Objectification of Women
In ads, women are typically used to promote products that are traditionally masculine. These include products such as cars and even fast food. In many car ads,
When women are not used visually, misogyny is often implemented to appeal to the audiences desire to feel more 'masculine.'
Pornography and objectifying images are a large part of the conversation here. Studies have shown that exposure to objectifying and dehumanizing images is directly linked to decreased empathy in viewers and sometimes increased violence. Furthermore, those who stop viewing these images are able to regain the ability to emphasize and can often go on to live fuller lives. These images are a huge part of the problem, because so long as men continue to objectify women, they will have difficulty understanding what it is like to be dehumanized in such a way.
"The majority of the pornography that saturates our hyper-mediated lives presents not images of “just sex,” but sex in the context of male dominance. And over the past two decades, as pornography has become more easily accessible online and the sexual acts in pornography have become more extreme, women increasingly report that men ask them to participate in sex acts that come directly from the conventional male-supremacist pornographic script, with little recognition by men of the potential for pain, discomfort, or distress in their women partners."
