men. When he made his final point about how these depictions of men can affect regular, average men I understood what he was trying to say, but the way he went about making this point could have been better, and not crying foul on the double standard that women should not be objectified but men can be.

I like that he points out the issues of how this ideal male image can be just as damaging to men’s self esteem and body image as an ideal female image can be to women’s self esteem and body image.  If we are going to let women have many different body types and celebrate them, why can we not have the same thing for men? Breaking these archetypes for ideal bodies can be one aspect of creating gender equality. If we do not have constant bombardment of ideal bodies, how will this affect people? I think that this would be great for everyone, not only for men and women, but for young people and gender fluid people. Without these ideals, people can feel free to express themselves however they want to.

Reference

Chang, Aaron. "Magic Mike And Feminism’s Double Standard." Thought Catalog. Aaron Chang, 02 June 2014. Web. 1 Apr. 2016.

[objectificationofbodies-blog]

Description of How the Problem is an Intersectional Issue

The objectification of bodies is an intersectional issue because everyone has a body. Having an ideal body image is problematic for a variety of reasons. If you do a google search of “ideal female body” or “ideal male body” You receive images that are of fit, mostly white bodies. There is no depiction of transgender,gender fluid, differently abled, average, or larger bodies, and few depictions of brown and black bodies.

This is unrealistic and unnecessary to try to make oneself fit a specific mold. The ideal image of bodies has negatively affected many people’s self-esteem and self-worth. As long as someone is happy with their body, and they feel healthy and comfortable, that should be all that matters.

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Discussion of an Institutional Example 

There are several examples of body objectification that has been institutionalized. One of these is Hollywood. Bodies are objectified in movies, television, and advertising, and events surrounding this industry. This industry is both affected by the objectification of bodies and perpetuates it.  If someone’s body does not fit an ideal body image, they probably will not find work in Hollywood. Then these people with ideal body images are in all media that everyone sees, and further perpetuate ideal bodies. There is also the double standard of men versus women. Most men wear only suits to premieres and are portrayed as strong, dominant people in most films. Women, however, often show quite a bit of skin in their red carpet looks and are more often in need of some form of rescuing from men in films.

Another example is literature. There is a larger variety of literature that does have some areas where objectification of bodies is not an issue, but for the most part the language used to describe bodies can be problematic. Since there are often no pictures in books, authors have to describe bodies, and especially in romance novels they perpetuate the hard, muscular, dominant male body type that “ravish” females, who are often described with words such as supple, smooth, and curvy. This helps sustain unrealistic ideals of body types, and also continues to support separation of gender roles and how males and females should interact.