Nothing as It Seems

The superstar divas, the ultimate housewife, the fine corporate competitor, all of these are examples of women stereotypes used to promote the female image in the media. Advertising as a popular art form has exploited the shocking and the repulsive in the shape of the sexual, the bizarre, the romantic, the vicious, and the stereotypic. The image of women has been principally distorted, being depicted as decorative, sexual, and desirable: objectified. The pursuit of beauty through consumption is now considered among the vital survival skills for women. Images of women's bodies are everywhere. They seem to be omnipotent, as they sell everything from food to luxury cars: "by using sexual interest as a tool of persuasion to draw interest to a particular product" (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia), and by using women as sexual enhancement to sell products and promote TV programs. This conscious lack of ethical standards in the media is a way of stereotyping women, as well as imposing beauty standards, pressuring women to be sexually attractive.

Twentieth Century advertisers now relate products to real human desires and emotions, and intentionally use unconcealed sexuality, passion, the fantastic, and snob appeal to sell their products. On many occasions, women are pieced-up in these advertisements: it is no longer a display of a full person on display but rather a display of chests, thighs, waist, or legs, necessary to her sex object status, in order to captivate the viewer.

In a culture where a woman's value can be measured by looking at her, the female identity is being framed and belittled. Their intelligence, abilities and feelings become a non-factor as they become a piece of flesh.

With women so frequently presented as remote-controlled sexual objects, the consequences can only reflect on women's stature in society. Advertising does not directly objectify women, but it contributes to an overall perspective through which women are viewed as cheap ornaments, and are taken advantage of and abused by media tycoons, simply because they can. Not only does it tell society what a woman is, but it also creates a manufactured image of the perfect woman.

It is alarming to see how the concept of physical beauty is one that is increasingly becoming homogeneous, thus marketable throughout the world. In fact, "the idea of the media's ideal woman often makes normal women self-conscious--even if they have nothing to be self-conscious about." (South China Morning Post, 2005)

Not only do beauty stereotypes entail physical consequences, but also lead to perverse mental ones; the majority of women and teenage girls are dissatisfied with their appearance, and are obsessed with the way they look, going to extreme means in order to lose weight, regardless of the medical risks involved. A rise in the occurrence of bulimia, anorexia and other unhealthy eating disorders has been correlated with socio-cultural disorders that women suffer from. The subliminal messages about physical appearance that the media transmits to ordinary women make them feel like they are in a constant need of a tune-up "and the female body is an object to be perfected"(Pakistan Media Monitors, 2005). Most women are indoctrinated into disliking their appearance, as stereotypes regarding socialization and the role of sex leave many women feeling ugly, insecure and uncomfortable with their bodies. For the vast majority, the body is not an agreeable and efficient part of being female. Instead, it is a thing to be maneuvered, punished and distorted to become satisfactory. The best way to overcome this feeling is maybe to "promote that inner beauty and enjoying a happy life are more important than appearance. This can be a way to resist the existing narrow definition of beauty that's represented" (South China Morning Post, 2005).

The advertising industry prides itself in using women as sexual enhancements to sell and promote television programs. Sexuality has become one of the most handy and flexible tools of marketing. Post-advertising sales response studies indicate that it can be very effective for eliciting an instant interest that advertisers seem to grasp in order to create the proper effects on the desired viewer. "The fact is that people want to . . . buy products or services to improve self-esteem