The pressure put on women through ads, television, film and new media to be sexually attractive—and sexually active—is profound. The National Eating Disorders Association reports that one out of four TV commercials send some kind of "attractiveness message," telling viewers what is and is not attractive. Children Now reports that 38 per cent of the female characters in video games are scantily clad, 23 per cent baring breasts or cleavage, 31 per cent exposing thighs, another 31 per cent exposing stomachs or midriffs, and 15 per cent baring their behinds.

Women as Sexual Objects

Calvin Klein adProvocative images of women's partly clothed or naked bodies are especially prevalent in advertising. Shari Graydon, former president of Canada’s MediaWatch, argues that women’s bodies are sexualized in ads in order to grab the viewer’s attention. Women become sexual objects when their bodies and their sexuality are linked to products that are bought and sold.

Media activist Jean Kilbourne agrees. She notes that women’s bodies are often dismembered into legs, breasts or thighs, reinforcing the message that women are objects rather than whole human beings.

Although women’s sexuality is no longer a taboo subject, many researchers question whether or not the blatant sexualization of women’s bodies in the media is liberating. Laurie Abraham, executive editor of Elle magazine, warns that the biggest problem with women’s magazines is "how much we lie about sex." Those "lies" continue to perpetuate the idea that women’s sexuality is subservient to men’s pleasure. In her study of Cosmopolitan and Playboy magazines, for example, Nicole Krassas found that both men and women’s magazines contain a single vision of female sexuality—that "women should primarily concern themselves with attracting and sexually satisfying men."

The presence of misinformation and media stereotypes is disturbing, given research that indicates young people often turn to media for information about sex and sexuality. In 2003, David Buckingham and Sara Bragg reported that two-thirds of young people turn to media when they want to learn about sex - the same percentage of kids who ask their mothers for information and advice.

How to Catch (and Keep) Your Man

Many researchers argue that the over-representation of thin women in mass media reinforces the conclusion that "physically attractive" and "sexually desirable" mean "thin." Amy Malkin’s study of magazine covers reveals that messages about weight loss are often placed next to messages about men and relationships. Some of her examples: "Get the Body You Really Want" beside "How to Get Your Husband to Really Listen," and "Stay Skinny" paired with "What Men Really Want."

The fascination with finding out what men really want also tends to keep female characters in film and television busy. Professor Nancy Signorielli reports that men are more likely than women to be shown "on the job" in movies and television shows. Female characters, on the other hand, are more likely to be seen dating, or talking about romance.

Sex and Violence

Advertisement for Fetish perfumeThat romance often has a darker side. As Graydon notes, the media infantilize women, portraying them as child-like, innocent and vulnerable. Being vulnerable is often closely linked to being a potential victim of violence. Kilbourne argues that ads like the Fetish scent ad (right) imply "women don’t really mean 'no' when they say it, that women are only teasing when they resist men’s advances." The ad’s copy reads: "Apply generously to your neck so he can smell the scent as you shake your head 'no.'" The obvious implication here is, "he’ll understand that you don’t really mean it and he can respond to the scent like any other animal."

Kilbourne notes that sex in the media is often condemned "from a puritanical perspective—there’s too much of it, it’s too blatant, it will encourage kids to be promiscuous, etc." But, she concludes, sex in the media "has far more to do with trivializing sex than with promoting it. The problem is not that it is sinful but that it is synthetic and cynical. We are offered a pseudo-sexuality that makes it far more difficult to discover our own unique and authentic sexuality."