Women, Sexuality and Society - Yesterday vs Today

A girl walks down the street in bikini, some men eye her as if she is their prey.

Female models are more than often, almost nude in marketing photography or in music video (which is awesome).

When a girl experiences rape, the worst thing the society could do, is to put a blame on the way she dresses. When the truth is, rapist do not actually remember what the victim wears at the time of rape (based on reports). 

In the early years of development, it is true that the role of both men and women were previously distinguished. Men were the breadwinners, while women tended household issues.‘Gender’ is the cultural meaning and form that the body acquires, the variable modes of the body’s acculturation. Based on Geddes and Thompson, behavioral and psychological differences between men and women are caused by biological causes. In other words, previously, division of work developed as a result of difference in biological factors between both males and females. 

However, over the years, in certain countries, a patriarchal system began to develop. In patriarchal societies, men were made the head, becoming more superior over women. Since then, the concept of male gaze developed. 

Male gaze refers to the way women are used in the media, entertainments, arts or performance.Their bodies are used as marketing strategies, whereby they pose nude or almost nude in both advertisements and music videos, Based on this, women are viewed and treated as objects for satisfying men’s desires. This is also referred to as a rape culture. Rape culture is a concept that links rape and sexual violence to the culture of a society, and in which prevalent attitudes and practices normalize, excuse, tolerate, and even condone to rape.

In a famous music video entitled Blurred Lines, women were almost not dressed except for a piece of cloth covering their lower private part in the official video. The expressions in the video portrayed an idea to the public that women enjoy the idea of being teased sexually. When videos such as these are welcomed in our societies, the younger generation who are ignorant may think of this as normality in the society.

Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke

In society today, women have attained a certain 'liberty' in society. We have come far, whereby women have attained a certain statute in gender equality. In today's world, women wear pants, have equal job opportunities that they did not previously have. 

However, some issues are constantly battled, are the ways female bodies are used as a sexual tools in marketing. If not, some of these photography in marketing contain photos that give the impression of men being the individual with power, while women love the idea of sex. In other words, the rape culture still strongly prevails in our society despite how much 'liberty' women have gained over the years. 

I wrote this blog today in hope that my friends will develop a sense of realization towards these issues. Womens' bodies should not be exploited in order to please the 'male gaze'. 

Women should not be judged beautiful based on the number of body curves they have, the largeness in their breast size or how thin they are. They should be respected as each of them are beautiful in their own unique ways. If we have come this far in development, women too should realize that they are no longer succumbed to the power of men and should attain the respect they deserve.