Sexual Objectification

From: Kaleigh

In my photo, “Sexual Objectification,” I am showing how boys are made to think of women as objects, not actual people. The media has a large influence over everyone including boys, and so do their fathers. These two influences can be two very large factors for how a man perceives a woman. Through the media, boys know what girls are “supposed” to look like. At an early age, boys begin to perceive girls as sexual objects for conquest and are allowed to act and think this way (they are not punished) so that behavior continues. Their fathers are most likely to be the direct influences as children identify and imitate their same sex parent more frequently. Fathers also encourage more gender stereotyped behaviors, and will more likely “punish” their sons for acting out of a masculine role.

In my picture, the boy on the left is younger, finding his dad’s pornographic magazine (which clearly depicts women as objects of men’s desire and a direct influence of father’s idea to his son). The boy’s innocence of being a child is shown from the white surrounding him. The white also draws the eye to the boy and the magazine, making them stick out and seem even more outrageous that a boy has access to this type of media. The bed post in the foreground is positioned in such a way to try to hide his behavior (as we would all be apprehensive to give a child a porno magazine). In the picture on the right, the tones have changed. The dark and black show a tainted image by the boy of what women are because he now sees them negatively. The dark also hides a lot more; the boy is hidden by the overwhelming messages casted on him by his father and the media and his own ideals are suppressed. The vantage point here is also full on compared to the first and the boy’s positioning has changed to show a lot more comfort in what he is doing and thinking. There is also a lot of light directed towards the magazine and women’s clothing. The light here conveys more innocence of the women that the boy objectifies because they, in reality, are not sexual objects. However, the boy collects these items, symbolic of trophies. The white on his socks emphasize how he is still a boy, but has been altered by more adult-like influences. In both pictures, the boy takes up very little space of the photograph, showing how when children are younger and influential, outside influences are very prevalent and large for forming ideas for children. The vantage point of both is also behind the boy to show an overshadowing of influential factors and ideas. (The father may be looming, but may not interject because that these are the stereotypes he wants his son to form). I have made my photo into a diptych because I wanted to show the passage of time, where the left picture is the boy when he is younger and the right when he is older and more developed in his thoughts. This passage of time explains to us that with the recurrence and prolonged exposure to the media, children develop even stronger stereotypical ideas. It also tells us that the ideology the boy’s father put upon him has carried with him into an older age.