http://www.marieclaire.com/cm/marieclaire/images/victorias%20secret.jpg
http://www.amapanet.com/images/img-85a.jpg
http://justsomeasiankid.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/grand_theft_auto_san_andreas.jpg
http://timetunedin.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/116096_0353_pre.jpg
***********Mediated Examples of Femininity as Specifically Sexualized*****************
Markle describes the differences between typical women scripts and typical male scripts. Markle (2008) discusses how the relationships have two sides the approaching dominating typical male and the emotionally passive female who is waiting for her “prince” (p. 47). From this reading I found a lot of images that would represent the typical women script and a couple of images that would challenge how women are supposed to act about/toward sexuality.
The Hugh Hefner picture with all the Playboy girls is a cultural fantasy that men want to achieve. Men in our current culture want to fit into the “typical male script”. The male script is a dominating male who is pursing females (sometimes multiple female), validating their sexuality by bragging about sex/sexual acts, which is not able to restrain oneself around the opposite sex, and uses sex for self fulfilling pleasure. Hugh Hefner is fulfilling this cultural image/fantasy by having multiple girlfriends, presently having twin girlfriends, and being able to express his sexuality to other males through producing Playboy magazines.
Hugh is having these girls crowd around him in bathing suits. This is objectifying the women and portraying them as objects of possession. All the women, if you haven’t noticed, all have the same build, height, weight, and boob size. The women don’t have very different distinguishing characteristics.
The Cougar Town is an example of a woman who is trying to change cultural beliefs about how women are supposed to act about sexuality. The narrative of Cougar Town is an older woman who is breaking the female typical script by pursuing younger men and looking for sexual pleasure rather than a serous relationship. She is pursing the younger males and not the other way around. This is defying what is typical in our culture and most are not used to this idea, yet.
Huntemann’s article discusses video games and how the emerging heroines and female characters are being put into gender norms and given different equipment, powers, or are portrayed differently since they are women characters. Grand Theft Auto portrays women as inferior objectified objects that are used to be killed, have sex with them, and they become the victims. The women are portrayed as objects and are violated. WORLD OF WARCRAFT (WOW) is a little different because the characters are based on status on the game, males and females can be both stripped down to bare underwear or build up armor (depending on their status in the game), and you can command the men/women to do the same things (for example: dance).
The only difference is on WOW the real life women who play female characters on WOW get harassed more because of how they decide to dress/portray their female character online. Sometimes women decide to create male characters online for WOW to avoid the harassment. So women are still being pursued online through discussion talk sessions with men.
Coon’s reading about promotional female marketing and how it's hurting the view about gender relates to Victoria’s Secret, Playboy, and WOW images. Each one of these images is representing the cultures fantasy about what women are supposed to look like and act in a feminized sexual manner. Victoria’s Secret image displays a vulnerable feminized woman who is posed for the male gaze to admire her body. She has the messed up hair, a pushup bra to enhance herself, and the label “Christmas” across her stomach drawing attention. The lettering was meant to draw ones attention to her torso, or breast. The red text on the left hand side says, “Christmas Delivery Guaranteed” allowing for sexual insight into the statement. This marketing method is used to sale underwear in a sexual way. It’s hyper sexualized and objectifying women at the same time; making the women objects to gaze upon.
The Playboy and WOW images use female in the same way to market. Playboy uses multiple women who are attractive, or the ideal fantasy, to draw men into reading Playboy. WOW has women characters that have enhanced breasts and can dance in their underwear if the player wants to command their character to do so. Both of these have male dominating characters that can influence, harass, or command women/characters.
All of these images have femininity that is enhanced and sexualized. In these images women have enhanced breasts, long feminine hair, and have figures that are feminine. They are all women who are portrayed in media as sexual symbols of ideal women. These “ideal women” create our stereotypes of how women are supposed to act about sexuality and this is how typical women scripts are developed.
**See reference page for articles
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