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Picciarelli1
Kayla Picciarelli
Steve Diamond
Composition 101
16 November 2018
Objectifying Women
Sexual assault has always been a problem. Woman live in the constant fear that they may
be the next victim; who is to blame?
Society somehow has found a way to blame sexual assaults on the way women dress. If a
woman were raped, it is constantly an issue if she were wearing a short skirt, a low top or heels.
Just this month in England, a 17 year old girl reported raped by a male, and what was brought to
defend him was her underwear. More specifically a thong, was an important detail seeing how he
used it as his defense for why he did what he did. Just today she "took her own life after being
forced to hold up her underwear in court" (Cramb 1). Society everywhere, has females believing
that if they go out in a thong or a short skirt, the probability of being raped is heightened and at
the end of the day, they are at fault because of the clothes they put on. “Of course, when a girl or
women goes around exposing her body, how can men and boys be blamed for viewing her as a
sex object?” (D’Agostino 9); a frightening insight of how some people defend men for assaulting
women! How do we expect sexual assaults to decrease when men are being taught if a woman or
girl is showing skin, it is OKAY to sexually assault her?
This is a very real defense men are using and taught at a young age. In school systems,
dress codes are often applied to girls and girls only. Girls, are taught not to wear shorts shorter
than their knees or tank tops exposing their shoulders because it could pull the boy’s attention
Picciarelli2
from their school work. In other words, schools are enforcing girls to not wear certain pieces of
clothing because boys cannot control themselves and if girls break the dress code, they are forced
to change. “Many school dress codes use gendered language, such as “girls must not wear
spaghetti straps or show cleavage.” The reasoning? These things are distracting to other students,
particularly males” (Barrett 3), a reoccurring conflict young women have noticed and have spoke
out about followed with no change. Why are not changes happening within the schools when the
dress code is addressed by opposing students and parents? If school dress codes were to change,
could this impact boys on how they view women at a young age?
“When women are represented in advertising - public domain - they are frequently
depicted as objects, rater than subjects” (Malti-Douglas 66). Women are objectified everywhere.
