A catcall on the street, a degrading song or any magazine cover. Anywhere someone looks, women are sexualized constantly, but once a woman embraces their sexuality, it’s a problem. People are so quick to sexualize women but refuse to validate a woman who embraces it.
Watch interviews with men and interviews with women; it is evident that a woman’s appearance will be brought up. Some female superhero actresses’ interviews are great examples of this. Scarlett Johansson, who plays Black Widow, has been asked about her undergarments in an interview. The same types of intrusive questions were asked of Anne Hathaway when she played Selina Kyle (Catwoman). She was asked about her weight loss for a role by a male interviewer. Both these women were evidently uncomfortable by the questions asked of them in a seemingly professional setting.
These kinds of inappropriate interviews are very common when it comes to women in a public light. Other examples are interviews with Brooke Shields and Sofia Vergara. People simply are not afraid to ask women uncomfortable questions and place women in a sexual light but are uncomfortable when women do it back.
Music is another place where it is evident that men can sexualize women, but women cannot be confident. Some songs written by men graphically describe women in sexual manners and demean them. Given this, one would think that when a woman did the same people wouldn’t care, but instead, controversy arises. When Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B released WAP in 2020, people were upset about the nature of the song. It was described as if it set back feminism, but men do this all the time with no controversy. It is only OK when a man is making remarks about a woman.
The media isn’t the only place where women are sexualized, it is in everyday life from the moment women and men are just girls and boys. Dress codes are mostly focused on women and young girls because when boys look at a girl in a certain way, then it is the girl's fault. This stigma is one of the core issues with the way women are perceived. Stop resting the issues of boys onto girls by reprimanding clothing choice over blatant disrespect.
Lastly, even sex overall is seen as something a woman can only do wrong. At times it can feel as though it is only allowed for men to want sex from women, but women cannot wish the same. A woman having a high count of sexual partners is seen as negative, but men will consistently be praised for the same thing. Men expect women to be “pure,” yet will call them prude if they refuse sexual advances. Women are expected to be perfect in an impossible way.
Overall, people seem to think that others and men are allowed to sexualize women, but women can’t embrace it themselves. The media and public need to fix their standards of what they expect of women. What a woman wears, sings or does truly has nothing to do with anyone else, especially men.
Kyra Dapore is a junior studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Want to talk more about it? Let Kyra know by emailing her at kd364521@ohio.edu.
