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Emmeline Blog#1
Has sexualizing women become a social norm in our society? It is something experienced in our day to day lives and goes relatively unnoticed by the general public. But for those who have noticed, there's much more to it.
At this point we barely notice it, but whether we are just walking down the street, sitting in class, or surfing the internet, we're silently judging how the other women are dressed. We take stock of if the other females are wearing few articles of clothes or if they're wearing clothes that cover more skin.
We see women as being promiscuous or as a puritan.
These observations we make have been ingrained in us, in society and the human race as a whole, from the beginning
Yet at the same time it doesn't seem to matter how women dress because they will be viewed as sexual objects regardless. If something terrible were to happen to a women, it would be considered her fault. She would be questioned on everything; what was she wearing? Was she leading them on? How was she acting? These are just a few of the inquiries that are made before declaring whose fault it was.
Hers.
In Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale, Atwood explores both these sides. The protagonist of the story, Offred, along with all the other Handmaid's, are forced to clothe themselves so that none of their skin is seen, including most of their face. In chapter 4, Offred and her partner Ofglen know they are being watched by the guards “who are not yet permitted to touch women. They touch with their eyes instead,” (pg.28). Later on in the book, we read about one of the fellow Handmaid's who was gang raped before everything changed. She tells her tragic story to the group of women and is met with finger pointing and chanting about it being her fault. The second time she tells her story, she matches her tune to that of the other women, “This week Janine doesn't wait for us to jeer at her. It was my fault, she says. It was my own fault. I led them on. I deserved the pain.” (pg.89).
In this day and age you'd think we were past all this; that men would have learned to control themselves. Unfortunately, we're not, and they haven't.
Just to show how sexualized women are by men, there are commercials everywhere of women, girls, doing normal activities such as homework, eating and washing a car, to name a few. But there's a catch you see...it's all in how they're dressed and posed that create the over-sexualization. The women are sexualizing how they eat their food, how they wash a car, and even how they do their homework. But they're just doing as they're directed, not what they would want to do on their own free will. And who are the ones directing these women? Men.
If a man were to behave and dress themselves in the same fashion as the women there would be a lot of confusion but it would be perceived as a big joke and everyone would laugh it off; because it would be ridiculous for a man to do the same things as a woman in the commercials.
In response to my question “has sexualizing women become a social norm in our society?” You can sure bet it has.
Has sexualizing women become a social norm in our society? It is something experienced in our day to day lives and goes relatively unnoticed by the general public. But for those who have noticed, there's much more to it.
At this point we barely notice it, but whether we are just walking down the street, sitting in class, or surfing the internet, we're silently judging how the other women are dressed. We take stock of if the other females are wearing few articles of clothes or if they're wearing clothes that cover more skin.
We see women as being promiscuous or as a puritan.
These observations we make have been ingrained in us, in society and the human race as a whole, from the beginning
Yet at the same time it doesn't seem to matter how women dress because they will be viewed as sexual objects regardless. If something terrible were to happen to a women, it would be considered her fault. She would be questioned on everything; what was she wearing? Was she leading them on? How was she acting? These are just a few of the inquiries that are made before declaring whose fault it was.
Hers.
In Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale, Atwood explores both these sides. The protagonist of the story, Offred, along with all the other Handmaid's, are forced to clothe themselves so that none of their skin is seen, including most of their face. In chapter 4, Offred and her partner Ofglen know they are being watched by the guards “who are not yet permitted to touch women. They touch with their eyes instead,” (pg.28). Later on in the book, we read about one of the fellow Handmaid's who was gang raped before everything changed. She tells her tragic story to the group of women and is met with finger pointing and chanting about it being her fault. The second time she tells her story, she matches her tune to that of the other women, “This week Janine doesn't wait for us to jeer at her. It was my fault, she says. It was my own fault. I led them on. I deserved the pain.” (pg.89).
In this day and age you'd think we were past all this; that men would have learned to control themselves. Unfortunately, we're not, and they haven't.
Just to show how sexualized women are by men, there are commercials everywhere of women, girls, doing normal activities such as homework, eating and washing a car, to name a few. But there's a catch you see...it's all in how they're dressed and posed that create the over-sexualization. The women are sexualizing how they eat their food, how they wash a car, and even how they do their homework. But they're just doing as they're directed, not what they would want to do on their own free will. And who are the ones directing these women? Men.
If a man were to behave and dress themselves in the same fashion as the women there would be a lot of confusion but it would be perceived as a big joke and everyone would laugh it off; because it would be ridiculous for a man to do the same things as a woman in the commercials.
In response to my question “has sexualizing women become a social norm in our society?” You can sure bet it has.