Oversexualization In Advertising

In the United States, most individuals are exposed to three thousand advertisements a day. Think about advertisements people have seen recently. Remember seeing a woman strut down the street, smiling flirtatiously at a man who uses a particular product? Or maybe seeing a woman look lustfully at a man as he drinks his beer? The ad could be an Axe body spray commercial or for the most interesting man in the world (Dos Equis). Most commercials often use sex to sell their products. Sex does sell products faster or make people inclined to watch a show or movie, oversexualization happens far too often. Females and males can tend to not be shown as individuals with minds of their own. In fact, popular media often uses women to be decorations of affection for a male character, it presents women more as objects rather than people, and can lead to Depression, Low Self-Esteem, and Eating Disorders in young girls due to the poor influence from media and female representation. Over sexualization pushed on to …show more content…
Oversexualization can cause mental damages to girls at a young age. The APA, or American Physiological Association, had put together a task force to study the effects of oversexualization in girls. The answers all came up the same; most of the girls tested suffered from various forms of depression and low self-esteem (APA). These mental development issues can be extremely bad for women. The Mental Health Division of Student Affairs says low self-esteem can: create anxiety, stress, loneliness, and increased likelihood of depression, cause problems with friendships and romantic relationships, seriously impair academic and job performance, and lead to increased vulnerability to drug and alcohol abuse. The symptoms of depression are: less interest in pursuing a positive life, and can drive a person to attempt suicide if untreated (The National Institute of Mental