Women being used for their bodies | Teen Ink

Women being used for their bodies

April 8, 2022
By Anonymous

“We must send a message across the world that there is no disgrace in being a survivor of sexual violence - the shame is on the aggressor.” This quote was said by Angelina Jolie. She’s an American actress who was Raped and sexually abused by Harvey Weinstein. This quote has the powerful meaning that there is no disgrace in sexual violence and that women shouldn't be afraid of their bodies because of a man's actions. This quote is showing that men should be ashamed of how they have gone from simple human beings over the years to people who act like animals and mistreat women. In order for men to treat women respectfully, Rape and sexual assault cases decrease, Women and men wear whatever they want at school without being sexualized, Women stop getting used for their bodies on tv, women start getting treated right, boys get treated right no matter what they like, and women objectifying themselves. 


There are a lot of rape victims in our world today, but most of those rape victims are females more than males. “91% of victims of rape and sexual assaults are females and only 9% for males.” (Stop Rape: Response & Prevention, n.d.). Women can be walking on the street in a dress and heels and get raped for no reason. Most of the time, a man rapes a woman because they think she wanted it or because they wanted to show her that they have the power over what women do in their lives. Whenever a woman wears something she is comfortable in, she is either told, she is revealing too much or she is asking for it, but most of the time that’s not the woman’s case. With this in mind, Women are also told to cover up or stop showing so much skin by family members. Most of the time we get told this because men will use us or sexualize us. Women can’t wear what they are comfortable in without a man trying to take power over us or control us. While women get raped and assaulted, they also go through Teachers and students sexualizing them at school. 


When it comes to what women and men wear to school that is up to their decision and their parent’s decision. When school uniforms come into play, most schools make men wear jeans and a t-shirt while girls have to wear skirts, not jeans. No in-between. When people talk about sexualizing women, they mean men lift up girls’ skirts or smack them on the behind. Men have no self-control or respect for women and their bodies. Women go to school and get bullied because guys either see girls as too fat or too skinny, or they have no chest or no butt. Regardless, Men have to stop sexualizing girls or making fun of them just because of their bodies. A teenage girl was at school one day when she got dressed coded for what she was wearing. “She was wearing a T-shirt, athletic shorts and sandals. What she was wearing was interfering with the educational process”(Wang, 2017). Said, the Washington Northview middle school. Addie Lyttle was the teen girl who said, “It made me feel like my body wasn’t accepted.”(Wang, 2017). All teachers, staff members, and students should be responsible for managing their own distractions when it comes to what students are, but still, teachers, staff, and students don’t try and fix their distractions; they just let those distractions take control of what they think and do even.


In tv shows and movies, you may see more women naked than men. One-third of powerful female characters and actresses are shown wearing revealing clothes while filming. When seeing behind the scenes from tv shows or movies you will mostly see a man behind the camera. “10% of directors' crews will only have one woman on the whole team besides the cast.” (Elks, 2019). You won’t always see a show where a female character is able to be reflected on by the audience because most of the time the female character is the main character with a love interest, or they are a bad character. Editors and directors of entertainment shows don’t always see potential in women when they audition or ask for a job. All they may see is this girl/woman fit for the part with the right body type. Most editors and directors don’t look at your personality.

 

Women are treated differently based on their body type. We are called fat or ugly. We are also told that we aren't strong enough or we aren't intelligent enough. We get treated differently every day by men but also women of our own. More men do it because they see as though if we go to lift a heavy object or do a certain workout they will think we won't be able to do it the right way or won't be able to do it at all. Men don’t always look at women and say to themselves “she can do it” or “she is strong.” Men just look at us and see “She's too fat” or “she's too skinny” they never see us as intelligent or strong. They treat us differently by not allowing us to do boy activities or by not letting us do boy things because they think it isn't feminine. “45% of society favors men over women, while 9% of society favors women over men.” (Equal Treatment for Men and Women, 2013). Society is treating us differently and favoring men over women because they are stronger or are meant to have power. Women don’t get treated like we are intelligent or strong. We get treated like we are weak and stupid just because they think we can’t do anything. 

 

Boys get bullied for their bodies, how they act, who they like, or even how they dress. It's not just girls. Men can get sexualized, raped, or sexually assaulted, but not many people look into that because they don’t always find it a big deal. Men who are gay can get bullied just for liking boys. They can also get bullied for how they decide to dress. Boys who are quiet or super smart get called a nerd or a loser because of what they are good at or because of how they act around people. Boys can get bullied if they aren't rich or if they are poor. Most people when they hear the words “Raped” or “Sexually assaulted” think of a woman, but sometimes it is a man. Not as often do you see men get raped by a girl or sexually assaulted by a girl but it does happen? “The “Man-Box” — the idea that there is one “right” way to be a man.”(Torset, 2018). When men touch each other, they say “No Homo” because they think it isn’t the right way to be a man. You won’t always see men hugging each other because to them it's not right and it's weird. Most men get bullied if they touch each other while in today’s world when they touch each other, they have to say “No homo” or else people will think they are gay. It's not always just girls that go through bullying or assault. Nevertheless, my point still stands because you won't always see a boy getting bullied for their body or how they act. It's still more likely to see a girl get bullied for that than a guy. “30 percent of girls get bullied in real life and onygtf6line while only 22 percent of boys go through those things” (Maunz, 2017). Altogether, it is not a huge difference but it still shows that girls go through much more bullying than boys.

 

Some boys will say that girls/women like to be treated as objects and not as human beings, meaning they don’t always like gentlemen, they want a rough bad boy.  According to NCBI, a research company on human characteristics and thoughts, “women internalize these judgments and self-objectify, or consider themselves first as bodies over other personal characteristics” (What Drives Female Objectification? 2019). Women will see themselves as their body first and not their personality or how they act. When men hear a girl likes a rough, bad boy, but then they treat her how she wants to be treated but then they complain that they don’t like what the guy does, it gets the guys all confused. The guys get confused because some of the guys just want to be a gentleman for their girlfriends but the girls might not like that and get mad. Men get very confused because some girls want to be treated as objects but then complain when they are treated badly. This point is sometimes true but is not always true because not all women like to be treated badly. Most women only like to be treated badly during sexual intercourse. Despite this, that does not give men the right to treat them badly outside of that. 


It needs to stop. Whether that includes Older men talking to their children or grandchildren about how to treat women with respect and kindness, Dads, uncles, grandpop, etc being able to tell their young boy relatives what is right and wrong when it comes to women, or Schools start to do lessons about equality and rights when it comes to men and women. These Schools can give examples of what men should not do when they are dating or seeing a woman/girl. Schools can also give examples of what is right to do in a relationship that is not hurtful or harming a girl in a physical way. My point is, that society needs to treat women equally and with respect, and not treat them as objects and nobodies. 


The author's comments:

I'm about to graduate from middle school. This piece is about how women go through getting sexualized every day by men all across the world. 


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