Womens Studies On Sex In Society Essays - Gender Studies

Women's Studies on Sex in Society Sex plays a major role in today's society. From television advertisements and violence within society, all forms of media use sex to help sell their products. With the public being exposed to so many different types, the overuse and exploitation of sex is common. Is sex a useful tool, or a ploy to get the attention of the public? In some instances, it even encourages violence. The world we live in today is still man-made, no less now then in the nineteenth century. As Englishmen began to develop an identity in 19th century society, they mirrored the ideals for women of the Victorian period: gentility, weakness, ignorance and submissiveness. Opposing Viewpoints as the relationship of a man or woman to Society on the basis of gender became essential in shaping male and female attitudes towards one another. Over the past twenty years remarkable changes in these traditional male and female roles have been witnessed. The subsequent impact on men, women, and families due to these changes is believed to be, by many social historians, caused by the re-emergence of the women's movement. Recent research has established beyond a doubt that males and females are born with a different set of instructions built into their genetic code. Studies at Harvard University and elsewhere show that marked differences between male and female baby behavior are already obvious in the first months of life. Females are more oriented towards people. Male infants, on the other hand, are more interested in things. Stanford psychologists conclude that women are communicative animals while men are manipulative animals. Some people believe this is hereditary, while others think that if 2 boys and girls were brought up in exactly the same way then all behavioral differences between men and women would evaporate. Beginning in early adolescence, children develop their own ideas of male and female roles with the perception of the conduct and activities of his or her parents and other adults in their world, including characters on television. Young people are exposed to advertising from a very early age. The effect, especially of advertising on television, has a significant bearing on girls' and boys' behavior, and their aspirations. To most children the commercial message is another piece of information received from the television set. It is often difficult for them to distinguish truth from fiction, particularly when the fiction is packaged in compelling words. striking images, and catchy music. An overwhelming amount of the visualizations that young kids see are the stereotypical images of women and girls. This almost makes it seem legitimized, as it is enforced and perpetuated by the mass dissemination of these images in broadcasting. Children know in their minds that women, like men, come in all ages, shapes, sizes, and colors, but they do not see this represented in the broadcast media. The increasing diversity of women's lives is also omitted in most broadcasting. For example, commercials and programming most often portray women as mothers performing domestic tasks, as economically dependent homemakers, or as sexual lures for products or decorative objects. Personally, I have even seen movies that often have sexual violence in them, making it more like an everyday normal thing. Such images constitute a limiting or narrowing of women's, men's, and children's perceptions of themselves and their roles in society. 3 In an intensive study done on American programming, it was found that a sexual act or reference occurred every four minutes on average during prime time. Sex Sells, the old adage goes. Sexiness, as a component of the good life, is a staple for advertisers - Coca-Cola decorated its drug-store posters at the turn of the century with coquettish young women who male drinkers wished to date and female drinkers to emulate. Finnish yogurt makers ran an ad with hot, young, well built Finnish boys holding containers of yogurt, with the slogan Less fat, more taste.... Eat it. This aroused a scandal and nationwide debate. A formal poll was conducted on these ads and some interesting statistics were produced. Two-thirds of respondents were male, and two-thirds thought the ad was sexist. There was a sharp contrast in the female contingent, as the vast majority of whom thought the ads were sexy and quite acceptable. Many newspapers