This post is sponsored by the Women Not Objects.
When it comes to gender equality, women still have a long way to go. There is a long way to go from women being seen as just a collection of body parts. On the other hand, men are seen as whole people. And that’s the sum definition of objectification of women.
It is commonplace in mainstream media to promote the objectification of women through degrading imagery, where a woman’s real value is NOT considered. But rather, reducing her sum value and inhumanely depicting her as an object to be desired, acquired, and exploited. Isn’t that a narcissistic way of focusing on women while depersonalizing, dehumanizing, and decontextualizing us?
Most of the television advertising spots are filled with ads with women. However, how women are being exploited brings some of these advertising into question. You know, those commercials that leave you with questions…What are they promoting? Is it the woman or the product? What does the woman have to do with the product? Or better yet! What does her butt in a thong have to do with selling food?
To be fair, women do objectify both other women and themselves too. HERE I share a video of Alyssa Milano on the Wendy Williams Show defending women’s right to breastfeed in public. Wendy the host, admitted to having a problem with mother’s breastfeeding in public because she DOES NOT associate a woman’s breast with feeding a child.
What?!
Consumers are bombarded daily with images of women’s body parts and cleavages, yet frowned upon when breastfeeding in public.
It’s time to stop using women as objects while denying basic human rights — equal pay and other opportunities for self-sufficiency. We’re not objects! We’re your mothers, wives, daughters, friends, sisters, co-workers, bosses, and employers. With women driving 70-80 percent of all consumer purchases, we hold crucial buying power. Half the population is women, who influence most economic decisions in their households. Again, why aren’t ads being created with women in mind?
