Sexualisation In The Media

Hi, I'm a 15 year old girl living with magazines, billboards, TV adverts, music videos, movies and the sexualisation of girls in the media.

Every day I am bombarded with television ads telling me how to look good by using this product, or by putting this in my hair so I can look like that model. I have only just come to realise how much these advertisments effect me and the girls and boys around me, since I have been looking into it I have thought through the emotions I feel when I see certain pictures of half naked woman posing in sexual positions advertising a new pair of jeans. To be perfectly honest, I think, 'Wow, she has the body I want. Gee I wish that my legs would sit like that. Maybe if I did 100 squats before bed, ran an hour per night and only eat half of all my meals, yeah, maybe I'll look like that." Luckily I have the common sence to ignore these thoughts and aim on fully growing to the best of my ability. It is really frustrating to find out how much editing goes into pictures of models or celebrities. I think it's wrong to photoshop pictures because now people see the fake women and men and get the idea that people can be so perfect, of course real people are going to look 'not up to standard' against photoshopped people. It also makes me want to be photoshopped, as much as I hate the idea.

The bigger issue though is that in the entertainment industry/media women and girls are being used to sell products, it has always been quoted that 'sex sells' and it certanly does. When male and female models shoot pictures together I have only just noticed that the man always looks like he has the power, or the woman is serving him. I think this is inappropriate for this day and age, but I also think that it's the old fashion way of getting the attention of men, because most men enjoy power. In my eyes I see that the sexualisation of women is used because men can be thick when it comes to sexual pictures and will take that second glance which fools them into buying that product. Although, I'm not just blaming the men, in this world where teenagers are driven by sex and getting the attention of the opposite sex. When I see a picture of a girl wearing a sexy top that shows lots of skin I think, 'Hmm, maybe that guy will take a second look at me' and on occasions I have changed my shorts to shorter ones when someone I'm keen on is around. This is all from the influence of the adverts, magazines and internet.

I'm not against sexualisation in the media, I'm just concerned that it's driving the minds of my generation, the above generation and the below generation. Sexualisation is good on some levels, as in it sells, but young girls are becoming sexual earlier than they are really ready.