On my way to work everyday, I walk past an advert telling me to detox. Promoting the detox product is a thin blonde girl with large breasts and a tiny waist wearing nothing but a skimpy bikini. The advert tells me I can loose weight and look like this by detoxing. But what it is really telling me is that I need to look like this girl and if I don’t, then I need to detox and loose weight. Basically, I’m not attractive unless I have a body like her…..Gee, thanks for building up my self-esteem!
Everywhere we go, in today’s culture, we are being sexualised. The concerning thing is that we don’t even know it. It has become normal to see sexualised images everywhere. We accept it. We don’t challenge it. Without even consciously knowing it, it is framing our value systems. It is framing the way we see the opposite sex, it is framing our expectations about relationships, it is framing what we wear and the behaviour we need to display to find love and acceptance.
The lie is you have to be sexually attractive to have power, to attract men to you, to be successful. Your intelligence, wisdom, personality, experience, gifts and talents do not mean anything. It’s just about being sexually hot and being sexually ready!
Music in today’s culture is objectifying women and promoting them as sexually ready. Video clips don’t show women saying ‘no’ to sex or not wanting sex – all it promotes is that women and girls are sexually ready.
Lets take Rihanna’s song ‘S&M’
Feels so good being bad
There’s no way I’m turning back
Now the pain is my pleasure
Cause nothing could measure
Love is great, love is fine
Out the box, out of line
The affliction of the feeling
Leaves me wanting more
Cause I may be bad
But I’m perfectly good at it
Sex in the air
I don’t care
I love the smell of it
Sticks and stones
May break my bones
But chains and whips
Excite me
This song promotes sex and bondage. How can we get a healthy understanding of sexuality when music artists are influencing young people in an unhealthy way – life is all about being bad and using sex as power.
Lily Allen song ‘Its Not Fair’ is another example. The song is about how she has a really great boyfriend but there is just one thing, he is really bad in bed. She explains what they do together in bed and how it’s ‘just not fair.’
What kind of message is this telling their audience? Sex is more important than having a guy that treats you well. Try before you buy, you have to make sure they are good in bed first. Another lie!
Having a good sex life takes work, time, effort and communication. Judging people on their sexual technique cheapens what sex was designed for – intimacy, equality, love, respect, bonding, uniting two people together, celebrating the journey of “two becoming one”, an act that is so beautiful nothing can compare to it. Pornography is no comparison.
Rather than going along with the ‘norm’, I challenge you to think about how our society is influencing our sexuality in an unhealthy way and speak up about it. Lobby below and make a difference.
Collective Shout – http://collectiveshout.org
Kids Free 2B Kids – www.kf2bk.com
Report inappropriate music videos, programs or ads – www.freeTV.com.au
What songs/advertising/magazines do you think portray an unhealthy perspective of sexuality?
How can we address this issue?
Comment below. Let’s start talking about this.
sex:{thewholestory} 