Profitable Feminism
Is this what we have resorted to? The need for nudity, only to accrue- Money and profit only to have some revenue… Looking back to the very beginning, when the feminist movement originally started, feminist supporters were arguing for the equality for women in the work force and in politics. Media has taken a new stance on what feminism is. These TV shows and Magazine articles have mistaken the ideas and values that stand at the base of feminism and have exploited this argument by using women in the media to increase profits.
Even putting aside the issue of ethics and respect and only considering one aspect, the economy, this exploitation of feminism is still wrong; the issue now, is not whether a woman should be able to vote or be able to work, but rather to what extent should a woman be exposed to increase profits. Recently, the diet industry has taken advantage of women to increase sales. Recent supporters of the feminist movement argue that having women in the media makes them proud that women are being equal to men and that they are okay with the media exploiting their feminist instincts (Jocelyn). If by “exploiting their feminist instincts”, do they mean nudity? To fully understand this issue, one must look back to the root cause; profit increase. Feminism started out as a race for equality and ended with a race for profits. Mnet states that ” women’s magazines are full of articles urging that if they can just lose those last twenty pounds, they will have it all” and it continues to say that “women who are insecure about their bodies are more likely to buy beauty products , new clothes, and diet aids” (Mnet).
The media targets their advertisement distinctly to those who will buy it by using exactly what these women are insecure about, their bodies. By using a magazines like the Star, which displays pictures of women in their bikinis and titles “55 best and worst bodies”, they are able to attract insecure women to buy these magazines, which feature an article on how to lose weight, this therefore increases their sales. They are giving these women false hope and encouraging the reader that all you need to succeed in life is to lose those twenty pounds and then proving it to them by putting a picture of a celebrity, this displays that magazines are misusing women to increase profit. Due to the exploitation of females that help provide for the amazing profit increase, the diet industry “alone is worth between 40 to 100 billiion dollars” (Mnet). This attests that by exposing women and posting a nude image and giving them false hope the industry is able to increase its profit.
Call that genius or call it sneaky, feminism is still being exploited! Just over twenty years ago “an average model weighed 8 percent less than the average women, now it is 23 percent less. Advertisers believe thin models sell products” (Mnet).Thin models are able to sell products because they make the products look like they can make a change. When in reality an average woman is nothing compared to the model, in relation to size. By hiring thin females and using these women to sell products their sales increase and cause a psychological affect on the average women, persuading her to buy the product.
These average women want to be like these superficial models, and media knows exactly where to target these women to get their profits. It is not only the diet industry taking advantage of women, take a look at fashion enterprise. Lately the sales of fashion magazines have been decreasing so “what’s a fashion mag to do to get readers clicking and ad cash rolling? Get naked, ofcourse” (Disham). To get viewers and to get sales going for magazines, they are now exposing women and taking advantage of the so called feminists. The sales of magazines are decreasing because now since the internet is available, less and less people are buying magazines.
To regain those sales these magazines are turning to women like Kim Kardashian, Kara DioGaurdi and Kate Moss, by putting nude pictures of these females they are attracting their readers and regaining their profits. The magazine Harpers Bazaar recently had a loss of 21 percent of sales so they turned to nude pictures of Kim Kardashian to regain the loss (Disham). The issue is to what extent must the original values of feminism change to increase the amount of cash in the industries’ wallet. This is wrong, taking advantage of women just because the media industry knows that it is what the viewers want to see and that it will increase earnings. By using these women they are changing the values of feminism because women are agreeing to being exposed.
At first, women were advancing for the right to be equal to men but now the media is encouraging women to not only be equal but expose themselves all together. An article by Cheeseman explained that a research done on a playboy magazine compared to cosmopolitan showed that both genders have a tendency to look at the women sexually and therefore are more attracted to the playboy magazine which features solely women compared to cosmopolitan, which features couples. The co authors of the study then could only come to a conclusion that sex sells (Cheeseman). This once again demonstrates the media industry taking advantage, because the fashion magazines know what will grab their audiences’ attention they not only use it but exploit it to their advantage. People who disagree with women being exploited in the media also might argue that these fashion magazines are not only targeting women but also men.
In the same article by Cheeseman, she reports that a blog writer observed “that ads in fashion magazines present women as half naked, ready and willing sexual objects but men look strong and powerful, whether they are full dressed in a business suit or more exposed (but never as exposed as the women)” (Cheeseman). The media industry is more targeted at women being exposed then men, this is because having a women exposed sells more. Note that men will never be as exposed as a woman, so not only have women reached the expectation for equality but have far exceeded it. By knowing that women are going to sell more if their bodies are more exposed than a males, they portray it on magazines are earn a huge profit and therefore use the women’s body for selfish reasons. It may appear as if these magazines are just providing entertainment but in reality they are providing entertainment by taking advantage of a female’s body to increase sales.
Feminism is directed solely to women and is being taken clear advantage of. The diet industry has exploited the female body to create a psychological effect on women in order to increase their sales, because by putting this effect on women they make other want to be like models thus encouraging them to buy the products. The fashion industry also taps in by exploiting feminism distinctively and knowing what viewers and readers want to see, which enables them to make a profit out of this. The media industry has wholeheartedly taken advantage of the feminist movement on the sole basis of making a profit. I guess this is what we have resorted to, Taking advantage of sex appeal to pursue- The art of money making, only to have some revenue … Work Cited Cheeseman, Gina-Marie .
“Objectifying Women to Sell Products.” Cheers Magzine n. pag. Web. 23 Feb 2011. <http://www.
thecheers.org/The-Orbit/article_2917_Objectifying-Women-to-Sell-Products.html>. Disham, Lydia. “Why fashion magzines need more than nude photos to build reader-ship.” CBS (2010): n.
pag. Web. 23 Feb 2011. <http://www.bnet.com/blog/publishing-style/why-fashion-magazines-need-more-than-nude-photos-to-build-readership/473>.
Jocelyn, A. “Objectifying Women to Sell Products.”fbomb (2010): n. pag. Web.
23 Feb 2011. <http://thefbomb.org/2010/11/feminist-advertisements-exploitation-or-progress/>. “http://www.media-awarness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and girls/ women_beauty.
cfm.” Mnet 2010: n. pag. Web. 23 Feb 2011.
<http://www.mediaawareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/women_beauty.cfm>.
