The media is notorious for finding new ways to sexualise and objectify women - from the countless selection of articles detailing what so-and-so was wearing on a night out (and how her boyfriend might feel knowing other men can see... gasp her thighs?!) to the infamous and shocking case of the Sun's countdown to Samantha Fox's sixteenth birthday and her first appearance on page 3. When I first saw this article, therefore, I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised by a positive representation of a feminist response to a sexually-charged bloke. Oh, how wrong I was - though what was I expecting from the Sun?
The basis of the article is actually rather funny - a man sends a woman a stereotypical, inarticulate and horribly unsubtle request for naked pictures, and she replies with a very flattering picture showcasing her understanding of the physics of refraction rather than the suggestive masturbation material that the bloke is after. Great! Women standing up for themselves and refusing to be intimidated or pressured by men!
...Right?
...Hold on. What?
Let's go back to the original image. No matter how hard I squint, I can't see a single reason that 'Taking a bath' and a bathing emoji can be seen as sexually suggestive in any way. A winking face, perhaps, would be a different story - simply stating she's keeping up with her personal hygiene, not so much.
Originally I intended to glance through this short article (that popped up on my Facebook feed) for a cheap laugh before resuming my endless scrolling through the realms of the internet. However, once I read it properly, I felt it worth commenting on due to the consistently misogynistic representation of women in the media. Although feminism has brought about a gargantuan leap of progression towards equality between the sexes, unfortunately the media has been blind and deaf to the news that women are meant to be treated and seen as people in their own right, rather than just sexual objects to be commented on in the news. However, I make this judgement on my consumption of the media as a whole rather than just this article - a single piece of writing cannot be taken as representative of all media, especially one from an institution as biased and sex-obsessed as the Sun.
No comments:
Post a Comment