Sexual Objectification

What follows is a nice analysis of sexual objectification with some disturbing (because they're real) examples from pop culture. The post (and blog) are run by a professor of politics. Part one describes objectification and part two shows that "We now have over ten years of research showing that living in an objectifying society is highly toxic for girls and women"
1) http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2012/07/02/sexual-objectification-part-1-what-is-it/
2) http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2012/07/06/sexual-objectification-part-2-the-harm/

 Interestingly, part two cites a study regarding the effects of objectification on political efficacy (I suppose you could think of it as involvement). Here's an excerpt from its abstract:

 "The normalization of female objectification in American culture has given rise to self-objectification, the phenomenon of girls and women seeing themselves as objects of desire for others. ... This research examines the political effects of self-objectification and finds that it is negatively related to both internal and external political efficacy. The democratic implications of this finding are considered." 

A particular quote from the trailer to Miss Representation in the second post sticks with me: "The fact that media are so derogatory to the most powerful women in the country ...then what does it say about media's ability to take any woman seriously."

 Just some food for thought on a steamy Saturday (at least in IL) -- and if you want to continue the conversation or have questions (or outrage!) in response to reading, share your thoughts!