Sexualization is the act of eliciting a sense of sexuality in individuals by portraying something sexual especially related to men and women. Additionally, in simple terms sexualization can be termed as sexual objectification of characters that is meant to make individuals aware of their sexuality. Sexualization is a common phenomenon in our modern world in the manner the young children, girls, and women are portrayed as sex objects.

Sexualization in Advertisement

Photo Source: Jessica Gomez

Advertisements are increasingly becoming popular tools promoting sexualization. Many advertisements are now geared towards evoking the sexuality of their viewers and readers. Notably, the sexualized images of girls and women in most ads is said to be harming girl’s self-image and negatively undermining their healthy sexual self-image. For example, the models in the Paris Vogue magazine portray attributes that magnify the perception of sexualization. According to the Wesleyan University research, 50% of the well-known

Photo Source: Jessica Gomez

American magazines represent women as sex objects. Unfortunately, small children as young as 10 years old are victims of sexualization due to the way the female body is represented in women magazines such as Vogue Paris and Milk. Surprisingly, there are also ads for fast food that are on the rise in portraying sexualization. Television advertisements are creating a merge between sex and fast food by portraying the ideal sexual bodies that society has drilled into us. They are aiming to associate the consumption of certain fast foods to sexuality. Moreover, the portrayed sexualization in most advertisements is over time becoming harmful to the readers and viewers, with the infamous example of violence against women.

Sexualization in Video Games

Video Source: Jessica Gomez

Sexualization is common in most video games, with female video game characters mostly sexualized. The female characters are often portrayed in impossible figures and proportions, with unrealistic outfits designed to show off their bodies. Unfortunately, some video games such as Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2’s and Dead or Alive are advertised with images of sexualized females as a way of attracting the attention of their players, which are mostly men. Therefore, the industry caters to men for the most part. The female characters in most video games wear ridiculous outfits such as the case of bikini-like armor, trying to cater to certain male fantasies. Examples of video games that have been recorded to have taken sexualization too far include Dragon’s Crown, Soulcalibur, and Metroid. The research conducted by Teresa Lynch, a media communication researcher, indicated that sexualization of females in video games dates back to 1995, with most female characters portrayed in nudity, unrealistically narrow waists, and overly-enlarged breasts. However, there has been a decline in sexualization in video games in the recent years, following the ban of some of the popular video games dubbed as being hyper-sexualized.