Let's get together

Hey, internet! I’m back! Today, we get to talk about S. E. X… sex! I should warn you all that I’m all pumped up on Tylenol and TheraFlu and I’m feeling a little woobily right now, so if I start rambling or not making sense, please forgive me. :)

According to Kilbourne, the objectification of women and men as sex objects is bad because it enables rape, battery, and sexual assault. Just as with almost all other forms of violence, it is easier to hurt an object than a person. The media, by showing us what it is to be sexually successful and likening it to being successful in life, tells us that we need to have sex. If I have sex, and drink beer, I’ll be in charge of my life. If I have sex, and buy this really cool watch, I’ll be the happiest man in the world. Actually, what the media does is it gives us enablers. I’ll be able to have sex BECAUSE I drank Miller Light. If I buy that really seductive pair of jeans (and get a six-pack) I’ll sleep with four really pretty girls tonight. Men aren’t responsible for their actions because they are drunk, or attracted by that arousing cologne. Kilbourne even gives us an example where that’s happened: in the lawsuit in Canada against the guy who raped a girl. He got off because she was wearing seductive Victoria’s Secret underwear.

Kilbourne says that the objectification of women is worse than the objectification of men. She backs this up with the logic that women are objectified to become submissive erotic fetish toys for men to enjoy at will, while men are objectified to become powerful, dominant, sex machines. This is a big problem for women because it puts them into an environment of fear and harassment, where they are either beautiful chesty bitches or ugly slutty whores.

I agree that this is a problem, but I’m concerned about the objectification of men as well. As Kilbourne points out, boys as young as eight are beginning to turn into the power-hungry lust machine that the media portrays them to be. From my point of view (and keep in mind that I live a horribly sheltered life), it’s just as bad that men are being made into sex objects (or should I say subjects? Grammatically speaking, men are the subject and women are the object; those who receive the action of the subject). A friend of mine who went to elementary school and middle school with me once had a science project in which he, along with a partner, had to test some product. He almost chose to test condoms. Needless to say, he had a very pretty female partner for the project. This was sixth grade. Locker room conversations in middle school shouldn’t be about women’s body parts. That’s something that I always assumed happened in high school locker rooms, but middle school? Really? With the constant strive for young boys to have as many sexual experiences as possible, people like me (the exact opposite of what the media wants me to be: passive, submissive, not horny 24/7, gay, and not ripped in the least bit) get left behind. I got teased in middle school for my lack of… everything just as much as most girls did at my school. So yes, it is a vicious cycle, but men don’t necessarily get the long end of the stick.

Wow. 600 words. OK, so this has come to a premature and maybe disappointing end. Yet another thing the media has told me to avoid in sex. Oh well. Until next time… stay paranoid!