parts to be shameful or disgusting and once again, the media can belet off the hook.Realistically, the only way to prevent women from being seen as sex objects is forthem to be seen as other things as well; but to say that women are not sexualbeings would be misleading because both men and women are very much sexual(Christensen 1990:42). Similarly, to say that women are singled out in the media isfallacious due to the many examples of media where men are seen catering to theneeds of women; something known as chivralic sexism (Christensen 1990:42).Take, for instance, a recent television ad portraying young men groveling at the feetof supermodel Cindy Crawford, almost begging to be the one to cater to herneeds. There were no lineups of men aching to announce their displeasure with thesexist ad; and this is precisely why male stereotyping in the media often goesunnoticed. Similarly, it is pornography in the media that is noticed and shunned byanti-pornographic and censorship organizations because it seemingly singles outfemales for their bodies. It should be well noted, however, that paperbackromance novels, which make up an incredible 40% of total paperback sales(Gerbner 1988:15), depicts males as sexual objects, performing what is calledSweet Savagery (rape), just as pornography depicts females as sexual objects.But once again, this goes unnoticed. It is fundamentally important to realize that the media does not deliberately createimages of hate or disagreement (Howitt, Cumberbatch 1975:80). They justinfluence the more appealing things in society (thus directly increasing their ratings).Although it is obvious that pornography is largely a male interest, a noted increasein female interest would certainly cause an increase in the amount of pornographicmaterial geared for women; this relates to the laws of the business world(Christensen 1990:50).Having discussed the untruthfulness of the claims against pornography and showingthat pornograph...
