By Emily Ottinger | Associate editor, staff writer
Young girls once imagined a knight in shining armor coming in on his white steed, ready to sweep her off her feet. In reality does chivalry still exist today?
We live in a society where it is acceptable for men to disrespect women. There once was an old code of honor that was built around men respecting women as mothers and housewives, but it is really hard for people to say that chivalry still exists today.
How often are doors slammed in your face, whether you are male or female? Total respect in our society has faded. Respect for each other and ourselves has slowly decreased over time.
So why should some men respect women when some women barely respect themselves?
With women willing to throw themselves into things so quickly, men realize they can skip the whole chivalry aspect and still get the girl.
The feminist movement that took place around the 1960s was a revolution for women to stop being housewives and start being the money makers. While women strived to become equals, men often tried to stop them. Sexual harassment and unequal pay for equal work continued in the workplace. Resentment grew when women would get respect in the house but not in the workplace. Some women realized they might not want all that chivalry if the price was to be locked into the sole role of housewife. Women in the workplace weren’t seen for their minds and what they had to offer, but only for their bodies.
To this day women still don’t get the respect they longed and fought for, with the media helping fuel the fire. Women are constantly being portrayed as sex objects, advertisers use women as sex objects to get the attention of people, arguing “sex sells.”
Caroline Heldman, a politics professor, challenges this notion in her Jan. 2013 TEDxYouth San Diego talk.
“If sex sold, most women are heterosexual and we are sexual beings, so why wouldn’t we see halfnaked men in advertisements?” she said. Something else is being sold here. Men are being sold the idea that they are the ones in power of the objects here.
According to Heldman, advertisements are constantly telling women that being a sex object is the only way to be valued. The idea is not only there because of advertisements but because of American culture itself. From a young age, girls are almost programmed through societal messages to believe that being a sex object is somehow empowering.
“It’s like being raised in a red room, being pulled out of that room, and asked
to describe the color red,” said Heldman.
So what effects does this have on women? With sexual objectification women always feel the need to improve themselves to become this sex object that society wants them to be. This can lead to body shame, low self-esteem, habitual body monitoring, eating disorders, and depression.
Women are 70 percent more likely to experience depression in their lifetime than men, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
“To men, they are being sold this idea constantly that (women) are sexual subjects, men are in the driver seats. It makes them feel powerful
to see images of objectified women everywhere,” said Heldman. “For women, we are being sold this idea this is how we get our value and this is the way to become the ideal sex object.”
When some men believe they can control women and women allow themselves to be controlled, this can lead to abusive relationships and prostitution.
So overall have women ever really gotten the respect they deserve? Living in a society where women are seen more for their sex appeal rather than other more substantive characteristics they possess, it’s difficult to say women will ever really gain the respect due to them.