There was an Internet debate raging last week centered on a young Duke University co-ed who was outed as a porn actress. It seems she had been flying out to the west coast to shoot hardcore porn scenes as a way to pay for her education.
Much of the discussion focused on whether being a porn
actress was empowering or demeaning. Is this young woman demonstrating and exercising
her sexual independence or is she willingly participating in an exploitative and
damaging activity?
The whole debate got me thinking about how women are
portrayed in mainstream media and how women consume those portrayals. I have
never been a fan of the advertorial “women’s” magazines like Cosmopolitan,
Style, Vogue etc. I have always believed that they contribute more to the unhappiness
of women than pornography ever will.
Why? Because they are
infinitely more accessible to women, more readily consumed by women and they
have an obvious and negative effect on the how women feel about themselves. Their pages are filled with images of stick
figure models and Photoshopped ads that sell a definition of beauty that is unobtainable for nearly all
and unhealthy to boot.
That’s right, these magazines that are targeted at women,
consumed by women and often times produced by women are stomping on the self-esteem
of women. They are setting unhealthy standards that nearly no one can live up to
nor should even try. And women are
suffering for it.
Past research has shown that women who are regularly exposed
to media portraying the ultra-thin, supposedly beautiful ideal are more likely
to suffer lower self-esteem, body dissatisfaction, and depressive moods.
The really scary part comes from a recent study that suggests that these negative effects on women and their perception of how weight affects beauty begins with as little as 60 seconds of exposure.
(For those of you who don’t want to read, here is a short video report on the study.
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| Ann Taylor ad model before and after photoshopping |
And we wonder why young women are cutting themselves, are
suffering eating disorders and are lying down in cancer-causing, radiation emitting beds in an effort to feel empowered and beautiful. We wonder why
heavier girls are having sex sooner in an effort to feel desired. We wonder why
women gulp diet pills that have no proven effectiveness yet sell millions of
bottles. It is, in part, because of
these magazines and the advertising that occupies most of their pages.
The World Dictionary definition of “exploit”: to take advantage
of (a person, situation,
etc), esp. unethically or unjustly
for one's own ends
Does pornography exploit or promote the exploitation of women?
If you answer that question in the affirmative, then I think you must also agree that
these mainstream women's magazines and media outlets, and the advertising they run, are exploiting women as
well. The fashion houses and makeup
companies that shuttle out these rail-thin waifs and Photoshopped fantasy images are
exploiting women. They are not only preying
on their fears and insecurities, they are feeding them. They are cultivating an illness so that
they can sell the snake oil cure.
If that isn’t exploitation, then what is?
