This is evident in Sherman’s ‘Sex Pictures’ and Moffatt’s ‘Scared for Life’ series. Cindy Sherman uses photography and mixed media techniques to challenge contemporary attitudes to the female image and identity. Her works are confrontational as they clearly depict recognizable situations examining society and the way men in particular view women. In her series ‘Sex Pictures’ she questions the notion of beauty and deconstructs the idea of gender. She does this by creating hybrid creatures from mutilated dolls; she combines both young and old, and male and female body parts.
The voice answers its own question by stating, "The beauty industry is the beast." [1] This "uncommercial," made by the media watchdog collective Adbusters, is a wry spoof of Calvin Klein's television advertisements for Obsession perfume. More than merely a clever parody, though, this advertisement points to a significant trend. The fashion industry, with its array of models, magazines and photographers, has been under serious attack in recent years for its portrayal of women, which groups like Adbusters and About-Face [2] see as leading to eating disorders, poor self-image, violence against women and drug use. These first and last accusations are leveled most heavily at the style of fashion photography known as "heroin chic," which displays, without airbrushing or heavy cosmetics, the extremely thin faces and bodies of female and male models in withdrawn poses and in urban settings.
Pornography: The Degradation of Women as a Class Regardless of the many successes women have had in society, they are still seen as the inferior class. One way in which this is demonstrated is through the depiction of women in the pornography industry. Women in this industry are often dehumanized, humiliated and degraded by men for the sake of entertainment. However, does this degrading portrayal of women in the pornography industry reflect upon the portrayal of women as a class? I argue that the representation of women in pornography lowers the moral status of all women and is shown through the treatment and perceptions, which are created by men, making all women as simply means and less than persons in society.
In The passage ‘’The Stranger’’ (referring to the television as a he) the author writes ‘’He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing…’’ This leads kids to engage in sexual activity at a very early age. Parents must make sure they do what they can to keep their children from viewing inappropriate material on the internet and television. The second challenge that parents must overcome is the temptation of drugs and alcohol.
A great example of nursing being depicted in a negative light is the Dentyne Ice advertisement found on You Tube. The nurse in this advertisement is portrayed as a sexy figure who was wearing a tight nursing uniform with obvious cleavage. She was attracted to the younger male client because he is chewing Dentyne gum and because of this she is beginning to seduce him. The older male client in the same room see’s the effective strategy that the young male uses and tries it himself. However, instead of an attractive young nurse walking in the room, an older female nurse walks in and the look on the man’s face was of dismay and disgust (eurovictor, 2008).
For many, his material is judged as what some feminists would define as a “form of violence against women”, whose representations “eroticize male domination”, (Robin Ann Sheets, “Pornography, Fairytales and Feminism” 635), but for many readers of Sade’s work, once they see through the ‘smut’ and the erotica, there is often found by the reader an underlying message which is sometimes seen as radical, or one which was not elaborated further until many years later. These messages within his literature raise the question as to whether or not Sade was a “moral pornographer”, (Angela Carter, The Sadeian Woman 19). In her book, Angela Carter defines a moral pornographer as one who “uses pornographic material as part of the acceptance of the logic of a world of absolute sexual licence for all genders, and projects a model of the way such a world might work”, (19). When one reads Philosophy in the Boudoir, and applies this definition it can be seen that Sade as a moral pornographer campaigns for “absolute sexual licence” for all genders and it is in the illuminating of this campaign that Sade further argues for the interrelationship between sexual and political freedom. In turn this argument is seen to validate Sade’s call for a Utopian type republic where all men and women are free both sexually and socially.
Hollywood’s Whores Music has always been an inspirational outlet for self expression and as a way to let go of suppressed feelings—many of which are not so pleasant. Various songs in the modern rock genre always come to mind when controversies arise in Hollywood. The band Papa Roach is no exception. Songwriter and Papa Roach band singer Jacoby Shaddix introduced the explicit song Hollywood Whore in 2008 and a music video for the song in middle October of the year. The song, directed to various celebrity women, presents today’s modern woman as scandalous, with an unsung claim of reevaluation of oneself and purity needs to be reintroduced in the media.
Along with the use of comedy as a means of critique, Fey also incorporates humor as a tool to downplay the serious aspect of her topic and as a way of keeping the attention of her audience. Fey incorporates humor throughout her entire narrative in order to critique the patriarchal society that she finds herself surrounded by. Fey’s use of humor is made up of sarcasm and does a good job at making her harder to refute. “The only person I can think of who has escaped the ‘crazy’ moniker is Betty White, which, obviously, is because people still want to have sex with her” (Fey p.3). Fey makes choses to talk about the way women are treated in the entertainment industry with a joke on Betty White, which targets both sexism and ageism, which Fey repeatedly addresses, but with a softer approach through the use of humor.
There is much that can be said about how media portrays, and even masks, certain issues in our society. While individuals may enjoy pop culture on the surface, it is always what is underneath it that tends to be ignored or not taken seriously. The Devil Wears Prada is certainly guilty of this. Based on a true story, the movie, described by IMDb, is about “A naïve young woman (Andy Sachs) comes to New York and scores a job as the assistant to one of the city’s biggest magazine editors, the ruthless and cynical Miranda Priestly.” This description definitely sets the tone of the overall movie but it certainly begs the question: What is it about both of these individuals described in the movie, on one hand, naïve and the other ruthless? While the media sets the character’s description in stone, after critical analysis, the movie itself exemplifies the gender ramifications present in our society.
In the article, “Controlling your reality” Paige Pfleger states “Reality television can also preserve old fashioned notions about sexual stereotyping. Women are encouraged to fulfill roles as “the slut” and are simultaneously devalued by doing so” sadly these are the types of stereotypes young girls and women grow up with (3). Little girls are told to act a certain way only for society to reject and humiliate them for it. In The Hunger Games Collins makes a point by sexually objectifying Glimmer, a career tribute, because she looks like the stereotype of sexy. In the novel Collins writes, “The girl tribute from District 1, looking provocative in a see-through gold gown…With that flowing blonde hair, emerald green eyes, her body tall and lush… she’s sexy all the way”(125).Collins makes it clear that society has a very specific image of what sexy should look like.