Misogyny in America

Women are regarded as sexual objects to be discarded after they produce sexual pleasure for men. How did this attitude about women come about? This is a very complex concept, but one cannot ignore the blatant sexual images used to sell products and an overall ideology that women are nothing more than tools for men to use to get a climax. I was very offended by a classmate’s comments that “women bring this upon themselves” because it is this very type of attitude that adds to the notion that it is okay to objectify women. Misogyny is a huge problem in our society, especially effecting our youth. The messages that our youth are getting is that women cannot be seen as anything more than a source of titillation. Jean Kilbourne makes some very poignant correlations between sex in advertisements and the treatment of women. The implication of such advertisements perpetuates current gender assignments and leaves no room for women to advance past this idealized sex kitten persona. It also debilitates the growth of healthy relationships between men and women because men are taught to view women as “bitches” or “hoes” that are invaluable. Women are taught to use their bodies as a bartering tool for goods and to be accepted by other men. It is sad that today in any given middle or high school in America that young women are using their bodies to get attention and performing sex acts as a twisted rights of passage. I am sure that there are other elements contributing to this problem, but I am confident that at the root of it all are advertisements projecting negative images of women.