Guest Opinion, New Castle News – by Dayna Shaw Sear, Executive Director, October, 2011
According to research published in September conducted by the University at Buffalo, the portrayal of women – and men – in popular media has moved from depicting celebrities and models as “sexy” to sexualizing them in terms of portraying them as ready and available for sex and as passive objects. This is problematic because it showcases a decisive narrowing of media representations – particularly of women.
Sexualized portrayals of women have been found to legitimize or exacerbate violence against women and girls as well as sexual harassment and anti-women attitudes among men and boys. Other negative consequences of this cultural shift are increased rates of body dissatisfaction, eating disorders, depression and suicide. The study also found an alarming increase in frequency and intensity of sexualized images in the media and pop culture over the past 20 years.
When do we as a society say enough – things have gone too far? When do we as a society stand up and start attacking this problem? When do we as a society refuse to watch television and movies or purchase music and magazines that promote violent behaviors and portray people as sexualized objects?
Susan G. Komen has helped to turn October into a global attack on breast cancer. With the myriad of pink adorning football fields, grocery stores and television commercials during the month of October, it is hard to imagine that the issue of violence against women – and for that matter men, youth and children – is being recognized during the month as well.
Not discounting the need to generate awareness regarding the 183,000 women who are diagnosed with breast cancer each year or the 1 in 8 women who will be affected by the disease in their lifetime, I would like to point out that 1.3 million women and 835,000 men are affected by domestic violence each year and 1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men will be affected by domestic violence in their lifetime. On average, more than three women are murdered by their intimate partners every day.
Additionally, according to the National Crime Victimization Survey conducted in 2006, more than 600 women are raped or sexually assaulted every day. The Justice Department estimates that 1 in 5 women will experience rape or attempted rape during their college years and that less than 5% of these rapes will be reported. When looking at teen statistics, 1 in 5 female high school students reports being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner and 1 in 3 teens report knowing a friend or peer who has been hit, punched, slapped, choked or physically hurt by their partner. 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be sexually abused before they reach the age of 18.
Violence against women cost companies $72.8 million annually due to lost productivity alone and most murder-suicides with three or more victims involve a “family annihilator” which falls under the umbrella of domestic violence. These frightening statistics are just a few of the many that can be recited.
Given the widespread devastating effects of domestic violence and sexual violence, it is hard to believe that the nation is not saying enough – this must change. Even just taking into consideration the effects of these issues on our youth, our future leaders and influencers, we should be motivated to initiate change. As we adorn our pink for the global fight against breast cancer, let it also be a reminder that there is also a global fight being made to eliminate violence.
