A Case of Further Objectification
We live in an age wherein the objectification of women has reached a whole new level
We live in an age wherein entertainment today sells only if it’s either sexualised or comes with sexual innuendo – music videos, movies, TV sitcoms, etc. Why? To promulgate a clichéd question – why are women depicted as objects while men continue to be portrayed as wise? Honestly, are men that sensible in the real world?!
Recently, images taken by artist Phillip Brophy were rolled out in an exhibition at the Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne - these are no ordinary images. Titled ‘The Morbid Forest’, the artist’s depictions revolve around women who have been abused, abandoned and stripped in forests. One of the pictures shows a woman holding flowers watched by a man, before her lifeless body is shown dumped in the bush; her body exposed in its entirety. Another image shows a naked woman lying face down in water. These are just two examples of the morbid images on display. To support the claim further that women are objectified, there are no warnings on the content of the exhibition barring a sign advising nudity. Now, the profile of the event is questionable let alone the timing of the exhibition because Melbourne is no more a safe haven what with the spate of attacks, murder, rape and violence targeted towards women in the last two years.
It’s appalling that we live in an age wherein the objectification of women has reached a whole new level. If nudity wasn’t enough on TV and exhibitions, the advent of social media offers people a platform to proliferate lewd images that go viral at the blink of an eye. If women are shown in full nudity in TV dramas, why are men not shown in the bare? This is obviously a case of sexism that exists all over the world. Will there come a time when women are portrayed in a rational manner unlike what we witness today? One peek of a magazine or newspaper and you’re guaranteed of soft porn.
Will this ever stop? It won’t because the mindset of society needs a complete overhaul in regards to respect shown towards women; that includes film-makers, magazine editors and the community as a whole.