McKinley 1 Andrea McKinley Instructor: Malcolm Campbell English 1102 26 September 2013

Everyday Sexism and the Psychological Effects on Women

A highly sexist culture, as the name suggests, affects both males and females. There is nothing one-sided about sexism. Males are taught to hide their feelings and emotions, and to be tough and manly. They are taught this by instilling fear of being perceived as feminine or girly. So even when such sexism has a negative effect on males, it has this effect through the degradation of females-being female alone can be an insult. Femininity is a term often commonly used as synonym forassociated with helplessness, fragility, and dependence. For example, there is a commercial currently being aired on television advertising for a website that makes shopping for cars easier by offering a common price a car is sold at versus the tag price. To show the simplicity of the website the commercial only features women. The women make comments like Truecar.com makes it a lot easier to go in by yourself, and I dont need to bring a dude with me. Although the ads intention may have been to empower women, and to support them to making such negotiations on their own, it implies that because of their natural helplessness as females, they need a special tool to simplify the process for them, while men have the magical ability to guess it on the nose like they're securing a spot on The Price Is Right (Zeilinger). Then again, is the ad simply acknowledging that dealers tend to con women more based on their assumptions about them, and trying to eliminate that mistreatment (Zeilinger)? No

McKinley 2 matter which way you look at it though, sexism exists in both situations, both involving the implications of women being helpless and confused about things that they have been taught socialized not to care about. dependence, and fragility. Sexism negatively affects both genders, but the psychological toll is much greater among women because sexism is more regularly directed against females, even in its subtlety, which often has the worst effect. Another extremely common issue we see in our culture is the objectification of women. It is hard not to feel surrounded by the shallow marketing strategies, trashy news articles and magazines, television programs, jokes, and common values that are reflected in how people often think and act. In fact, objectifying women seems to be one of the top strategies for selling a variety of products. A company that is absolutely notorious for this is Axe- a brand that largely sells mens body sprays, hair products, and bath products. One ad that was released about a year ago depicted an office scene and the interaction of two bizarre-looking, disembodied characters. One character was a head of tousled, short, brown hair with legs-no face, just hair-the other; a pair of a womans breast and some legs. The two characters spot each other from across the room, and they struggle to find time alone together throughout the day. The twoy finally meet at the end of the commercial at a bus stop while the screen flashes the phrase Hair. Its what girls see first. To summarize: , all men are shallow, and all women are objects. The ad dehumanizes both genders, but makes females the vulnerable one. . Because the woman has been animated down to, according to Axe, the only part of her that matters, no face or really any other body parts for that matter, that iss all she is-a body part. The womans character is completely over sexualized, while the male character portrays men as one-dimensional and completely hormonesex-driven animals, who cannot control themselves, or treat women like human beings. One of the roots of the problem is suggested in this commercial the message we sendbeing sent

McKinley 3 to young males. The targeted consumers of this brand are boys in their teens and early twenties, who may still be starting to date, and learning how to treat women. A teenage boy watching this is told that this is how he is to view a woman, and a teenage girl watching this is told that this is how she should view herself. This is just one of many of the offensive ads released by the company. The list goes on and on (Gray). And to many people, these types of messages need to be taken more lightly, and that others are reading into them too much, and should chill out and find the humor in them. Why is this a problem? Because our culture has become so accustomed to such beliefs, that many people feel it just needs to be accepted, and feminists should stop obsessing over little things. When in reality, these little things are the entire embodiment of a sexist, patriarchal society. The instances given have just been a glimpse of everyday sexism. The sexism seen in these examples, towards both males and females, can have serious psychological effects. on women. A recent study done by Leiden University doctoral candidate, Sezgin Cihangir, showed how the subtler forms of sexism is what can have the most a harsh effect on a womans selfesteem. The study is proof that the smaller things that many see as harmlessmany are accused of overreacting about are just as significant, if not more, than the blatant, obvious sexism that can still be seen. Thisat is because these are the things that blend in with common culture and are what people tend to accept. The study conducted was set up as mock interviews. Women went into the interviews and were asked sexist questions, and then all of the applicants were rejected. Half of these women were told that they were not hired because they did not give the answers the interviewer was looking for. The other half of the group was told that they were not given the job because they were women. This group was able to brush off the rejection easily because this was clearly not a job they would want anyways, as the hirer being clearly sexist, and not receiving the

McKinley 4 jobthis was at no fault of their own. The other group though, did see the rejection as a fault of their owna error on their part, and their confidence lowered as they left feeling confused as to what they said or did that was considered wrong, unintelligent, or unprofessional (Harding). This type of rejection to a woman may leave her questioning her qualifications both intellectually and physically. Did she not receive the job because she was assumed to be ignorant, helpless, or unintelligent and helpless? Was it because she was not pretty or thin enough? Did her appearance suggest something about her intellectual abilities? Both are questions generally only a woman would have to ask herself because of the common cultural sexist assumptions so often made of a womans intellect, how her appearance reflects her intellect, the physical expectations that females are held to, and how they have been told that these expectations are what matter most. Constant negative implications on the female gender can take its toll on the female mind. According to the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, nearly twice as many of the 40 million Americans diagnosed with anxiety disorders are women. It is also very common to see anxiety co-occur with depression. In our modern society, there appears to be a lot of stress on keeping busy. It can be a lot of pressure for anyone to handle, but for women, there is an additional emphasis on body image, and physical perfection. Even more pressure is put on women to prove themselves that they possess intelligence in their career field and should be taken seriously. Fear of speaking up when something is a problem stemscomes from fear of being written off as the stereotypical hysterical, psychotic woman who is probably on her period. Although there are other contributors to mental health issues, sexism and predetermined social differences play a role in the regularity of anxiety and depression in women, and have serious repercussions on the mental health of many-whether it is characterized as an official disorder or is tied to their personality, behavior, or self-esteem (Dreishbach). There are

McKinley 5 oOther extremely common issues that do not qualify as an actual mental disorder but can still occur and can constantly psychologically and physiologically affectwith women. include habitual body monitoring, depressed cognitive function, sexual dysfunction, etc. Habitual body monitoring is the process of constantly and obsessively being aware of the details of ones appearance. Women are constantly being bombarded with the idea that every physical detail needs to be perfect and that there is always something that could be perfected or fixed. There are a large variety of borderline-obsessive beauty products and procedures that exist today, reminding women of their imperfections that need correcting. The marketing usually involves a negative emphasis on whatever imperfect feature, and then persuades the viewer to buy the product so that they can feel good about themselves just like the smiling, beautiful model is in said advertisement. While there is also a lot of negativity towards aging, regardless of gender, womens flaws, no matter what age, are demonized while most of mens are accepted. Wrinkle and facial line creams, anti-cellulite serums, skin lightening treatments, lotions that will reduce body fat, unwanted hair bleaching and removal, contraptions for slimming the face, Botox, dermal fillers, eyebrow tattooing, and permanent makeup are all things on the market today, many of which cost hundreds of dollars. While products need to sell, the messages can contribute to an unhealthy state of mind, if taken too seriously, or if one is always being reminded of it, which many women are. The overuse of Photoshop contributes to this issue, as well, by creating unrealistic expectations for women and what they should look like. It creates a desire for something that is unattainable to achieve the appearance of a Photshop-ed model. It is even more past extreme that a model someone chosen to have met the highest standards of physical beauty and health still is not ideal enough, and needs to have her skin and body altered with a computer program. These types of ideas can take up a lot of space in ones mind, which can have

McKinley 6 a heavy impact on ones cognitive functioning, meaning less focus and thought goes into completely tasks, school assignments, work assignments, and projects due toetc. because of constantly worrying about ones current appearance and how other people are seeing them. This sometimes-Oobsessive perusal bsessively pursuing the appearance of being of feeling worthy of sexual desire sexually--desirable can often take away fromform sex itself because the selfconscious thoughts may still be present when engaging in intimacy. se types of thoughts are still going to be occurring. Excessive That level of self-consciousness can deplete the level of enjoyment because it is so distracting and can make someone just feel poorly in general (Heldman). This is why subtle sexism needs to be pointed out and corrected. Every instance and every message builds on top of each other, ultimately forming the larger message of what women supposedly are. This message has many proven negative effects on their mental health and overall well-being, which is why the problem should not be brushed off so lightly. A common stereotype of women is that they are irrational, hysterical, and often overreact. In fact, the word hysteria originates from the Greek word hystera meaning uterus. It is not uncommon for men in relationships to quickly use the crazy label to avoid being criticized of their own behavior . The tactic is one used by many males-often unintentionally though due to societys expectations for women to be more submissive, and the stereotype of females to be clingy and overdramatic. Gaslighting is a psychological technique used to minimize the feelings of someone else to control them. By doing so, the person may doubt their own feelings and feel that they do not have a right to be upset. They begin to accept that they are being irrational, or even crazy. A lot of men implement this behavior in heterosexual relationships to quickly shutdown almost any conversation they do not want to have, that may point to a fault of their own. The woman will try

McKinley 7 to defend the existence of her emotions, but then start to second-guess how she feels. This grants the man the ability to control and manipulate the womans behavior. Men are stereotyped to fear commitment, therefore women often feel the need to cater to this fear by making relationships as easy as possible and by being laid back. As soon as the woman is labeled as irrational, she worries she is jeopardizing the relationship by being difficult, too needy, or too emotional, and backs off. This allows the man to behave how he wants to. Because the woman is now convinced that she does not deserve to feel that way, the behavior may continue to hurt her, but her fear of being seen as crazy or too attached will stop her from saying anything. This can be very psychologically damaging because she will be the recipient of abusive behavior, while simultaneously left feeling confused about her own emotions. Negative stereotypes against women socialize men into this type of behavior. It affects the ability for a woman as well as a man to form healthy relationships, and to communicate and understand her emotions, w hich may subsequently cause her to feel confused, angry, distrusting, and isolated.hich may subsequently cause her to feel confused, angry, distrusting, and isolated. (OMalley).

There is no doubt that there is not pressure on either sex to conform to standards of the appropriate gender role. Pressure on males to look physically appealing, and to succeed definitely exists, as well. However, there is too large of an emphasis on womens appearance correlated to their value in society. It is easier for psychological problems to form because women are often told that their appearance and weight is the only thing that matters about them, especially with the constant message that women are exclusively sexual objects for men. This type of prejudice lessens the value of womens other esteemed attributes. Many women will associate their level of sexual appeal and physical beauty with their self-worth, and when they
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McKinley 8 feel they do not meet societys standards or mens ideals, their self-esteem and self-worth can be harshly affected by this. This can affect women in all areas of their lives, including their careers, relationships, goals and ambitions, and the beliefs in their own intelligence and abilities because of how society has poorly defined their worth.

Works Cited Dreisbach, Shaun. "Why Are Anxiety Disorders among Women on the Rise?" NBC News. NBCNews.com, 15 Oct. 2012. Web. 26 Oct. 2013. Gray, Emma. "Axe Headless Breasts Ad: 'Office Love' Spot Makes Romance All About The Boobs." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 21 Aug. 2012. Web. 24 Sept. 2013. Harding, Kate. "Research Shows That Subtle Sexism Is More Damaging to Women's Selfesteem than Glaring Examples." Salon. Salon Media Group, 30 June 2008. Web. 23 Sept. 2013. Heldman, Caroline. "The Sexy Lie: Caroline Heldman at TED Youth at SanDiego." YouTube. YouTube, 20 Jan. 2013. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. OMalley, Harris. "On Labeling Women 'Crazy'" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 12 Nov. 2013. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. Zeilinger, Julie. "TrueCar Ad Called Out For Implying Women Need Help Buying Cars Without A Man." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 23 July 2013. Web. 24 Sept. 2013.