Short Response 10/5

Sexuality is very prevalent in mainstream society. Magazines, movies, newspapers and television shows exploit highly sexualized characters and plots in order to increase their ratings. As a viewer, I generally love these type of shows. Douglas lists a few of these to be: Sex and the City, Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives. Many of these shows depict women as sexual beings- but for the most part they are in charge of their sexuality, i.e. Samantha Jones. However, Douglas notes that many of these shows still have harmful undertones to the viewers watching them. Although the women in SATC are successful and independent, for the most part their lives and daily escapades revolve around the opposite sex. Most of the women exhibited carefree attitudes when it came to sexual partners and relationships. They slept around and had one night stands, but still managed to live a fabulous life. Samantha truly exemplifies the notion of an independent women, who likes to have casual sex, with no strings attached. She does not want children and loathes the idea of a serious relationship. Douglas stated that not even Samantha could be considered a slut. However, I feel that this is a false belief. After bringing up SATC to several of my guy friends, they only knew Samantha as the slut. Thus, despite the writers attempts to make Samantha seem like she is in control of her sexuality and dominant over men- she can still very easily be reduced to a slut.

Obviously companies realized that a major demographic to exploit was young teenage girls. Thus, they were the main recipients of these mixed messages about sexuality. Females were now being sexualized at younger and younger ages, making it extremely difficult to understand their own bodies and sexuality. The media basically tricked many women into thinking that they had achieved sexual equality with men. They sent the message that sexual display and sex was the true way to gain power and thus women should embrace their objectification as flattery and equality. When you think about it, this is so smart. Every girl wants to feel empowered and comfortable with their sexuality. Instead of feeling ashamed for sleeping around and exploring the world of sexual pleasure, we could simply think that we were empowering ourselves.

Rebecca Walker pinpoints this confusion over sexuality. The way in which we view our sexuality is a big responsibility that can either hinder or help us. Walker learned at a young age how to transform herself into what each man wanted. She wore a mask to fit into the role that people expected of her. Eventually she grew out of this and left a relationship if it didn't offer her potential to grow. Her discussion of exploring sexuality was also interesting. Our bodies have natural and innate desires to be touched, admired, appreciated, explored and pleasured. When women indulge in their natural desires they are called sluts and whores. Thus, we turn to television and media to see what we are missing. Of course that source generally seeks to objectify and humiliate women.