society. .
It would be downright absurd to assume that women in this .
society are treated as sexual objects only because the media releases .
or broadcasts pornographic material. A magazine associated with .
make-up and skin care, for example, will quite obviously not be .
concentrating on much else. Such a magazine would not display .
pictures of women who mountain-climb or women who water-ski; only .
images of make-up and text referring to skin care would be relevant. .
Clearly, society does not consider women to be beings who's only .
purpose in life is to worry about make-up and skin care; but why are .
the complaints only directed towards pornographic media then? The .
answer to this question may be more complicated, however, what remains .
obvious is that the media does not portray women as only being able to .
fill male sexual desires. To say that pictures featuring nudity, etc, .
are making objects out of women is foolish. One should consider .
females who pin-up posters of male rock stars or children who collect.
hockey or baseball cards. Society, however, does not say that objects .
are being made out of these rock stars and sports heroes; pictures of .
clothed people are no less objects than pictures of naked people.
Many complaints are also made to the effect that pornography .
only offers a one-dimensional view to life; that women are seen as .
nymphomaniacs who are hysterically addicted to sex. It should be .
pointed out that events such as hockey games, boxing matches, horse .
races and operas all offer a one-dimensional view of life. One does .
not attend an opera hoping to see a horse race. The underlying .
problem here is that the above mentioned events are socially .
acceptable; media displaying pornography is not. It is also said that .
the media reduces women to a collection of body parts through .
pornography (Christensen 1990:74). But why then are their no .
complaints of advertisements in magazines displaying only ears, for .