Business >
Advertising
Get a Widget for this title
RSS FeedDo ads that use sex to sell their products degrade women?
Results so far:
| Yes | 59% | 696 votes | Total: 1182 votes | |
| No | 41% | 486 votes |
Yes
Write now
Print
Invite a writer™
Add to FavoritesMy heart goes out to young women today, despite their ethnicity or any of the social trappings and labels society deem necessary to identify them or places to consign them. Women, for the most part, have long been looked to as the preserver of civilization as we have known it. They are expected to be virtuous and morally upright no matter the depravity going on around them, because real women always look the other way. Womanhood has always been a celebrated ideal, which has not always been imbued in reality. The negative terms society define those women less inclined to live up to those lofty ideals are the same today as they have been for centuries.
Even today with sexual implications the backdrop for marketing baby food to advertising automobiles, women are expected to continue upholding these ideals, the hallmarks of perfection. Many young women have lost their way in determining how far they should go and how many articles of clothing they should strip off before they debase themselves in a way that may forever haunt them.
There are those who will cite women liberation as the culprit for the way young women are being objectified today and that women are simply harvesting what they sought after, which of course skirts the issues inherent in this way of thinking. For those women who grew up in the 60's and 70's, they will tell you the road to fair and equitable treatment was not lined with roses and sunflowers. They will also tell you their fight had nothing to do with men shirking their responsibilities as husbands, fathers or significant others. Because women took to the street in their fight for equality did not mean men were to be side lined. For some men, this thinking became a convenience that has further eroded the relationship between men and women.
Young women today are caught in the middle of this ever-widening abyss that was never sufficiently closed or explained in a way that stilled the fears of both sexes. Men somehow, inexplicably so, saw themselves as not needed simply because women sought fairness and equality and they consigned them to a class yet to be defined. Today, young women have been pretty much relegated to sex objects for young men (the old lechers simply take advantage of the situation rather than reprimand their younger counterparts for their loutish behavior).
Unfortunately, many of the gains older and more mature women made over the years are being undermined and the younger ones are paying the costs in ways that are unimaginable. There seem to be a love/hate relationship between young men and young women today. Social networking has brought to light many of the ways young women are being victimized, and in their quest to be loved and wanted they are allowing themselves to be used in horrendous ways.
What seems lacking is balance; there is also a need for mutual respect. Those older women who managed to fight the good fight and gain a place at tables of power need to reach back and provide guidance to the young women of today. Many of these young women are making unwise decisions in their youth that will ensure, without a doubt, they will never get a seat at the table or even a foot in the door. The fights of the 60's and 70's are all for naught if young women of today find themselves powerless and in positions made worst by technologies that aid in their denigration and young men who disrespect and abuse them. Many of these young men are looking for their own individuality and their own sense of purpose.
Somehow, we must find a way to focus on the importance of the roles women have played in preserving civilized society in a way that elevates and celebrates them. Somehow, women must look inside of themselves to find their softer side, which in no way weaken them. They must find a way to convey to young women how much they have to offer and that posing in nude and semi-nude photos serve only to degrade them. Somehow, they must also show how women have always been the gatekeepers of peace, traditions and civilization going back as far as Abigail and her encounter with King David in 1 Samuel 25:-23-26.
Young women must be made to see they have value and are not merely sex objects for someone else's enjoyment. Parents must teach their daughters to appreciate their inner strengths and beauty as well as their outward appearance. They should teach them to not allow themselves to be used and abused by anyone. Additionally, they must teach their sons that women are their equals and not their enemies and to that end, they are to be respected. They must also teach them that their value is not derived from exploiting, using and abusing women.
Even amidst many of the uncertainties of today, young women can still have a role in upholding the aged-old ideals of femininity and womanhood without compromise, though they may be slightly modified or restructured. These ideals are neither counter to fairness and equality nor incongruous to occupying a seat at the tables of power and demanding respect. It is about young women being strong in their convictions and strengths and not relying on the self-serving motivations of those who would literally strip them of their innocence, dignity and self-worth.
Women are by nature resourceful, remarkable and inventive, our young women need to know that and most of all they need to believe that.
Learn more about this author, Dossie M Terrell.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
No
Degradation is in the eye of the beholder. In some religious cultures, a woman whose uncovered face or skin is shown is over-the top. For others, a woman wearing a string bikini pouring suntan lotion all over herself, is normal fare. Certainly, American advertising appealing to sex is relatively provincial compared to more "liberal" attitudes toward sex and nudity in Europe. Consequently, the action being depicted and the cultural context have much to do with societal impressions of what constitutes degradation.
But for the sake of discussion, let's focus on the average Westerner to answer the degradation question. It is safe to assume any advertising that depicts physical violence or abuse of women is degradation. However the hint or suggestion of a women as a sexual being is not. For example, ads for erectile dysfunction overtly promote sexual conduct between consenting adults. The "come-hither" I am ready for sex look of a women is oftentimes part of such a commercial's story line. Yet, hardly anyone could reasonably contend that the associated sales pitch is degrading unless the women is not a voluntary participant in that scenario.
A good rule of thumb would be whether women are displayed solely as sex objects under the control of men. Clearly, if a woman uses her beauty or sexiness to sell a products where she is a willing participant and is not presented or treated as powerless and obedient to men, she cannot be deemed degraded. If she is voluntarily participating in a portrayal of a women who is in control of her body and not presented as inferior to men, the question of degradation doesn't really exist.
Another factor would be the intended effect of the ad on the viewer. Does that ad promote disdain, disrespect or domination of a woman? If it does, then the ad demeans or degrades the woman, whether or not that was the intended effect. But what about a beer commercial during a football games that features big-breasted, curvaceous women promoting drinking as a cool and sexy in a flirtatious manner. Again, there is nothing degrading about women promoting beer to male sports fanatics unless the ads correlate beer and woman as a recipe for men having sex with women.
Perhaps the most iconic use of women as sex objects is the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. Obviously, men buy that issue to look at scantily clad women. While the pictures are extremely sexy and almost completely reveal a woman's body, the photos are taken in an artistic and respectful way. Sure, the idea is to capture some of the most beautiful women in the world in provocative swimsuits and poses, but there is no hint that the woman are being subjugated in any way to participate in the photo shoot, nor are they shown in photos being controlled or subservient to men.
In sum, the use of sex in ads to sell products does not degrade women so long as they are not presented as objectified beings under the control or domination of men.
Learn more about this author, Michael Golde.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
Difference of opinion? Debate now.
- Advertising
- Should American business ethics change when dealing at the global level?
- Has the prevalence of false ads led people to become jaded?
- Will online storefronts wipe out brick-and-mortar businesses?
- Are business ethics or profits more important?
- Should tobacco advertising be permitted?
- Can ethics overcome greed in the 21st century?
