Women: A comparison of sexualization vs. desexualization

Women’s sexuality has been used to remove women’s power for decades. Both the sexualization and desexualization of women take away a woman’s power by only focusing on her sexuality instead of her whole self.

Sexualization is when someone’s value only comes from their sexual appeal or behaviour, excluding other characteristics, and when a person is sexually objectified. The sexualization of women happens very frequently, and removes a woman’s power. The sexualization of young girls has become a huge problem in recent years, especially through the media. One example of the sexualization of girls are dolls such as Barbie’s, with their unrealistic body proportions and skimpy outfits. Another example is beauty pageants, especially child beauty pageants. In child beauty pageants, young girls are all made up until they no longer look like themselves. They put on fake hair, a fake tan, fake teeth, and cover their faces with makeup. Then they put on often inappropriate outfits, all in an effort to look older and “perfect”. Women and young girls are sexualized in advertisements, movies, music videos, and all other forms of media. The sexualization of women that we see everywhere is linked to a variety of severe problems for girls of all ages. Some issues that are linked to sexualization include a negative self-image, low self-esteem, feelings of anxiety and shame, eating disorders, depression and self-injury. Sexualization can also have a negative impact on a girl’s sexual self-image. Another way that women are sexualized is through the sex trade. Women in the sex trade are valued only for their body, and are often devalued as human beings. They have little to no power and are completely controlled by men.

The desexualization of women also removes a women’s power. Desexualization is to deprive someone of their sexual appeal, characteristics, power or qualities. A very severe, yet common case of the desexualization of women is female genital mutilation. Female genital mutilation consists of procedures that alter female genital organs for non-medical reasons, but rather for social, religious and cultural reasons. These procedures have absolutely no health benefits, and are recognized as a violation of human rights. These procedures can cause severe bleeding, bladder infections, infertility and an increased risk of childbirth complications. There is an estimated 100-140 million girls and women across the world living with consequences of female genital mutilation, most of them in Africa. One of the main reasons that these procedures occur is to desexualize girls. People believe that these procedures are linked with premarital virginity and marital fidelity. Female genital mutilation is often thought to help women resist sexual acts.

While the sexualization of women focuses solely on a women’s sexuality, desexualization is about a woman’s lack of sexuality. Both remove a women’s power by ignoring all of a women’s other traits and characteristics. The sexualization and desexualization of women have both got to be stopped in order for women to gain more power and be treated as equals.

References:

· Cacciato, Diane. "Women, Sex, and Power." Mrs. Cacciato's Social Justice 12 Class. N.p., 14 Nov. 2011. Web. 4 Dec. 2011. .

· Paddock, Catharine . "Sexualization Of Girls In The Media Is Harmful." Medical News Today. 21 Feb. 2007: n. page. Web. 4 Dec. 2011.

· "Female Genital Mutilation." World Health Organization. World Health Organization, 02 Feb. 2010. Web. 8 Dec 2011.