In the first part of my essay, I will discuss how the cultural problem of sexism permeates into many aspects of my day to day life. I will raise some personal problems I have experienced, such as the pressure I have felt to become ‘more feminine’. I will also talk about the fake persona I have cultivated in the past in my attempt to emulate the ‘perfect woman’.
I’d like to start by saying that I’ve gone through most of my life oblivious to the sexism around me. I simply accepted that being a woman meant being inherently ‘feminine’. That we are supposed to be ‘dainty’, ‘innocent’ and ‘modest’. That a perfect woman looks small and thin. That we love cleaning, children, cooking, and shopping. Back then, these were all words I would use to describe a woman, and how I would eventually end up defining …show more content…
Just by going out to a store, or flipping on the TV we are bombarded with unrealistic depictions of female perfection. These images are often impossible to achieve in real life, as they are heavily airbrushed, filtered and digitally manipulated. A heavy percentage of the women shown in advertisements and magazines are white, thin, and often highly sexualized.
In entertainment and film women are often portrayed as the ‘damsel in distress’ and a prize to be won by the male protagonist. This blatant objectification of women can be attributed to capitalism. There is not much profit in promoting self love and acceptance. .Capitalism NEEDS for women to have low self confidence, and to be insecure. Women who accept themselves as they are don't make the best customers. Self acceptance also makes one immune to the “commodity fetishism” prevalent in today’s society. Commodity fetishism is defined as
“process of ascribing magic “phantom-like” qualities to an object, whereby the human labour required to make that object is lost once the object is associated with a monetary value for exchange” (Louie,
I’d like to start by saying that I’ve gone through most of my life oblivious to the sexism around me. I simply accepted that being a woman meant being inherently ‘feminine’. That we are supposed to be ‘dainty’, ‘innocent’ and ‘modest’. That a perfect woman looks small and thin. That we love cleaning, children, cooking, and shopping. Back then, these were all words I would use to describe a woman, and how I would eventually end up defining …show more content…
Just by going out to a store, or flipping on the TV we are bombarded with unrealistic depictions of female perfection. These images are often impossible to achieve in real life, as they are heavily airbrushed, filtered and digitally manipulated. A heavy percentage of the women shown in advertisements and magazines are white, thin, and often highly sexualized.
In entertainment and film women are often portrayed as the ‘damsel in distress’ and a prize to be won by the male protagonist. This blatant objectification of women can be attributed to capitalism. There is not much profit in promoting self love and acceptance. .Capitalism NEEDS for women to have low self confidence, and to be insecure. Women who accept themselves as they are don't make the best customers. Self acceptance also makes one immune to the “commodity fetishism” prevalent in today’s society. Commodity fetishism is defined as
“process of ascribing magic “phantom-like” qualities to an object, whereby the human labour required to make that object is lost once the object is associated with a monetary value for exchange” (Louie,